Durham hit today?

Mike Potter from sports. Half dozen in the newsroom total with 2-3 more reshuffled.

Mike covered the Hurricanes, the Bulls and N.C. Central.

 

Proof that Paxton has found a backhoe and/or numerous shovels and somehow lowered the bar. Good freaking grief.

Mike was already doing a serious spackle job trying to juggle all those beats. Small wonder Frank Dascenzo got out of there ... he knew Paxton was slashing and burning.

Mike is one of most easygoing, unassuming people I had the good fortune to meet and I hope he lands on his feet in a hurry. That he deserved much better goes without saying.

 

This is downright awful. Mike is a great guy who works his tail off. But I am not surprised because it's Paxton, the JRC of the South.

 

So who the heck is left in sports? It seemed that Mike was the only writer left after the previous slash-and-burns ...

 

SE, UNC beat, Duke beat, preps beat and a desker.

 

Aren't the Hurricanes still alive? And they can the beat guy?
Can you imagine replacing one guy ... how much that will make the others work and how much shittier the sports pages will be?
In its heydey, how many were in sports in this once fine sports section.

 

Here's how they're listed on the Web site (college beats added by me):

So the Durham paper has basically become like much smaller papers: Just about everybody works the desk. Duke beat writer Strickland appears to be the only one who doesn't work the desk. He'll probably be worked like crazy picking up Potter's beats such as the Bulls and the Canes.

The interesting part will come when the football season starts, particularly if the Bulls make the playoffs. They'll have to get stringers to get everything covered. Never mind features during the week.

 

Wow, they really are stretched thin, given all they have to cover. I wouldn't be surprised if they got the Canes fron AP now. That's the Paxton way. Frank retired at the right time and doesn't have to put up with Paxton's crap anymore.

 

I went from Paxton to MG last year. My seven months at MG have been so bad in so many ways, I almost forgot what Paxton was capable of. This is a sad reminder that they're still as evil as ever.

 

Durham's website today has an AP story on the Hurricanes and nothing on the Bulls, who are home.

I've always enjoyed my dealings with Mike. He always seemed to have 800 things on his plate, mainly because he did with all of those beats. I remember his amazement that the Durham paper wouldn't deliver to his new house because it was a quarter-mile inside Wake County.