Heat beat, West Palm Beach, Fla.

I definitely don't think that was said. Maybe tongue in cheek but those days are long gone in this business.

 

Herald wants Windhorst bad. So does ESPN.com. Word from Dolphins camp is Ethan Skolnick now frontrunner to be Palm Beach's Heat guy.

 

Ethan would be a great hire.

 

Evan has worked at the Post before.

It would seem to be a step down for Ethan--because he's a columnist and takeout guy at the larger circulation Sun Sentinel. But the place is such a mess now, I wouldn't be surprised he bolts.

 

Considering the amount of attention that will be paid to the Heat over the next few years, I can see making the move.

 

Step down...or step back to where he belongs? Juice is a good dude, but he's been overmatched as a columnist in that market. Maybe he's closed the gap a tad in the past couple of years, but he's not the guy you read first or fourth for perspective when big stuff breaks down there. Not a rip on him. Most columnists would hit sixth in that lineup.

As for 1HP handing out blank checks...hey MileHigh, they backed up the truck to get you, right?

 

I would argue that no professional team in the country will garner the attention the Miami Heat will for the next few/several years. If the Miami papers are going after some of the names being mentioned (current and former columnists) I'm guessing they understand the importance of having the right people on the beat. From what I've heard, each of the South Florida papers will have more than one person on the Heat beat.

 

Um, Yankees will draw more attention than Heat, because they're the Yankees. Will the Heat garner more attention than any other NBA team? Perhaps. But that's a far cry from "no professional team in the country." It's still basketball.

 

At least for the first season, every game the Heat play will be an event. It will be billed as the best talent ever assembled and people like myself, who hate the NBA, will be watching with hopes that someone gets injured and it becomes a trainwreck. That might only last for the first year, but I would definitely argue that for the first year, this team will get more coverage than the Yankees, the Cowboys, the Lakers etc.

That's not to say that kind of coverage will be deserved, that remains to be seen. The rumor is that ESPN will be dispatching a team (a minimum of three writers and at least one on-air guy) to follow these guys around. Supposedly at least one of the South Florida papers will be sending a guy around to do what Michael Leahy did for the Washington Post when Jordan was with the Wizards.

 

West Palm Beach is a 90-minute (on a green light/no accident/no road-rage day) drive from AAA.
Not exactly Heat country.
No writer will change that.
No amount of TNT/ESPN hype will change that.
And, seriously, an event? Dude, it's an 82-game season. If you've covered the NBA, you know these dudes show up for 20 games, play hard for 2 quarters of 50 other games and completely go through the motions the remaining 12.

 

Hate to disagree you on this one 1HP, but it's maybe 1 hour and 10 minutes top. I've made it from Boca, which is about 20 minutes south of WPB, in 45 minutes, and that's with no road rage and not flying.