Le Batard taking year off from paper

I'll be impressed when he gives a year of his life to Miami community service . . . and I don't mean underprivileged, misunderstood Hurricane scholarship athletes.

 

I was going to stay away from posting on this. I don't want to come off as some bitter, jealous old hack ... but the thread kept calling to me from the top of the stack, like a chocolate donut with sprinkles in a box with a bunch of nonfat rice cakes.
I first met this dude as he was becoming famous, at an Olympics. He spent much of the time curled up asleep on a desk in the Knight-Ridder (RIP) office.
People tiptoed around him, telling me how talented he was. I didn't get it. I still don't get it.
A couple of years ago he showed up one day in the locker room of the team I cover and started gabbing with the beat writers about what wonderful jobs "we" have, spending our time talking to athletes. I'm pretty sure one guy was ready to kill him.
Can anybody explain this phenomenon to me? I find it almost as incomprehensible as the rise of Stephen A.

 

This is galling beyond belief.

'In order to have more balance in his life?' Why doesn't the guy just quit, or get told, 'No, you have to make a choice?' He's already established in other arenas now, anyway, and nobody -- nobody -- is irreplaceable.

In the public eye, Le Batard's name recognition is tied more to his other, more visible, noisy gigs than to the newspaper by now, anyway. It's just the nature of the businesses.

And there are plenty of other good journalists who would love to work for that paper, whether in Le Batard's position, or even, a lesser one, or several lesser ones, for that matter, who would do good-quality work and be more productive, too.

 

When the ego becomes bigger than the talent, fuck the ego.

(Think someone said that in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.)

 

He'll never return to print.

 

Heck, since I see the guy jogging in the park sometimes and it seems he has nothing else to do . . .

. . . bring back Bob Rubin. ;D

 

Oh, he'll keep writing that candy-ass shit he excretes for the Magazine.

 

Promise?

 

DLB just became the poster child for why I oppose newspapers letting their talent branch off into other media endeavors in which the paper does not have a financial stake.

He built his credibility and created a following as a print guy, exploited it for personal gain by crossing over to other media and then told the paper to fuck off. The only way this leave of absence would be acceptable is if he was shutting down everything for the year with the exception of a TV appearance here or a magazine piece there.

The paper got no meaningful benefit out of DLB's moonlighting. And now they have a position that will stay dark for a year until DLB informs them next spring he won't be back.

 

The only thing more galling would be if Le Batard was going to spend the next year working for a media outlet owned by Paul Allen one of the Miami team owners.

 

Nice.

 

So you would actively prevent your employees from moving up the ladder? Boy, I'd hate to work for you.

Like it or not, newspapers have become mid-majors to television's power conferences. When a mid-major makes a run to the Sweet 16 or Final Four, their coach is going to get cherry picked by the guys who pay more money and give them a bigger stage on which to display their talents. It's the nature of the business these days.

I'm not saying they should give DLB a leave of absence - he'll be forgotten by his readership after a year away from the paper and, after all, there's always someone younger, cheaper and maybe even better coming up the turnpike - but if he wanted to moonlight with ESPN or whomever, they should allow that. As long as they are satisfied with his work at the paper, he should be free to explore other money-making opportunities (lord knows, newspapers don't pay well enough). Once they are no longer satisfied with his product - sayonara.