RIP The Washington Times's Sports Section
Mike
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/01/daly-the-end-of-times/
DALY: Eulogy for sports
http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/redskins/2009/dec/31/closing-time/
Closing time
By Ryan O'Halloran
http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/redskins/2009/dec/31/this-is-goodbye-for-now/
This is goodbye ... for now
By David Elfin
http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/in-the-room/2009/dec/31/a-heartfelt-goodbye-for-now/
A heartfelt goodbye ... for now
By Corey Masisak
http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/redskins/2009/dec/31/closing-time/
Closing time
By Ryan O'Halloran on Dec. 31, 2009 into Redskins 360Subscribe
Friday is it for the Washington Times as a newspaper who services the
sports fan.
Incredible, isn’t it?
An area the size of D.C./Maryland/Virginia will have only one
newspaper traveling to San Diego this weekend for the Redskins finale,
snapping my personal streak of 98 consecutive games and Times’ streak
of more than a quarter-century.
Amazing, isn’t it?
A staff the quality of the Times, from designers and copy editors to
columnists and beat writers to feature writers and management and
whose alumni includes a current NFL general manager (Carolina’s Marty
Hurney) and magazine’s current best golf writer (John Hawkins), has
been kicked to the curb.
Unfathomable, isn’t it?
In early December, we disposable parts read between the lines when a
40-percent staff reduction was announced. Wednesday’s confirmation
that sports was eliminated along with myriad other departments was
just the final nail. We’ve all long since prepared resumes to pursue
future employment.
As for myself …
Best-case scenario: I’ll have a new opportunity in the area sooner
rather than later.
Realistic-case scenario: Showing a complete willingness to move
anywhere, I’ll leave Washington to pursue a new job. As shown by my
background (North Dakota to Kansas to New York to Virginia to D.C.),
I’ll go where the work is.
This is what the Times allowed me to cover since I came aboard in
August 2005: Every Redskins playoff/regular season game since 2005,
four Super Bowls (including Patriots-Giants and Cardinals-Steelers
thrillers), Brett Favre’s last game as a Packer (OT loss to Giants),
two Capitals playoff runs (19 games, including three Game 7s), a
Maryland women’s basketball championship (beating Duke in Boston),
George Mason-Connecticut in the Elite Eight, Boston University’s
overtime win over Miami in the Frozen Four, three Kentucky Derbys, one
Daytona 500, one NBA All-Star Game in Las Vegas, one NFL player
funeral (Sean Taylor), 29 states visited on the company dime and the
crème le crème – 24 days in August 2008 covering the Beijing Olympics.
On to the acknowledgements (get ready for a ton of names) …
*The inner circle: From the Times, Mark Zuckerman (confidant
extraordinaire, along with better half Rachel), Dan Daly (more on him
later) and John Taylor (deputy sports editor, constant communicator
when it came to Redskins coverage and a sounding board), and John Keim
(Washington Examiner, always good for a ‘Seinfeld’ reference and
willing accomplice when making fun of his middle son, Chris), Lindsay
Czarniak (NBC 4, always there with advice and He Said/She Said blog
partner) and Lauren Houlon (ESPN 980, who always answers her cell
phone regardless of the hour).
*The fellow beat writer. Always ready with a fact of Redskins history,
an agent’s phone number or a player’s salary cap figure was Dave
Elfin, who I hope can continue in his role as Pro Football Hall of
Fame voting member (without Dave, Art Monk wouldn’t be in Canton
according to voters who witnessed Dave’s impressive presentation of
Art two years ago in Phoenix).
*The boss: Mark Hartsell gave his beat writers latitude in every way
imaginable, let people he trusted write things like Redskins Insider
and embraced versatility.
*The co-workers: Bob Cohn, Mike Jones, Thom Loverro, Corey Masisak,
Tom Knott, Ben Goessling, Patrick Stevens, Barker Davis and Dick
Heller and a tip of the cap to our copy desk (headed by Scott
Silverstein), design shop (headed by Harrison Goodman) and photo
department (Peter Lockley and Michael Connor).
