High school sports reporter, Savannah, Ga

I haven't been to Savannah, but if it is even half as great as Charleston then I'd love it.

 

Some of us were even lucky enough to grow up there. The place has changed a great deal in the past 10 years -- not necessarily for the better -- but it's still one of the best college towns in the country.

I like Savannah a lot, always enjoy visiting though I don't get down there much. I did the Tybee Island marathon about 10 years ago. I don't know what Tybee is like now, but back then I described it to my brother as "If Steverino's was an island, it would be Tybee."

 

Half as great is about right. Savannah is indeed a cool town. But if you're comparing objectively, there's really no comparison.

 

Slight correction: Don Heath has been on the GSU football beat since they restarted their football program. He does do prep basketball in the winter. The way things work there, the beats differ by season. Jim Thomas, the Armstrong State basketball writer and Sand Gnats baseball writer, does prep football in the fall. Heath does GSU in fall, preps in winter and college baseball (GSU, Sav State, Armstrong) in the spring. They went to mixing it up a few years ago when they decided they should devote two people to preps. The current set up is Chris Lancia is year-round preps, Thomas is the second person on football, Heath is the second person on basketball. I would assume Lancia's job is the one open, although I don't know that for sure.

And Savannah is great. Tony Stastny is a great guy to work for, as is his assistant, Sean Coughlin.

 

Yes, Lancia is moving to news.

 

vanbrimmer hit the nail on the head. It's a great city to live, with plenty to do when you're not working. Anthony Stastny is a great guy to work for (I worked for him for 6 years). He treats you like an equal, not an employee. He also gives you free rein to take ownership of your beat. You've got a first-rate newspaper office to work in. And you can't beat HS sports in southeast Ga - football, basketball, baseball and several other sports all have strong teams with state championship potential.

 

I'm also a Savannah alum and Tony Stastny is a great guy to work for. Savannah is a fun place to live and there's lots to write about on the preps beat. If Pinky Master's is still open, drop by and have a beer or 12.

 

From what I hear, Pinky's has been taken over by the SCAD crowd. It is not the haven for politicians, journalists and other such derelicts it once was.
The Morning News has a swanky new office, away from downtown.
But there ain't a lot of championship caliber teams in the area. Two or three in boys hoops, one or two in girls, one or two decent football teams, a couple of pretty good baseball teams, and that's out of approx. 60 high schools in the area (seems to me back in the day that the Morning News used to cast a wider net than the 45 mentioned, but that could be chalked up to a failing memory.) A few years ago, Savannah was a hotbed for great boys basketball, but for some reason, that has cooled off considerably.
I believe the paper just did a big redesign a couple of months ago.
I think Don was there a year before he jumped on the GSU beat. That's quibbling, so suffice to say he's been doing it a long time and has been doing it well. (And I do not envy him having to do the Teddy Craft story.)
Tim Guidera is as good a golf writer/columnist as there is and he's not above writing about prep events and people.
And if whoever gets this gig wants to do it well, be prepared to spend hot days and stuffy evenings from Darien to Swainsboro and a hundred points in between and eating at Willie's Wee Nee Wagon in Brunswick, Jones Kitchen in Jesup and Vandy's downtown in Statesboro. (Sorry, I happen to have grown up down that way and remember it fondly).

 

yum... art school girls

 

hoops: when's the last time you had a date?

 

with a scad girl? more recently than you'd think

full disclosure: my live-in girlfriend went to scad