Texsox Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 I hope he lines up something. I enjoy his writing. Beat writers seem like a really old school approach from newspaper days. I have a NYT and Athletic sub and read more than just his stuff so I'll keep my subscription. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lip Man 1 Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 16 minutes ago, Texsox said: I hope he lines up something. I enjoy his writing. Beat writers seem like a really old school approach from newspaper days. I have a NYT and Athletic sub and read more than just his stuff so I'll keep my subscription. It may be "old school" but they are the only people around a team on a daily basis and can provide real information. You certainly aren't going to get that from MLB sponsored sites or say ESPN or Fox who only do deep dives into certain clubs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baseball_gal_aly Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 (edited) 12 minutes ago, Lip Man 1 said: It may be "old school" but they are the only people around a team on a daily basis and can provide real information. You certainly aren't going to get that from MLB sponsored sites or say ESPN or Fox who only do deep dives into certain clubs. Not really, when teams deny media members access for asking tough questions(aka doing their job) Most beat writers stuff is rah rah fluff, rather than asking why the f*** Hahn still has a job. I want one person to go up to Hahn at his next presser and state the following: You said that if you thought you were the wrong guy for the job, you'd resign. When are you handing in your resignation letter? Edited June 12, 2023 by baseballgalaly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Allen Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 In the middle of what is supposed to be their championship window, in a division where no one is above .500, the Athletic decided the Sox are so insignificant they don’t merit a beat writer, even if said beat writer may be the best in the business. Let that sink in. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lip Man 1 Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 19 minutes ago, baseballgalaly said: Not really, when teams deny media members access for asking tough questions(aka doing their job) Most beat writers stuff is rah rah fluff, rather than asking why the f*** Hahn still has a job. I want one person to go up to Hahn at his next presser and state the following: You said that if you thought you were the wrong guy for the job, you'd resign. When are you handing in your resignation letter? No media member anywhere is going to ask that question in the way you present it. I'm a media member and I'd ask it like this, "Rick you spoke about being mired in mediocrity, the results say things simply haven't worked. Why should Sox fans still have confidence in your ability to work this situation out?" 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyAcosta41 Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 (edited) Been following the White Sox in print since the mid 1960s with a passion second only to following the White Sox period. In my not very humble opinion, James Fegan was the best White Sox "beat reporter" during that time, and by a large margin. Others might have been fine writers, good investigative reporters, or keen observers of all the nuances of baseball, but James combined all three of these characteristics in a way nobody else could touch. Given James's reporters skills, I'd have to imagine that he does the occasional due diligence here. If so, fire trucking job well done, man. You rock. It's obviously a difficult and changing industry, but you're a star and you'll find bigger and better opportunities. To the NYT: My subscription runs through October, but it's now canceled. Fegan was the sole reason I've kept the subscription the past couple of years. Baseball coverage has been meagre and if you've made the choice to jettisoning a talent like Fegan and, moreover, to not even bothering with a "beat reporter" for a horribly depressing downer of a team, but MY horribly depressing downer of a team, then I'm not going to bother with your product. More than ever before, we've all learned that you vote with your pocketbook. Not sure if the contents of said pocketbook allows me to use the grand title of "pocketbook," but I've just voted with mine. Man, oh man, the White Sox related hits keep coming this year. Edited June 12, 2023 by CyAcosta41 typsos ;) 5 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Side Hit Men Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 8 minutes ago, CyAcosta41 said: Been following the White Sox in print since the mid 1960s with a passion second only to the following the White Sox period. In my not very humble opinion, James Fegan was the best White Sox "beat reporter" during that time, and by a large margin. Others might have been fine writers, good investigative reporters, or keen observers of all the nuances of baseball, but James combined all three of these characteristics in a way nobody else could touch. Given James's reporters skills, I'd have to imagine that he does the occasional due diligence here. If so, fire trucking job well done, man. You rock. It's obviously a difficult and changing industry, but you're a star and you'll find bigger and better opportunities. To the NYT: My subscription runs through October, but it's now canceled. Fegan was the sole reason I've kept the subscription the past couple of years. Baseball coverage has been meagre and if you've made the choice to jettison a talent like Fegan and, moreover, to not even bother with a "beat reporter" for a horribly depressing downer of a team, but MY horribly depressing downer of a team, then I'm not going to bother with your product. More than ever before, we've all learned that you vote with your pocketbook. Not sure if the contents of said pocketbook allows me to use the grand title of "pocketbook," but I've just voted with mine. Man, oh man, the White Sox related hits keep coming this year. Nice thoughtful response. It's been 40 years since me or my family were newspaper buyers (Leader for our local neighborhood, Chicago Daily News and then when it shuttered the Sun-Times until Murdoch bought it). The Chicago Reader has been the lone local paper the past 40 years. There used to be thoughtful investigation speaking truth to power, and quality journalism and news pieces via the City News Bureau. Now any "news outlet" is primarily politics, corporate and political press release regurgitation, and fluff. You can still find good writing, but it's all independent journalists at this stage. