Mike Downey leaving Trib

[Moderator1]

I heard something interesting out of Chicago today that I'm trying to confirm - if anyone has an idea of what I might mean, please PM me.

EDIT: Got several PMs with the information. See next post

 

[Moderator1]

Re: Hello Chicago? Pipeline is calling

Sent via Pipeline:

From Sports Editor Dan McGrath:


After 5-plus years of distinguished service to the Tribune, and many more to the LA Times, the Detroit Free Press, the Sun-Times and the late, great, Daily News, Mike Downey is leaving us.

I say this with profound sadness. Mike is not only one of the most accomplished sports columnists in the country, he is one of the best people, as any of us who have worked with him can attest.His columns were an integral part of some of our biggest stories of the last five years---the Cubs in ’03, the White Sox in ’05, the Bears in ’06---but he was even more valuable four times a week as a wise, wry, sane voice of reason. At a time when self-promoting, look-at-me bloviation is increasingly seen as the way to go in his business, Mike let his clever words, his clear thoughts and his crafty insights speak for themselves, unerringly. He was a class act from the day he showed up here. It was a privilege to work with him.

Mike has written his last column, but he and Gail will be around for a few weeks before they head back to their home and family in

California

. I’m sure he’d appreciate hearing from his colleagues. Please join me in wishing him well, and thanking him. He served with distinction.
Dan McG

 

[Cousin Jeffrey]

Big job available now, perhaps. Though they should just promote David Haugh from in-house, but they'll probably end up hiring this guy, the self-proclaimed best teammate in town.

http://www.michiganavemag.com/MA_HO08_152_MAR.html

 

[GuessWho]

Downey wrote one of the best rip jobs I ever read back in the late 70s-early 80s, I think. It was on Mark Spitz. Not that he didn't have a lot of material to work with.

 

[Dickens Cider]

They have to fill the position. A paper the size of the Trib can't get away with just having Morrissey.

 

[playthrough]

One would think...

 

[Dickens Cider]

One would think...

Or do they leave it empty until Mariotti's contract expires?

 

[BYH]

I'm sure no one could have imagined the day The Boston Globe had only two columnists.

Yet here it is.

 

[playthrough]

One would think...

Or do they leave it empty until Mariotti's contract expires?

If they do, and then hire Mariotti for big bank and trumpet the hire in ads all over town, good on them. At least it's an investment in the product and a sign of initiative.

 

[Joe Williams]

Still wonder why, if the Sun-Times was soooo relieved to shed Mariotti (after paying him big bucks for 17 years) and even wooed back readers by touting his departure from the paper, that its editors would bother to enforce a non-compete clause.

If he is such a cancer and lazy ass (not going into clubhouses for quotes), wouldn't the Sun-Times be happy for him to infest the Tribune ASAP?

 

[Fredrick]

The Tribune should just say no to Mariotti. That will be so disappointing if they stoop to hiring Mr. Cliche Column.
Sun Times should let him go there. He's not going to sell any papers, he might get a few extra internet clicks from Chicago sports fans wanting to skim his cliche-ridden rants against starting quarterbacks, managers named Ozzie, coaches named Lovie, owners of all local teams who get on losing streaks, while also writing about curses, Bartman, Harrelson.
I'd say 80-20 they hire him as soon as they are allowed by law.

 

[slappy4428]

The Tribune should just say no to Mariotti. That will be so disappointing if they stoop to hiring Mr. Cliche Column.
Sun Times should let him go there. He's not going to sell any papers, he might get a few extra internet clicks from Chicago sports fans wanting to skim his cliche-ridden rants against starting quarterbacks, managers named Ozzie, coaches named Lovie, owners of all local teams who get on losing streaks, while also writing about curses, Bartman, Harrelson.
I'd say 80-20 they hire him as soon as they are allowed by law.

They'll hire him, but will wish they didn't.

 

[hwkcrz1]

If David Haugh gets the job, he deserves it. He is a fine journalist, and he did some amazing columns during his time in South Bend.
If the Trib hires Mariotti, as I've thought they'd do all along, then so be it.

 

[Screwball]

At a time when self-promoting, look-at-me bloviation is increasingly seen as the way to go in his business, Mike let his clever words, his clear thoughts and his crafty insights speak for themselves, unerringly. He was a class act from the day he showed up here. It was a privilege to work with him.

If this is how the sports editor feels (as excerpted from above memo), then the only way Mariotti is hired is over this guy's dead body, right? Makes you wonder how much a say the SE had in the discussions before the Sun-Times decided to enforce its non-compete clause.

 

[Fredrick]

I agree screwball. The SE will have nothing to do with the hire of cliche Jay. It would totally come from above. I'm sure the owner cares not about what the SE thinks. If they negotiated with cliche Jay before that means he is heavy on their radar.

 

[Dickens Cider]

If David Haugh gets the job, he deserves it. He is a fine journalist, and he did some amazing columns during his time in South Bend.
If the Trib hires Mariotti, as I've thought they'd do all along, then so be it.

I think Haugh is a fantastic nuts-and-bolts writer, but I have yet to see him have an opinion at the Trib that is anything but vanilla. I didn't see any of his work in South Bend, though.

 

[slappy4428]

I agree screwball. The SE will have nothing to do with the hire of cliche Jay. It would totally come from above. I'm sure the owner cares not about what the SE thinks. If they negotiated with cliche Jay before that means he is heavy on their radar.

Wouldnt be the first time that a columnist hire comes from above the SE's paygrade...

 

[accguy]

You have to remember that Bill Adee, who is now McGrath's boss at the Tribune, used to be the SE at the Sun-Times.

If Jay ends up at the Tribune, Adee is the reason why.

 

[Fran Curci]

ACCguy, you sure about who reports to whom?

Adee formerly reported to McGrath and later moved out of sports.

Unless something changed just lately, Adee is associate managing editor for innovation, AKA the Internet guy.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

A tree falls in an empty forest.

Pray it isn't Eddie. But, you know, it . . .