*The print colleagues: Jim Ducibella, Paul Woody, Howard Fendrich, Joe
White, Ed Lee, Rich Campbell, Jason LaCanfora, Howard Bryant, Jason
Reid, Barry Svrluga, Rick Maese, Mike Wise, Dan Steinberg, Tarik El-
Bashir, Rick Snider and countless others.
*The TV colleagues: Kelli Johnson, Gary Carter, Dan Hellie, Sara Walsh
and Dave Feldman.
*The radio colleagues: The ESPN 980 group – Andy Pollin, Steve Czaban,
Steve Solomon, Marc Sterne, Kevin Sheehan, Doc Walker, John Thompson,
Chuck Sapienza, Scott Linn and Frank Hanrahan; The 106.7 The Fan group
-- Chad Dukes, Matt Cahill, Oscar Santana, LaVar Arrington, Chris
Kinard and Chris Russell. The Baltimore group – Jerry Coleman and Pat
O’Neill.
*The PR guys: Zack Bolno, Mike Pehanich and Matt Taylor from the
Redskins and Nate Ewell and Paul Rovnak from the Capitals.
*Finally two sentences about Dan Daly, who has become a trusted mentor
and fountain of information about all things journalism: The best
sports columnist in Washington. Period.
-- Ryan O'Halloran
http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/redskins/2009/dec/31/this-is-goodbye-for-now/
This is goodbye ... for now
By David Elfin on Dec. 31, 2009 into Redskins 360Subscribe
Dear readers,
After 23 years at The Times, 18 covering the Redskins and/or NFL, I'm
done.
As you know, we're shutting down our sports section after today.
Amazing. I came to the 4-year-old Times in 1986, wondering if it or I
would last more than a couple of years.
But Washington was home and I could only take so many winters in
Syracuse, so I gambled. I was hired to cover colleges during an
incredible year -- Lefty Driesell and Bobby Ross were both about to
quit at Maryland, David Robinson was a Navy senior and Reggie and the
Miracles came within a game of getting Georgetown back to the Final
Four.
I moved on to cover the '89 "Why Not" Orioles and got my first taste
of the Redskins that fall. I was put on the Caps with a month to go in
1990, the spring when John Druce went loose all the way to the
conference finals.
Three years later, I was back on the Redskins. Joe Gibbs quit on my
fifth day and it was pretty much all downhill from there. I've covered
the team and/or the NFL since even during 2003 when I filled in on
the-then dreadful Caps' beat.
I want to make special mention of former GM Charley Casserly and P.R.
man Chris Helein, each of whom you could trust not to steer you wrong.
Paul Woody from Richmond, Jim Ducibella from Norfolk and the late
Warner Hessler from Newport News helped teach me the beat as did my
first Times partner, Jeff Hardie. To all of them, I'm thankful. The
same holds for ace photographer Ross Franklin, who helped make
training camp in Frostburg bearable.
And thanks to all the assistant coaches and others behind the scenes
at Redskin Park for sharing your secrets and your wisdom. And I can't
forget such esteemed national colleagues as Peter King, John Clayton,
Len Pasquarelli and Alex Marvez for their help and advice over the
years. It was an honor to serve as an officer of the Pro Football
Writers of America, especially as its President for two years.
While 1993, the year that everything collapsed under Richie Petitbon
was the worst season, the past two might have been the best because of
the class and cooperation of Jim Zorn, Jason Campbell and P.R. man
Zack Bolno. I will always be thankful for their much-needed assistance
and dignity, especially on the heels of the 2007 season that was
marred by Sean Taylor's murder and didn't end until Zorn's hiring
after a month-long search.