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wegner Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 1 hour ago, Texsox said: I hope he lines up something. I enjoy his writing. Beat writers seem like a really old school approach from newspaper days. I have a NYT and Athletic sub and read more than just his stuff so I'll keep my subscription. You've let the NY Times Win....I hope you are proud of yourself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 49 minutes ago, baseballgalaly said: Not really, when teams deny media members access for asking tough questions(aka doing their job) Most beat writers stuff is rah rah fluff, rather than asking why the f*** Hahn still has a job. I want one person to go up to Hahn at his next presser and state the following: You said that if you thought you were the wrong guy for the job, you'd resign. When are you handing in your resignation letter? It’s pretty easy to ask these kind of super tough questions when your own livelihood isn’t on the line 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 Hahn and Jr have to be happy, at least. I mean, fans of teams like the Rays Marlins Pirates Reds and DBacks are much more excited about their teams in 2023. We all knew that 20-30% fall off in attendance and "cumulative" interest was coming, but here is a concrete, in your face consequence of it all. We now find ourselves back in that bottom 5-10 of almost complete irrelevance when a near dynastic run was predicted by so many around the team. More Scott Merkin corporate PR crap is on the way. Sad he couldn't even finish out the season or at least the trade deadline. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Side Hit Men Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 (edited) Edited June 12, 2023 by South Side Hit Men Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 The more this sets in the more it bothered me. I canceled. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 This is yet another problem with MLB. They had this great revenue producing model the last ten or fifteen years... but they still don't really know how to actually promote the sport. As Reinsdorf even mentioned...now all the legalized gambling and fantasy sports leagues, and yet they have no concept of the consequences of losing the last objective purveyor of their product. It really is encapsulated by all the White Sox issues. The sport is doing well from a financial standpoint...for now, but is still a sport with a fanbase in their 40s through 70s. The Sox can somehow afford $70-75 million for Benintendi and Grandal...but there's not enough there left over for a James Fegan (I know...obviously MLB doesn't directly subsidize The Athletic), modern-day analytics approaches and legit international scouting operations outside of Marco Paddy can pretty much handle everything himself. If there's a way to cut costs or corners (short season, intl., etc.), they're pretty much going to do the opposite of the Rays Dodgers and Braves...heck, can't even keep with the Twins and Guardians despite all their built in advantages with this pathetic division. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 Of course this is print media which is destined to fail. It's just a matter of how fast. If enough people cancel it will just help speed up the process. But video media will be the only survivor in this business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CWSpalehoseCWS Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 I cancelled mine today as well. Fegan was the only reason I subbed. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyyle23 Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 26 minutes ago, bmags said: The more this sets in the more it bothered me. I canceled. Peer pressure is a b****! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texsox Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 1 minute ago, Kyyle23 said: Peer pressure is a b****! I wonder how many subscribers in Chicago they expected to lose? How many until they actually lose net revenue? 250,000? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 4 minutes ago, Kyyle23 said: Peer pressure is a b****! The reality is as much as I like jahns I realized I consume most of his content outside the athletic. The one thing it had was paying for fegans prospect work / player dev stuff and brugler for me. And the draft just happened 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timmy U Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 I just cancelled. I do have a separate NYT subscription, unfortunately, I need to keep that for my work, but I'm done with The Athletic. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmags Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 10 minutes ago, Texsox said: I wonder how many subscribers in Chicago they expected to lose? How many until they actually lose net revenue? 250,000? There are like 7 white Sox fans. 2 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicago White Sox Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 I cancelled. This season has been tough to stomach, but I barely follow anything but Fegan’s coverage. Dude is the best in the business and if the Athletic doesn’t want to keep him then I don’t see a reason to keep paying them despite quality Bears coverage. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colome's Hat Posted June 12, 2023 Share Posted June 12, 2023 Terrible. I still subscribe because of their soccer coverage but I believe the TIFO guys were also pushed out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/athletic-beat-writers-assigned-20-30-clubs-boston-dc-still-missing-coverage.html Look at how dramatically things have changed on the print media front just in the last five years...at least as far as print baseball coverage goes, including the Sun-Times, Tribune, Daily Herald, etc. Same thing with all the cable cord cutting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heads22 Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 Another cancellation here. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caulfield12 Posted June 13, 2023 Share Posted June 13, 2023 (edited) https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/the-athletic-layoffs-june-2023 https://nypost.com/2023/06/12/new-york-times-reorganizes-the-athletic-with-layoffs/ “The Athletic has generally viewed every league in a similar manner, with similar beats and offerings. But our growing body of research and our own understanding of the sports we cover compel a more nuanced approach,” the note said. “There is no perfect formula for determining which teams to cover, but we are committing dedicated beat reporters to the ones that most consistently produce stories that appeal to both large and news-hungry fan bases, as well as league-wide audiences.” Hahn can stick that one on his bio...consigning the White Sox to the dustbin of MLB relevancy. Edited June 13, 2023 by caulfield12 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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