Garry Howard leaving MJS for TSN

I've butted heads with Garry but he deserves better than he is getting here. I have never worked with, or for him, and I am not in his close circle of friends. But For some odd reason the comments here about Garry remind me of college basketball, and the TV announcers who openly promote and applaud certain coaches, yet mute their enthusiasm for others.

The response here about Garry getting one of the top jobs in the country is more than muted -- it is hostile -- and unfairly so, in my opinion.

 

And it's your opinion. Which is fine.

My opinion is different.

 

Please don't ever compare Hoppes to Howard.

The young writers who have worked for Hoppes, most of them would lie down in traffic for him. The older guys who were in Orlando when he arrived, well some of them weren't such huge fans, but if you polled the laundry list of guys he plucked from virtual obscurity who are now at ESPN or columnists somewhere else what they think of Hoppes they'll tell you they owe everything to him.

The nicest thing I've ever heard about Garry Howard is, "Well, he likes me, so I guess I'm lucky."

There will be one hell of a farewell party in Milwaukee, the kind where the person bidding farewell isn't invited.

 

We must know different "most of them"s.

 

Ijag, the racism charges aren't laughable. Like it or not it's reality. People's ass holes get tighter Dick's hat band when race is brought up around here. There are some - and no I don't have a number - who feel as I do.
As for his skills, Ijag, the guy has been in the business for more than three decades. He must have something otherwise he wouldn't have been collecting a check all of this time. And I might be wrong, but I don't think I am, but you're not close to that mark.
You don't like the guy, that's your prerogative. I have no problem with it. However, the venom that is being spewed by many on the thread is uncalled for.

 

This is a guy who high-fived Ray Allen during a game.

This is a guy who pounded the table in the press box during a Packers loss. He then left the box halfway through the game, went to the team store and came back and spent the fourth quarter trying on hats and jerseys and asking his staff, which was on a MNF deadline what they thought.

This is a guy who told his photographers that he was going to stand by Tiger Woods and that they better make sure they get a photo of them together.

This is a guy who at the 2000 Sydney Olympics stood in the press room and chastized his writers because they weren't writing fast enough because he was hungry and wanted to go eat. When he left the room someone asked the Milwaukee writer what Howard had written that day, he said, "A postcard from Sydney."

 

Mizzou, there are many people who don't like Hoppes. The bottom line is, why can't the anonymous experts along here wish a guy good luck instead of bashing him on a promotion?

 

I said there are many people who don't like Hoppes. There are also many who owe their careers to him.

I doubt anyone would say that about Garry Howard. Lord knows he's not the first person in this business to fail upward.

 

Yeah I know. Hell, I've worked with an a-hole who cheered at press row during an NCAA championship game. I've worked for an a-hole who didn't care about minorities or women. I've worked for an a-hole who told a guy with cancer that he was of no use to him because he couldn't work.
Mizzou, there are a lot of a-holes out there. There are a lot of them in journalism. Garry may be a fan at heart - and let's face it, many of us are - but he must have been doing something right. He was still collecting a paycheck. He's made mistakes but he's not the worst SE in this business.

 

Garry isn't an asshole, at least never to me. He's a very, very nice guy.

He's a lunatic. He's the guy who does something and every person in the room is staring at him and he has no idea he's doing anything wrong.

There are a zillion assholes in this business. There's only one Garry Howard.

 

Sure, some of the criticism of him is over the top, and that is unfortunate. But he clearly revels in portraying himself as a larger-than-life personality. So if he has issues professionally .... well, that is going to generate a lot of comment. If he were quietly incompetent, much less would be said on this board or in real life.