I want to say a special thanks to my favorite beat partner, Rick
Snider, my favorite editor, Gary Hopkins, and my longtime colleague
John Keim, who like Rick is now with The Examiner. A shout-out to my
computer guru John Pappas and to Hall of Famer Vito Stellino for
teaching me so much and bequeathing me his freelance clients. And
thanks to Mike Keating for hiring me in 1986, Dick Heller for his
tireless support and bad jokes and to columnist extraordinaire Dan
Daly, Dave Hutchinson, Kisha Ciabattari, Jody Foldesy, Ryan O'Halloran
and of course, Rick, for putting up with me as a beat partner all
these years.
Covering the Redskins with such colleagues as Joseph White of the AP,
Larry Duvall of Channel 9/Comcast and Liz Clarke of the Post was a
pleasure. WTOP's Steve Dolge always made me laugh. And it was a thrill
to hang with such legends as Sonny Jurgensen, Sam Huff, Frank Herzog
and Ken Beatrice. That goes for you, too, Satch, my favorite
cameraman. We'll always have Michael Westbrook. :)
So many players have shared their lives with me, but among the best
were (in no particular order): Brad Edwards, Ray Brown, Renaldo Wynn,
Phillip Daniels, Trevor Matich, Casey Rabach, Ethan Albright, Charles
Mann, Raleigh McKenzie, Gus Frerotte, Cornelius Griffin, Ken Harvey,
Fred Smoot, London Fletcher, Darrell Green, Eddie Mason, Jon Jansen,
Derrick Frost, Santana Moss, Mark Schlereth, Brian Mitchell, Tre
Johnson, Joe Patton, Kenard Lang, Richie Owens, Marc Boutte, Patrise
Alexander, Matt Sinclair, Lemar Marshall, Joe Salave'a, Henry Ellard,
LaVar Arrington, Champ Bailey, Chris Samuels, N.D. Kalu, Darryl
Pounds, Marvcus Patton, Shar Pourdanesh, Trent Green, Brad Johnson,
Ryan Kuehl, Demetric Evans, DeAngelo Hall, Ryan Clark, Shawn Springs,
Andre Carter, Antwaan Randle El, Pete Kendall, Leigh Torrence, Lorenzo
Alexander, Reed Doughty, Carlos Rogers and Rock Cartwright.
Helping get Darrell and Art Monk into the Hall of Fame in 2008 and
having them mention me in their speeches was a high point, but today
is a low point. I will miss covering the Redskins. I was a footloose
20-something when I first got the finger-wag from Joe Gibbs. I leave
four weeks shy of 50 with two terrific teenage daughters.
A final thanks to you, the readers. I hope I have educated,
entertained and most important, informed you, over these last 23
years. I hope I have reported on your teams and their players honestly
and fairly.
And who knows? Maybe I'll be back covering the Redskins down the road
in some other venue.
-- David Elfin
http://www.washingtontimes.com/weblogs/in-the-room/2009/dec/31/a-heartfelt-goodbye-for-now/
A heartfelt goodbye ... for now
By Corey Masisak on Dec. 31, 2009 into In The RoomSubscribe
Two things first -- 1) Sorry for being a little late with this, but it
has been a busy day and 2) I apologize in advance to anyone I forget
to thank or mention in the coming paragaphs. There literally has been
too many people who have positively impacted my life in the past six
years to remember everyone.
Well, even though I've known for about a month that my days at the
Washington Times were numbered, it is still going to feel weird when I
wake up tomorrow and I won't have something to write about.
I've known for a long time that I wanted to be a sports writer. I've
been doing it in some fashion since I was 13 years old, and outside of
a breif flirtation with architecture (which was quickly cast aside
when I found out you actually had to be able to draw) it's been the
only thing I've wanted to do for basically half of my life.
The Washington Times is the only paper I've worked for since college,
and there are so many people at the paper that I need to thank for
helping me get to where I am today. Editors Mark Hartsell, Monty Wood
and Dave Coates were instrumental in my career path, while John Taylor
and Scott Silverstein have played a huge part in making me a better
reporter and writer. John probably deserves an entire post of his own,
and I can only hope my relationship with future editors is remotely
close to ours.
