Middle-aged f'ing studs?

I'm just hoping there's a market for my type.

Wondering if there were any out there.

One of them who springs to mind is Big Dick Durrett from the Dallas Morning News. He is 35 or so by now and seems to be ridden like a cheap mule by the Belostards. Motor sports, baseball, Cotton Bowl, hockey -- you name the big event, he's contributing.

 

35 is middle-aged?

 

I thought 50 was middle aged.

 

The view from the glass offices: A mediocre 35-year-old can be paid much less than a 50-year-old stud. A clueless 23-year-old can be paid much less than a mediocre 35-year-old. Class dismissed.

 

I'm with ya on the "stud" vs. "mediocre" vs. "clueless" distinctions. But talent levels being equal, a 35-year-old likely has maximum service time for just about any pay scale. So at that point, it's simply a matter of what the person is willing and able to work for -- or how long he/she stays in the same place and continues to get raises that "compound."

I know plenty of 35-year-olds who make as much as 50-year-olds at the same shop. I also know plenty of 50-year-olds who would take a job paying what might be offered to a 35-year-old. Frankly, some 35-year-olds need more money than the 50-year-olds, if they're saving for a house down payment or paying for daycare. Some 50-year-olds already are clearn of tuition bills.

And, the way this business has gone, I know some 50-year-olds who only have gotten a few raises since they were 35. (Silver lining of horsecrap wages: You aren't as likely to get priced out of your job. Big-frickin'-hooray!)

There aren't many 50-year-olds who would, or could, take what a 23-year-old gets paid. But there aren't many 35-year-olds who would do that either. Past your first 10 years in the biz, though, I think the notion that one age group is cheaper than another is mostly artificial.

This is a business where the paycheck tops out pretty quickly, and the only significant raises (if they exist anymore at all) come from job-hopping, which usually means market-hopping. That still doesn't stop management from wanting to push the reset button on its workers' wages.

 

And they are -- over and over and over again.

 

Friend of mine works in a field in which the mid-50s are considered the prime age, so he's actually looking forward to job hopping in another 10. He also doesn't understand how big the disparity is in pay for his local paper and one of the majors in a major city, so he has been able to stay put for almost 20 years while I've moved more than a few times in that same span.

 

I don't know Mr. Durrett, but that description sounds like the beginning of a mighty fine tall tale, ala Paul Bunyan.
"Big Dick Durrett was as tall as 40 horses and as wide as Jason Whitlock, I tells ya! Big Dick would straddle the Metroplex, taking in all the sports he could survey. One time he covered a Rangers game and a Cowboys game at the same time just by turning his head. That hole in the roof at Texas Stadium was put there so Big Dick could see the game. He was too big to fit into the stadium.
"After all he did that day, Big Dick took 10 mighty strides, crossed the Pecos in one, and covered a Texas Tech game in Lubbock. With his trusty laptop 'Toshiba', Big Dick was the mightiest sports writer these old eyes ever seen..."

It might work better if you say it in a grizzled old prospector voice.

 

I wash born here, an I wash raished here, and dad gum it, I am gonna die here, an no sidewindin' bushwackin', hornswagglin' cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter.

 

Rev'ren!

 

What's the field? If I transition now, I can use the next 10 years to reach my prime!

 

In terms of sports journalism, I'd say middle age should be career-based, so, what ... 35-49?

So, I'll throw out a name:

Roger Mooney, Bradenton Herald