SMG: Peter Kerasotis

Awesome! I've got to pick up a copy.

 

I didn't so much mind that. I mean, when you look at how tough it is to even get to where he is, it's probably 1/10 of 1 percent of us, if that, plus add in the APSEs ... yeah, I think it's relatively valid. And he was trying to make a point about how shitty the quality of life components of our job are. What if someone told a lawyer that they had to be in the top 1/10 of 1 percent of their profession to rake in a cool $50-60K a year? They'd choke on their caviar.

 

Favorite restaurant (home): Carrabba's Italian Grille, Merritt Island "Italian the way Italian ought to be - my wife and I went to Italy and kept saying 'this isn't as good as Carrabba's'"

Gotta wonder about that observation.

Reminds me of someone I worked with who went to Spain for two weeks, then came back bitching about it because "Everyone spoke Spanish there."

 

Carrabba's is pretty darned good. But the "average" Italian restaurant we patronized in Bellagio (the one in Italy, not the one in Vegas) was better than that.

 

I worked at a Gannett paper, and one year the Christmas bonus was a gift certificate ... for a free psychiatric counseling session!

 

Hey, when I worked for Gannett, I go no Christmas bonus at all. So you guys are way ahead of me.

 

+1
My Christmas bonus the cold cut tray they bought for those of us working on Christmas Day. The one upside was the holiday pay -- the equivalent of triple-time for most of the day.

 

Am I reading this correctly?

"If you had a job where every day your picture was put on the quantity and quality of work you do - not only for the community, for the whole world - you would understand pressure. It doesn't matter if you have a headache or home problems or whatever it is that divides your attention."

Wow.

I'm hoping Peter read that quote and grimaced. Please tell me did. I'm sure his co-workers got a kick out of it.

Man. What ... an .... ego.

Seriously, what makes this such a great interview?

First, he goes out of his way to show everyone that he's a big fish in a small pond. He's won national awards. He's just as good as the "metro" guys. He competed against the big names out in LA. He gets info the beat guys don't get from Bruce Bochy and Tim Wakefield!

Then he bashes management basically because -- let's be honest -- they buried his column.

 

I see what you're saying, but I think all of us have felt that about our mistakes being magnified. Seems like Peter is still upset about writing that the '85 Bears-Dolphins game was played in "Soldiers" Field.

(Pssst, Pete ... It's "Soldier" Field.)

 

Peter's a great writer and a better person. Don't judge him on a couple of cut-and-paste quotes. Impressed to see him going after his editors a little on conflicting play on stories.

 

I've worked with Pete (oops, Peter) before, and he has a very strong sense of self-importance; some people called him St. Pete. What silentbob quoted is typical Pete.

 

Just as a guess, what would you guess that Peter makes?

He says we would be dumbfounded by it.

Ballpark figures anybody?