I have several friends at the Times who I have worked with since we
were all at the Diamondback together, and wherever we end up there
will always be the DBKStop fantasy baseball draft at Tim Lemke's house
to bring us back together again. People probably don't think of
fantasy leagues as a way to stay connected with people, but hopefully
the Times-themed football and hockey leagues will survive for that
very purpose.
There are so, so many people in the hockey community to thank. I've
covered every sport for the Times, either in small or large doses, and
everything positive people say about working in hockey -- from the
players to the coaches to the people around the teams -- is 100
percent true.
Covering the Caps for the past three-plus years has put me in a rink
for a lot of amazing games and stories and performances, but the
friendships I've formed are far more meaningful to me.
To the guys in the Caps PR department -- Paul Rovnak, Nate Ewell and
Kurt Kehl -- well, there is a reason they are the 1980s Edmonton
Oilers of the Dick Dillman Award. I also need to mention Scott
Strasemeier and Staci Michaud at the Naval Academy here -- I've been
blessed to work with the very best media relations people in their
sports on the two beats I've covered for the Times.
I will certainly miss being on the road with Mike Vogel and Brett
Leonhardt, as well as talking hockey on The Capitals Report. The
wonderful gesture Bruce Boudreau made after the game Tuesday has
become well-known at this point, but I have to say my "farewell
dinner" with Paul, Vogs and Stretch in Vancouver not only showed what
great people they are but will be something I never forget.
I owe a great deal to Tarik El-Bashir, who has helped me learn the ins
and outs of covering the NHL more than anyone. Covering the Caps would
not have been nearly as wonderful of an experience if Tarik and I
didn't get along as well as we do. It is very easy for us to
transition from "competitor" to "friend" and we have had many a great
nights on the road because of it.
There are many other writers and members of the hockey community I owe
gratitude too. Pierre LeBrun and Scott Burnside at ESPN.com and Damien
Cox of the Toronto Star are superstars in our profession, but they've
been great to me from Day One.
I need to thank Pierre in particular. Near the end of last season, I
was in a bit of a rut professionally and was starting to waver a
little about whether or not I wanted to do this the rest of my life.
Spending two weeks with Pierre during the first round of the playoffs
changed that in a hurry, and I don't expect my fervor for the
profession to ever waver again. There are literally dozens of hockey
people who have met me because either Pierre or Scott or Damien
introduced me to them, and I can't be more gracious for that.
Two other hockey writers have to be mentioned here. Rob Rossi of the
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Chris Johnston of the Canadian Press
have quickly become two of my best friends, both inside of hockey and
out. Guys, I will do my best to find employment soon. The Trio will
survive.
Last but certainly not least in a post that is suddenly a lot longer
than I expected it to be even though I know I am leaving too many
people out:
I have to thank Patrick Stevens. Besides being the best college
football/basketball/lacrosse beat writer in the nation (and this is
not even up for debate), Pat was my first real boss. He was the sports
editor at The Diamondback, our student newspaper at Maryland, and from
the moment when he told me the second story I submitted to him wasn't
worthy of running in the paper, I knew he was going to make me a
better writer.
Pat also played a large role in me getting a job at the Times. I have
basically replaced him twice at the Times when he's been promoted --
first as a part-time agate clerk and then as a full-time member of the
copy desk. Along the way, he's also become a lifelong friend.
Thanks to all of the Caps fans who have been so supportive, not only
in the past few days but during my time covering the team. I think
most of you have even gotten over the fact that a kid from Pittsburgh
was writing about your team every day.
I think it is appropriate for me to end my final blog post for the
Times where it all began. When I started covering this team I knew
there were shoes too big for me to fill when Dave Fay passed away, but
I am positive the standards and expectations set by his work made me
work as hard and I could.
We haven't forgotten you, Dave, and just because the sports section is
going away doesn't mean we will anytime soon.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/01/daly-the-end-of-times/
DALY: Eulogy for sports
Dan Daly
Somebody's gotta do it, deliver the eulogy for The Washington Times
sports section, so it might as well be me. You see, I'm the
department's Ranking Day Laborer, the first to set foot in the place
in May of 1982 - almost half a life ago.
