Buyouts and layoffs in Minneapolis

No, again, I do not and did not 'feel' he was to blame for layoffs.

The only thing I'm feeling right now is my leg. If you said I "believe" he is to blame, you would be equally incorrect.

What I believe is no one is entitled to retire when they choose simply because they've "earned the right" to do so. That's bullshit. Ditto for coaches. Bowden "earned the right to decide when he retires" was trotted out many times, as it is for Paterno, yet Bowden should have been moved out about five years ago (or earlier).

Hartman may work his old ass off, relatively speaking. I'll bet the paper would like to have his salary and two or three young fresh faces doing more than he's doing, though.

 

You have to understand the market.

You feel your leg, and I feel the need to clear my driveaway of snow, so I'll be moving on.

And mnSportsJournalists.com, I am deeply disappointed that not one of you jerks saw fit to come over here and tell me I'm a stiff or genius, even. No Murray's for you.

/sidspeak

 

Some may look at it as Sid, approaching 90 years old, sucking up big salary that could be going to someone whose career is getting whacked. Put that way, maybe he should be gracious enough to step aside, enjoy his radio work and save a couple of jobs.

From what I've heard, though, Sid probably looks at it as some nobody's career vs. his life. Seriously. He reportedly noticed that when Bear Bryant quit coaching, he died soon thereafter, and refuses to let it happen to him. No one lives for his silly job more than Sid.

He's not coasting, though. Not by octogenarian standards, not by middle-aged standards. The quality of his work is debatable but the effort he expends is legit.

 

sid is a brand. people buy the paper and go to the web site to read sid. like it or not, he adds value to the paper. no one buys the paper or clicks on startribune.com to read jim souhan.

 

I've seen enough of these to learn something.
If Sid stepped aside and "saved three or four copy editors," those three or four copy editors would be gone in April. So, the notion you -- or anyone -- is saving jobs by taking a buyout is misguided.

But, not as absurd as this statement:

You're only as good as your last column? What?
The man has written columns for fucking 65 years. Conservatively, he's written over 7,500 columns.

 

My close personal friends George Steinbrenner and Bobby Knight say you're a good guy.

 

I've been inside since the early 1980s.

This whole "writers need copy editors" argument is becoming moot in 2010.

Of course writers need copy editors. If quality is a concern.

Quality is becoming less and less of a concern, and as hard as it is to hear, that's simply the truth. I'm sorry, but in a straight up reporters vs. editors game, with no other considerations, papers need writers because that's where the copy comes from. Papers need editors because that's where the CLEAN copy comes from.

The priority on clean copy is greatly diminished. In a straight-up judgment of everybody's value, the people who gather the news are more important than the people who make it better. Simple as that.

 

Of course, as print becomes less important and online more important, errors can be made to disappear once they are brought to someone's attention -- usually by a reader, nowadays.

 

Sadly true, but very true.

Funny, but when the public calls to complain about some error they see in print, they almost always say, "Don't you people have proofreaders there anymore?"

No. No we don't. And we haven't for about 20 years.

 

Weird how the whole dynamic has flipped.
It used to be, at least when I was getting started, that the path to career advancement was through the desk and desk jobs were more stable and secure than being a reporter.
Page design and editing being an art that required specialized skills and years of on the job experience in various design systems. It used to be, being fluent in say DTI meant you could get a job at a paper that used the program.
Now being a reporter (content provider) means that your job is, slightly, more secure than being on the desk.
Partly because inDesign is now the industry standard and simpler to use, along with automation, the much smaller paper of today doesn't really need multiple designers to work on four-page sections when one, highly stressed person, can make it work.

 

Ugh.

As much as I detest Sid (I don't know that I've ever seen a more arrogant SOB in the press box ever!), the Strib is not going to can him, force him into retirement or anything like that. He has the most secure job in this business.

People read him, people like him.

The Strib gets rid of him, they might as well close up shop.

(There MH, is that good enough for ya from mnSportsJournalists.com? Even though I'm not a close personal friend of Sid's?)

 

I'm still amazed that I find myself on SportsJournalists.com defending Sid's right to work. Things I never thought I'd be doing for $100, Alex.

STG, no love for me from Holtz?

Rosie, can I be be Today's Sports Hero?

I'm going to Vescio's and try and figure all this out over a plate of pasta 8)