I could always work for the weekly up the highway

So, if you recognize my name, you may or may not be on to the fact that my ME busted me for a column I wrote. Not because I had any innacurate information, but because a player's mother didn't like it.

Just today, I was gazing at the weekly published just up the highway, a sister publication under the same corporate roof as my shop. And I shit you not, it ain't the Plain-Dealer, but I know I could work there and do a ton better.

Why?

It's shit. Here's just a reason or three.

He writes a shitty column that mostly focuses on himself.

He rips off the SI "The Pop Culture Grid" box. Sure, he talks to local sports personalities, but he asks questions such as "Flava Flav is ..." (However, credit to the football coach for answering correctly.)

He publishes "Chuck Norris Facts." Now, I'm sure we all love the Chuck Norris Facts, but do they really belong in the newspaper?

It's crap. Everybody knows it's crap and it's mocked everywhere we turn. I've had coaches and players mock it and complain to me about the content. Yet nothing is done about it.

So, how does this clown at the weekly keep his job when I'm reprimanded because somebody's mom didn't agree with a column?

Fuck. I may be unreasonably bitchy about this, but ... but ... fuck.

 

Part of it is because you work for two different people; four, actually, if you count publishers.
As we've told you before: freshen up the resume and get the hell out of there. Go to another paper, go work at the grocery store until something else comes along, but just go -- becuase if you're half as unhappy as you sound, you're going to leave eventually. Whether it's your choice or not down the road is all up to you now.

 

"Busted" you for a column you wrote, just because somebody's mom didn't like it? Without expressing details that might out you to someone who doesn't already know you, can you elaborate?

 

Sure, check your PM.

 

some of those weeklys pay pretty good -- relatively speaking -- and the pressure is not near as intense.

 

He's right. I made $30K as SE of a weekly chain, then took a pay cut to work for my first daily.

 

I did the same thing. There are aspect of working at a weekly that I miss, but I don't miss the constant 60-hour weeks.

 

Well, for that one in particular, it probably is a suit gig since it doesn't have to be taken too seriously.

 

I made more than $40K at a biweekly... but it was union so it was rare...

 

Yikes, the "dreaded" U word. Dare not speak it around Lee.

 

Tide,

Being a bland, boring and unoriginal columnists has its advantages -- not many moms are going to call and complain.

I don't know what you did to rile mom. Maybe it was something you need to be aware of, maybe it was you pushing the envelope and touching a nerve.

So hang it there, but keep your rotten, grits-covered paws away from the Plain-Dealer, if you knw what's good for you.