(On top of that, we Irish are great at wakes. By the time I'm done,
you'll hardly know anybody has died.)
The Times back then looked nothing like it does now. It was every inch
a startup, populated by former Washington Star types who had gone down
with the ship, adventurers like me who thrilled to the idea of
bringing a new newspaper into the world and Unification Church members
who made up in earnestness what they lacked, many of them, in
journalism experience.
The newsroom, such as it was, was squeezed into a cramped space in the
old Parsons Paper Co. building the Times had just bought - and was in
the process of converting into the bright, glorious workplace it is
today. The sports department was at the far end of the room, over by
the wall of file cabinets that served as the photo library.
Doug Lamborne, a gentle soul, was the first sports editor I worked
under, and Dave Fay, who would go on to become a Hall of Fame hockey
writer for the Times, was his "assistant principal," as I liked to
call him. What a pair.
Putting out the paper in those days could test the resolve of the most
grizzled newspaper veteran. For one thing, the computer system,
previously owned by the Star, was prone to crashes. For another, the
main computer was located off-site... way off-site - in New York, in
fact, where the church had another paper.
So whenever a story was processed - edited, fit with a headline, set
in column format, etc. - it took a 500-mile round trip to the Big
Apple. Often, the story that came back bore only a passing resemblance
to the original. Chunks of text would be missing. Scores of random
punctuation marks would be sprinkled throughout the copy.
It was enough to drive an editor to drink. Not that Doug and Dave ever
called it that. They never said, "We're going out for a couple of
pops," after the system went down "indefinitely" or the dastardly
computer in New York undid their painstaking labor in Washington.
Instead, they spoke in code.
"You wanna go down to the Holiday Inn?" Dave would say. And in the
hotel bar they would decompress, return with rolled-up sleeves and
renewed purpose and miraculously pull together another sports section.
The heroic legacy of the department's Founding Fathers lived on,
you'll be pleased to know - right to the very end. Remember that light
dusting we got earlier this month, the one that made roads nigh
impassable and turned the District into Ice Station Zebra? It
certainly didn't stop Times desk guy Drew Hansen, our intrepid
Wisconsinite, from skidding into work and putting out the Dec. 20
section by himself - with help from homebound Steve Whyno, Jon Fogg,
Teshia Morris and Mike Fratto. (I'm assuming our other deskfolk - Mike
Petre, David Gill and the ever-reliable Steve Repsher - were too busy
delivering hot chocolate to the elderly.)
When I called the desk that afternoon, curious to see if we were even
going to have a paper the next day, Drew picked up on the second ring.
"I've driven in worse stuff than this," he said. "But if I get stuck
here overnight, I've got an inflatable mattress I can sleep on."
(At which point my mind drifted back to Marty Hurney - then our
Redskins beat man, now the general manager of the Carolina Panthers -
snoozing under his desk in a sleeping bag during our round-the-clock
efforts to put out a Times Super Bowl book in 1983, after the Redskins
beat the Dolphins.)
But then, toiling for the Times sports section always required a
strong constitution. As the second paper in town - think Fay Wray to
the Post's King Kong - we never had anything handed to us. Everything
we got - news breaks, respect, awards - we earned, usually the hard
way. And if you doubt this, as the saying goes, come and put your
hands in my wounds.
Just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about: During my brief
stint as a beat reporter, I lost two major exclusives because the team
publicists found out what I was working on and informed the Post.
"Gotta protect my main news outlet," one of them told me.
As irony would have it, the sports department is disappearing at a
time when, frankly, it's never been better. The reporting, writing,
editing, headlines, page design, Web site, photography (courtesy of
Joe Silverman, Peter Lockley and Michael Connor) - trust me, this is
easily the best product we've ever put out.
