RIP Glenn Dickey

[HanSenSE]

For 40 years the go-to read in the Bay Area as columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. And not afraid to pull any punches. Or as former Chronicle baseball writer John Shea said in this gifted link, “I might be wrong, but he might be the only columnist in Bay Area history to rip Willie Mays and Joe Montana.”

Glenn Dickey, Sporting Green’s acerbic columnist for 40-plus years, dies at 89

 

[MileHigh]

Bay Area -- and journalism -- legend. RIP.

 

[DanOregon]

Oh he was absolutely hated. Never shy about ripping the local heroes. And this was in the '70s and '80s when Bay Area teams were winning championships all the time. He seemed old back when I was a kid. Way ahead of his time in writing stuff that got people talking.

 

[HanSenSE]

He was the one guy who would always go against the grain, back when cities and regions were served by multiple newspapers. For example, while other columnists hated Al Davis, he loved Al Davis.

Always tell myself I want to go to the Watsonville library to see if they have past copies of the Register-Pajaronian on microfilm, just to go back to the early 1960s to read his stories on Watsonville High.

 

[Gym Beam]

He was the one guy who would always go against the grain, back when cities and regions were served by multiple newspapers. For example, while other columnists hated Al Davis, he loved Al Davis.

Always tell myself I want to go to the Watsonville library to see if they have past copies of the Register-Pajaronian on microfilm, just to go back to the early 1960s to read his stories on Watsonville High.

Enjoy...

https://dr2c.bmiimaging.com/index?d... 2012) REGISTER PAJARONIAN&q=Glenn Dickey&p=1

 

[qtlaw]

As a lifelong Chron subscriber and reader, he was definitely must read. However, one thing that sticks out is IIRC he criticized Montana once for bad family planning because his kid was being born during a key game. Otherwise I very much enjoyed reading his columns and stories.

 

[DanOregon]

I realize "things happen" and such. But considering how focused athletes are with their careers, particularly these days with training and supplements, I am surprised when players have kids during the season, or get the flu, particularly the playoffs. Wouldn't you want to be focused? Take precautions? Get the flu shot etc? And yeah, I realize some athletes really aren't in to the "taking precautions" kinda thing.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Aren't babies conceived in the off-season?

 

[Bubbler]

I realize "things happen" and such. But considering how focused athletes are with their careers, particularly these days with training and supplements, I am surprised when players have kids during the season, or get the flu, particularly the playoffs. Wouldn't you want to be focused? Take precautions? Get the flu shot etc? And yeah, I realize some athletes really aren't in to the "taking precautions" kinda thing.

Que?

 

[HanSenSE]

 

[waterytart]

People have been known to have spontaneous sex. Babies have been known to follow.

 

[DanOregon]

Of course, particularly male athletes who don't have to worry about HAVING the kid, missing part of their season and the Super Bowl. You don't think Olympic athletes are aware of the window when they are having marital relations in the months leading up to the Games?

 

[dixiehack]

Baseball may be a religion full of magic, cosmic truth, and the fundamental ontological riddles of our time, but it's also a job.

Do you let your office dictate when you can and can’t have a kid? Why should a pro athlete, especially when they have more duck you money than this board combined?

It’s a job.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Of course, particularly male athletes who don't have to worry about HAVING the kid, missing part of their season and the Super Bowl. You don't think Olympic athletes are aware of the window when they are having marital relations in the months leading up to the Games?

No.

 

[Bubbler]

Of course, particularly male athletes who don't have to worry about HAVING the kid, missing part of their season and the Super Bowl. You don't think Olympic athletes are aware of the window when they are having marital relations in the months leading up to the Games?

There is joe average misplacement of priorities … and then there is this.

One of the worst conversations I ever had with a coach - and this was a guy I liked and remain in touch with - was when he went off on one of his players off-the-record for missing the opening game of the season because the player’s wife was having their first child.

He went on and on about his lack of commitment to the team, his misplaced priorities, etc. Said something like having a first child was less important than playing the first game.

This was college basketball. The player was a fifth-year senior who was in the rotation, but hardly a major cog. This was a random nonconference game that wasn’t going to turn the fate of the team one way or another.

Even if the player had been the star of the team, this was one of those occasional signposts in covering college sports (pre-NIL/portal) that reflected how damn entitled and out of touch with reality many in the enterprise are.

And in a greater sense, how entitled we all can be that sports is often put on a pedestal above real life.

 

[DanOregon]

To be clear, I really don't care. I don't take "offense" or anything if a player has a kid during an important part of the season. I'm just expressing surprise that athletes, who typically are so focused on maximizing their potential through their years of training, their diet etc. to get to that point of even having an important game wouldn't "plan" for when a kid might arrive.
Clearly we've seen athletes and coaches recently show how sex will "motivate" you to do things that are far, far more damaging than distract you during a season. It's cost people careers, jobs, families and money.

 

[ChrisLong]

A random memory when I was thumbing through the Dodgers media guide (around 1982). In the bios, the players kids and their birthdates were listed. I noticed that several of them had kids near the beginning of October. I mentioned this to Dusty Baker. He shrugged. I said, that means you got drunk on New Year's Eve and knocked up your wife. He smiled and said, "Yep, that's exactly what happened." Back then, the beginning of October was when the World Series was played. Imagine missing a World Series game -- or not -- to attend the birth of a child.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Apropos of nothing, I'm remembering how Brock Nelson's wife gave birth during the Islanders' run in the 2021 playoffs. I think it happened on an off-day and Brock was able to be at his wife's side. Anyway, I did the math and realized the baby was born just shy of nine months since the Islanders returned home from the pandemic bubble, when all the guys surely wanted to get it on with their WAGs. Good on you, Brock.

 

[Dog8Cats]

Well that's about three minutes of my life I'll never get back.