Jason Reid named sports columnist at WaPo

The timing makes the Post look good.
The decision is a no brainer and probably was made a week earlier.

 

Here's a recent "On Football" column by Reid. Keep in mind, the "On Football" columns are very different than his own column will likely be.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/28/AR2010122804126.html

 

I'm a fairly regular reader of the Post, and nothing Reid has ever written has knocked my socks off. However, my perception of him is that he's a very tight writer and a good reporter who provides a lot of good analysis.

 

By all accounts, sounds like a great hire.

That being said, he's only covered the Redskins for The Post. Wilbon covered almost everything imaginable for The Post before he got bumped to columnist.

 

Wilbon didn't work at the Los Angeles Times before he got to the post. Reid covered NBA and MLB at the Times.

In addition, things have changed. Reporters at major news organizations are, more and more, becoming "specialists," which has its merits and its negatives.

Regardless, I'm very interested to see who will fill his role as Redskins writer alongside Rick Maese. Anyone think Adam Kilgore could be a candidate? He's a fantastic Nationals beat writer who did a great job on the Patriots at the Boston Globe, but I'd hate to see them have to hire a third Nationals writer in three years.

 

Jason Reid, 41, called by his editor "one of the most hard-working, conscientious and thoughtful sports writers in the country," told Journal-isms that "I can't look at this as 'I'm going to replace Michael Wilbon.' No one is capable of replacing him." He said he would produce columns based on his own reporting and had not educated himself enough on the controversy over the name of the NFL team he covers, the Washington Redskins, to have formed an opinion.

"In his four years at the Post, Jason has become the dominant beat writer on the Redskins with impeccable sources in the locker room, front office, among player agents and around the league," Post Sports Editor Matt Vita said in a note to the Post staff. "His tireless work leading the Redskins Insider has helped grow the audience for the blog in each of the last three seasons. This past year, Jason demonstrated his considerable skills as an analyst and observer in writing weekly On Football columns that routinely were among the most widely read Redskins stories on the website.

"I am confident Jason has the experience, work ethic and drive to become a top-flight commentator on sports and their role in society, and will be a welcome addition to Tom Boswell, Sally Jenkins, Mike Wise and Tracee Hamilton as the best lineup of sports columnists in the country."

Wilbon left the Post last month after more than 31 years at the paper. A co-host of ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption," Wilbon said he would devote more time to his ESPN duties. He was the Post's only full-time sports columnist of color, and Reid, like Wilbon, is a black journalist.

 

I hate nonsense such as "best lineup of sports columnists in the country." And "...has become the dominant beat writer on the Redskins." Such rhetorical bullcrap.

What does a Washington Post subscriber care if the paper's lineup of columnists is better (by whatever standard might be conjured) than the Dallas paper's or a Los Angeles paper's? What does "best" mean in that context? If it's writing about Washington sports, well, who the hell else is going to be doing that on a regular and presumably in-depth basis? If it's national topics, we all can go get that stuff at whatever paper's Web site suits us. Empty verbiage.

As for the other, wouldn't it be nice to think that the Post -- as a destination paper -- would hire beat writers who can be dominant on their beats from Day 1? The Post and the New York Times seem to expect readers to go along for the ride while their young hires learn to work without training wheels. Why wouldn't they just pluck from among the top reporters in their sports working at other papers? Isn't that what the minor leagues are for?

The sort of puffery in that promotion memo is the reason most managers should never be turned loose near a keyboard. Just go with "Jason's better than or as good as anyone else we've got and has earned this promotion."

 

I read in one of the stories reporting this that the memo said something along the lines of "a strong external candidate has emerged."

While I have absolutely no idea if its true, one possibility could be Zach Berman, who was a Washington Post Intern, covered UVA sports and other odds and ends until moving to The Star-Ledger to cover the Giants this past season. Post roots? Check. NFL experience? Check.

 

was Garafolo off Giants this year?

 

Large papers are full of people like anybody else. People who like to say they discovered so and so at a young age, preferably an intern. Mostly, they don't want to have teach what they perceive as "new tricks" to "old dogs." Happens all the time. Happens too much. You either make a major metro by a certain age or career stop - or they will rarely accept you, regardless of the work you do.

That's why it's unfortunate that this site spends way too much time name-dropping the top 12 percent of the industry and how terrific they are without more closely examining the quality of the work - or the work of people who are frankly better than some at major metros, but didn't get fast-tracked for a variety of reasons.

 

FYI...I think Reid is a dry-but-effective writer. If you have one columnist out of five who's like that, OK.

 

OUTFUCKINGSTANDING ALMA!!!!!!