What Ryan O'Halloran brought to the Redskins beat, joining forces with
Dave Elfin, gave us an edge over the competition many mornings. The
same goes for Mark Zuckerman and Ben Goessling on the Nationals, Mike
Jones on the Wizards, Corey Masisak on the Capitals, Barker Davis on
golf and Georgetown basketball, Patrick Stevens on Maryland, Tim Lemke
on business and media, John Haydon on soccer, Steve Nearman on running
and - I can mention him last because he knows how much I think of him
- jack-of-all-sports Bob Cohn on features.
Mike, bless him, commuted all these years from Bridgeville, Del.
("home to the annual Apple-Scrapple Festival"). On good days, when the
traffic wasn't too bad, he made it to work in an hour and 20 minutes.
Then there's tireless Patrick, who seems to have figured out a way to
blog while sleeping. (I'm guessing it involves a voice-activated
laptop and a highly unique pattern of snoring.)
And Bob... now it can be told. He was the recurring "Neal from
Gaithersburg" character - Neal being his Secret First Name - in my
Sunday Column. Whenever I was running low on one-liners, I'd shoot him
an e-mail and he'd rescue me with a bon mot or two.
Something else you probably didn't know about our staff: Deputy SE
Scott Silverstein, who directs the desk most nights, is the boys and
girls track coach at Churchill High School in Potomac. If they ever
held a 100-yard dash at the Associated Press Sports Editors
convention, Scott would win by five lengths.
As for the columnists, there wasn't much overlap among us - which is
exactly what you want in a sports section. I was the jabber and joker,
Tom Knott the thunderbolt thrower. Thom Loverro liked to write about
the manly arts, and Dick Heller never tired of reminding us of The Way
It Was. And who didn't love Gene Mueller, our field-and-stream
specialist? Here's all you need to know about Geno's 24-plus years of
splendid work: There isn't a fish in the Chesapeake Bay that has a
good thing to say about him.
Somehow, despite a limited budget, Mark Hartsell, our assistant
managing editor for sports, and John Taylor, his deputy, put it all
together and made it work. And thanks to Harrison Goodman, the able
assistant SE for design, the section always looked world class.
Some who worked here got worn out and/or discouraged and moved on.
Others, like me, went the distance because, well, after a while a
place becomes your home. Besides, the bosses were good enough to give
us the freedom, the trust, that writers need - but don't always get.
If there's one thing you can't put a price on in this business, it's
that.
The people I'm sorriest for are the younger members of the department.
I mean, at least I've been lucky enough to have a career - 34 years'
worth. If this is it for me - if, in these contracting times, there's
no room at the inn for a 56-year-old sports columnist - you'll hear no
complaints about being shortchanged. (Though you might hear, "Would
you like some whipped cream on your frappuccino?")
After all, when I signed on at the Times, there were no guarantees it
would last a year or even a month. The only real surprise is that the
entire sports section has been euthanized/amputated (choose one) -
while the paper reinvents itself yet again, this time catering to an
almost exclusively political audience. Can't say I saw that coming.
Still, you couldn't have asked for a better 27 1/2 years to write
about sports in Washington. This was truly the Golden Age.
The Redskins won three Super Bowls. Baseball came back. The Capitals
went to the Stanley Cup Finals - and now have the best hockey player
in the world, Alex Ovechkin. The U.S. Open returned to Congressional.
D.C. United ruled Major League Soccer.
And that's just the tip of a Titanic-sized iceberg. I haven't even
mentioned George Mason - George Mason! - making the Final Four of the
NCAA basketball tournament... or Georgetown and Maryland (men and
women both) winning it... or Leonard-Hagler... or 100 other gold-
plated memories.
In those 27 1/2 years, truth was forever trumping fiction. In those 27
1/2 years, the Times was always there.
And with that we say goodbye - for now, anyway. But maybe, if the
planets align properly and this economic stimulus really works, you'll
be hearing from us all again - sometime, somewhere, somehow.
Thanks for reading us, for the comments pro and con, for the e-mails
of support in recent weeks. There are few certainties in life, but of
this I'm absolutely sure: The Washington Times sports department left
it all on the field.