One of my proudest “memorabilia” items hanging in my cubicle at work is the front page of our competitor’s sports section featuring a photo of me and my “associates” (hee!) at a blogger day at Nationals Park this past season. Or I guess I should say former competitor. The Washington Times put its last sports section out in today’s paper and all the people from that paper I respect and feel I’ve become friends with, both virtually and in person over the last several years, have lost their jobs as newspaper guys (for now) to ring in the new year. Talk about a sting!

One of the hardest things for me covering the Nationals has been the constant stream of departure of people I’ve come to know. That’s not something I’m accustomed to in my day-to-day job. Maybe I should add a caveat there of “so far” and “thank goodness”! First Todd Jacobson of the Fredricksburg Free Lance-Star and Barry Svrluga of the Post switched beats. Then there were players, coaches, managers Frank Robinson and Manny Acta, friends in the front office… it’s never easy and each time brings a sense of loss. To see an entire workforce from a newspaper sports department obliterated is absolutely shocking and heartbreaking. Journalists, photographers, editors… just gone. Not that the writing hasn’t been on the wall for a while, but to see the end finally arrive and read the goodbyes has been painful.

The sports section of the Washington Times is the only part of that paper I ever read. I admired and voraciously consumed the work of Mark Zuckerman and Ben Goessling, from their articles to the Chatter blog and live chats (I’m particularly fond of the blog name). I loved Thom Loverro from the first column of his that pissed me off. I remember being terrified to introduce myself to him at spring training (since I was one of those lowly internet dwellers), but once I swallowed my fear and did, discovered he’s a truly funny and charming guy in reality. I ‘met’ John Taylor on Twitter through Mike Harris and have enjoyed the banter since. I’ve run into Tim Lemke at various press functions at Nationals Park. The only issue I ever had with any of them was realizing I was “old” compared to most. Heh.

With Chico Harlan moving on to other pastures and the Nationals beat writer position open, I would love for Mark and/or Ben to end up at the Post as much as the next fan. Loverro too! I really wish there was room at the Post to take them all on! All are talented, not to mention a known quantity here — both by the fans and the communications departments of the teams they’ve covered. Unfortunately, it’s not a good financial climate in the newspaper biz and impossible to pull them all out of the water. It sounds like Mark and Ben have some lines on jobs judging by their farewell blog posts, but I have no idea where. I am very curious to watch where everyone ends up and in what medium (Radio? Internet only? Another newsprint place? CSN? ESPN DC when it arrives? New Politico local site? Some other city’s paper?)…

I wish everyone from the Times affected by this bludgeoning the best and truly hope they land solidly on their feet quickly. A large hole will remain in their wake. As Steinberg pointed out, they often covered aspects and angles the Post did not. It will be weird knowing they’re not in the press box with the teams they cover in the days and months to come. Selfishly, I hope they remain in town still covering the team(s) we all care so much about in some capacity. But either way, I hope 2010 treats all well and they end up happier in the long run. You will all be sorely missed and I hope the friendships/acquaintances continue, even if only on Twitter and Facebook in this brave new digital world.

Happy New Year!

Fired icon borrowed from the TWTSports twitter feed. Follow it to find out where everyone ends up.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 1st, 2010 at 11:40 am and is filed under MLB, Media, Washington Nationals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.