Gone, Wisconsin: McGinn, Gardner leave Journal-Sentinel

Legendary Packers writer Bob McGinn and Bucks reporter Charles Gardner stepping down. Of course, it's Gannett, so let the skepticism begin:

McGinn, Gardner ending standout careers at Journal Sentinel

 

This on the same day Gannett let sports reporters/editors go in Pennsylvania and Indiana, and probably more.

 

"leaving" must be the new euphemism for let go or taking buyout (I noticed ESPNers used the same term). No doubt McGinn and Gardner are part of the latest Gannett cutbacks especially since McGinn said he's not retiring.

 

What a shame. We all know how bad the industry is, but if Bob McGinn can be forced out of covering the Packers beat for the biggest paper in Wisconsin...wow. That's like Alabama football here.

I live in Wisconsin and grew up a Packers fan, there's simply nobody like him. We all have our biases based on where we live and who we grew up reading, but Bob McGinn has been appointment reading for Packers and NFL fans for so long. This is a shame. I tell Packers fans, "Be thankful for the last quarter-century of watching Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers and reading Bob McGinn."

This is going to sound romantic and probably corny, but it's so frustrating to see the last vestiges of "old-school" guys being shown the door. Not that other very good Packers reporters haven't come and gone and aren't still around, but McGinn was THE definitive source on the team. If McGinn wrote something, then you fucking damn well cared about it.

Especially with the NFL where games are dissected 500 million ways within 3 hours of the game ending, it's rare to keep that appointment reading status. But for me and so many Packers fans, the story of the game wasn't really written until you read McGinn the next morning (or, in more recent years, at least when it was posted online at night).

He was definitely a nuts and bolts, no-frills reporter. I honestly don't ever remember him writing a single player feature, in the sense of writing about a player's life, interviewing a player's family, etc. There's a place for that. That wasn't McGinn's place. His place was in the guts of the game. On a day-to-day basis during the season, he had an incredible way of bringing the thoughts of scouts and personnel guys into the laps of fans. His reporting was as dogged as it gets. He was a true "source guy." I'll be no NFL beat guy had more sources than McGinn.

He'd often said that the way he approached reporting on the Packers changed when Ron Wolf arrived as GM. When he started the beat in the mid-80s, the Packers were horrible. Basically a laughingstock. Then Wolf turned them into a Super Bowl champion, and McGinn always said it was the most unfathomable turnaround he'd ever seen. From then on, he said it was his goal not just to write about games and players, but about what it REALLY took to win in the NFL, how the guts of the game truly worked. And boy did he ever succeed. His Ultimate Super Bowl Book is like porn for diehard football fans and reporters, all at the same time.

He did it all with straightforward writing, too. He'd never spin a phrase like, say, vintage Rick Reilly. Sometimes his writing could best be described as "basic," but the amount of information he packed into a few paragraphs was more than some beat guys could get in a month. He could and would often be brutally critical, too, but you knew it was never a bullshit hot-take, because he wouldn't write anything if he didn't both believe it and have loads of sources to formulate his beliefs.

From time to time, he'd pick up some spare work for the JS in a pinch. I remember a couple years ago he covered like a boys HS sectional basketball game. The fucking story must've been 42 inches long. Nobody would ever get away with that, but he could. Even in a HS hoops gamer, the amount of information he had was absurd. And that was presumably on something he didn't have much knowledge of going into. The guy is a fucking wizard.

I sure hope he continues to write. As for Gannett, continue to run off your hardest-working, most-talented, most-read staffers. Great business model. Fuckers.

 

Who got cut in PA?

 

I agree with everything you said about McGinn. Paul Bedard is the editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal and has won the Pulitzer. He has been quoted as saying he wishes he could do his job as well as McGinn.

I also believe that McGinn is going to be working for a national outlet by the end of the month.

 

No doubt.

McGinn can do anything he wants. He can retire and never write about football again, though I doubt that will happen. It's stuff of legend that he has like a basement filled with notes/info/media guides, it's like a football museum. I'm sure he could spin out several books without much trouble. And, obviously, national outlets are almost certainly already calling him.

I'd imagine Peter King would slobber to get him over at The MMQB. One thing I can't imagine he'll ever do is write for packers.com or nfl.com. He's not that kind of guy. He won't write "butter-up" pieces or hot-button opinion takes.

I once remember he used to do a weekly Q and A with readers, and they were so great. I'll never forget one guy asking if it was only natural for him to root for the Packers, and the guy even referenced how Bob Ryan said it was only natural to become a fan of the teams he covered to some degree.

McGinn's response? There are hundreds of thousands of Packers fans. They don't need one more. Not my job.

That wasn't meant to criticize Bob Ryan, just classic McGinn. It's the way he operates. It's easy for any sports reporter to puff out his or her chest and say, "I don't care what the players or coaches think of me!," but in practice, I think we all sometimes worry about it. I know I do. McGinn didn't care. I didn't "know" him, but I did some freelancing from time to time where I was around him, and he was absolutely fearless. If a player couldn't or wouldn't answer his inquiries, he had no use for him. He'd find someone who could. Even if it was the trainer.

Yeah, McGinn will be fine. I feel bad for those who won't read him in the JS anymore, like me.

 

Also, I'll give a nod to the other JS beat guy to "retire," Charles Gardner.

He was a bit bland for me, I never really felt I was getting anything I couldn't read from a press release or something. But he was pretty well-respected as a meat-and-potatoes guy. From what I know he was respected around the NBA, though I never personally worked around him.

He wasn't as well-known to readers here because the Bucks are about the fourth- or fifth-highest beat, sometimes lower.

Except when Garry Howard was around and used to wear Bucks jerseys to games. That was...different.

 

Pretty crazy. Wonder if they took buyouts? I don't think McGinn did from sounds of it but I think Gardner may have. 4 other sports guys in Wisconsin were let go that I know of. Including one in the central newsgroup. So, they now have 2 FT sports reporters for 4 markets. Crazy. Don't believe Sheboygan has anyone now.

 

I used to work in Manitowoc about 10 years ago. I left to go elsewhere, but I'm sure I wouldn't be there anymore.

Yeah, Gannett has gutted Wisconsin pretty good. I'm the most cynical person possible, but I never really thought they'd hack into the Packers coverage that way. I try and look at it from their (admittedly sickening) perspective, but what possible business sense does it make to fucking reduce the coverage of the NUMBER ONE item in the state.

And I don't mean number one sports item. I mean number one item, period. People read more about the Packers here than anything. And McGinn wasn't some salary figure that nobody would notice if he left. It's like if the Packers bought out Aaron Rodgers to save a few bucks.

It's just lunacy at this point. Why even publish papers? Just get it over with.

 

That column definitely reads like they were fired. When you cut guys like this in favor of hiring someone that's 24, no experience, no sources and a thimble full of the previous talent, it's time to just quit. I'm surprised readers aren't bailing at higher rates the last couple of years. There's no way I would subscribe to most of these rags these days.