Bradenton (FL) sports reporter

I think he was saying that a recent reporter left under less-than-favorable conditions.

 

The Bucs (at least as of 5 years ago) are a travel beat for them. Of course, the guy telling me about filing from Minnesota on a Monday nighter was sitting beside me at the state JUCO baseball tournament, so I think it's fair to say you'll need to be flexible about what you cover.

 

It was Jim Brockman, who had been there for years and is quite a character/good guy.

My understanding is that after being on the Bucs beat for years, he basically got called into the office, was told they didn't like his coverage and demoted him about as far as they could. He went back the next day and resigned.

The feeling among those who know the situation is that they basically screwed him, so be careful folks. Notice that the opening isn't for the Bucs beat, it's for the job they wanted to put him in and will now fill for much less money.

 

Brockman is a nice guy, but there's more to the situation.

 

Such as?

 

What's the Bradenton area like? Young/old? Expensive/cheap?

 

I just returned from a trip to Bradenton (family connections there), so I'll take that one.

Bradenton is like much of Florida -- young and old, expensive and cheap. The area has a lot of retirees, but it also has a lot of teenagers who've already entered parenthood. As the previous poster said, the closer you get to the Gulf, the more expensive living gets (Scott Rolen lives on Anna Maria Island, and Hal McRae has a view of Perico Bay). Although apparently it's going to get cheaper, what with the stories I read while down there that Sarasota-Bradenton is going to suffer one of the biggest real-estate value crashes in the country over the next two years. Although that isn't stopping one developer to propose, on land that was to include a development whose centerpiece was reserved for a hockey arena (yes, a hockey arena), to build 8,100 homes. That's not a typo.

I don't know about the particulars of the job, but you could do far, far worse than here, not the least because of the proximity of the Gulf and the beautiful weather. I remember once meeting a guy who had moved to St. Petersburg from Indianapolis, and he talked about how much he hated the city and its unfriendly (mostly, cranky seniors) people. So I asked, would you go back? And he said, and give up this weather? Even if Bradenton living isn't your total cup of tea, you can still kick back on the beach and learn to skimboard. In November.

Also, there is a good chance for exposure because of the competitiveness of the market. You would compete against the Tampa Tribune, St. Pete Times and, most directly, the Manatee Tribune (the Bradenton edition of the Sarasota Tribune). So if you kick butt, it may well be noticed by other, larger papers if you want to stay in that market.

 

Any movement on this?

 

I hear the SE is still sorting packets.

 

Good times, I'm sure.

 

You're hired ...