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Next up - Columbia (S.C.) State

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Moderator1, Jan 11, 2010.

  1. Jesus_Muscatel

    Jesus_Muscatel Well-Known Member

    Steve and I worked together here from 1997 until 2000.

    He was here for the Dikta Disaster. His predecessor, John Glennon, did training camp in LaCrosse that summer, in '97, and he arrived in October of that year. I did a couple Saints roadies that year, after covering college football on Saturdays.

    Now .... uh, never mind ...

    Mike Ditka and Buddy Ryan -- Mike was the head coach, so we'll mention his name first -- did a great job with the Chicago Bears. To be truthful, though, it was Jim Finks, the late, great Mr. Finks, who put that team together. Drafted 22 of the Bears' 24 starters on that amazing Super Bowl XX team that bitch-slapped Tony Eason and took the New England Patriots' lunch money.

    Every time ESPN or somebody refers to Ditka, that disgrace of a human being, as a "Hall of Fame coach," I want to puke. He ain't no Hall of Fame coach. He got into Canton as a player. Look it up. Now, he had a lot of success with the Bears. I won't begrudge him that. But by the time he got to New Orleans, to replace another piece of work, Jim "Playoffs!?!?!?" Mora, he was a total joke. A fraud. A so-called celebrity.

    A bully.

    Steve Wiseman ain't the biggest guy on the planet. But he's one of the toughest. And smartest. The Saints drafted some guy from Florida State one year. He went to trial in Tallahassee for sexual assault or something. Steve was there, and, the guy on trial actually told the judge he was having trouble completing the deal, in far more graphic/rudimentary terms .... Bill Kuharich, the big wuss/GM/Ditka apologist in charge of the front office, or so we're told, left the courtroom at one point and saw Steve in the back row.

    Might as well have seen a ghost.

    Steve did a great job here. Busted his ass. Had a wife and young daughter at the time. Was my colleague, my friend, my boy. His last year covering the Saints was the year the BCS national title game was in New Orleans, and Florida State, coincidentally, crushed Michael Vick and Va. Tech in The Dome.

    The next day, Ditka was gone. Kuharich was gone. T-Benz, the Saints' fumbling, bumbling owner, actually got something right. He cleaned house.

    A family friend of mine had a nice two-bedroom apartment on Gov. Nicholls then. He would let me stay there from time to time, when he was out of town on business, which was fairly frequent. Steve came by after the Ditka deal was finally done, and I trotted out a lead on that sorry excuse for human being that I'd been sitting on for two years, about 11 months after his arrival.

    "He came as a fraud, and left as one, too."

    Steve did a lot of the legwork. I did stuff behind the scenes. Steve busted his ass. About six months later, Stevie Wonder went to The State. He did a damn good job there. But he was ready to relocate to North Carolina, when all this went down, fairly recently.

    Steve Wiseman is a great guy, a great friend, a damn tough journalist. Those of us who know him, and have worked with him, will back me up on this.

    That's all I've got, and this time, yeah, I know, it's a lot.

    Steve will be just fine, y'all.
     
  2. SCEditor

    SCEditor Active Member

    Anybody who asked me in the last 10 years to name the best sports writer in South Carolina, I didn't have to think. The answer has always been Bob Gillespie.

    When I was a college kid (briefly), I spent a lot of time that fall in The State's newsroom stringing preps for the regular paper and the Neighbors section. Ernie Trubiano took me under his wing. And there was nothing more special than sitting in the lunch room with Ernie, Bob Cole, Bob Gillespie, Pat Robertson and Bob Spear (Jim McLaurin was always on the road covering NASCAR). I just sat there and listened. I never said a word. I just listened.

    Caraviello is right. There has been a ton of talent at The State and there still is. Just not nearly as much as there used to be. It's sad, really.
     
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