Lori

Wilson's not SUPPOSED to put his opinions in print. That's not part of his job description. And frankly, I'm a little surprised Steve Jones is allowing his beat writers to go as far as they do on those blogs. (Not that I don't enjoy it when they do ...)

Think I've got one coming. The sports copy chief said he got a ton of extras so he could send them out to people -- and what's wrong with that picture, when they can put on an extra run to print their own obit? By the way: if I didn't mention it before, they had 12 hours' notice that last night was ... well, the last night. F* you, Scripps. Honestly? I hope it works, because nothing else is.

Not to say that Sullivan is the equal of most of the names on that list -- which could also be said for approximately 98 percent of sports columnists -- but Loopy? Great once upon a time, but he's been mailing it in for the better part of the last 10 years, when he hasn't been busy playing Napoleon and running other good columnists out of the NYDN. I also like how he now rants against steroids in baseball, but didn't see any problem with using those bulked-up ballplayers to make himself some coin with The Summer of '98. As for the bolded sentence, Sully had the same take as two other writers I've talked to who were also there. Were they all wrong?

He's not that old ...

I can, because a friend is covering the Mariners at spring training right now, fully expecting to be out of a job by Opening Day. I think he'd be insulted by hearing his newspaper called "a piece of trash." I know I am.

Commemorative wrap The final A1 Stein cartoon Litton cartoon -30-

I'm Lori, and I approve this message.

Yup, I think it's going to be a race between them and the P-I to see which one turns out the lights first. Good op-ed piece here, with the obligatory anti-"liberal bias" comments in response: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../EDFU164VIO.DTL

True, it's an anonymous source, but Brian Biggane's the real deal (and a Bona J-school grad, which I didn't know until recently). Graham can vouch for him.

Opie!

Not a lot of info, but supposedly a multiyear deal. Nothing on either BuffNews or bb.com, but I see the thread starter is back in the house, so maybe he has something further. Edit -- or you could check his site: http://myespn.go.com/blogs/afceast/0-5-127...chard-Park.html

True for national news, maybe. Local, no. True. Categorically false, unless you can find someone willing to cover the team, work sources, go into the locker room, home AND road, on his or her own dime. I've had people compliment me on my Bills stuff ... but who do you think my primary sources of information are? Precisely. “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” -- Thomas Jefferson

Well, if you have enough mutts to feed ...

Or, I could be wrong about that. Krieger to the Post, along with some citysiders: http://poynter.org/forum/view_post.asp?id=13833

Something to point out: the last two times Garcia has taken the field at Ralph Wilson Stadium, in 2004 with the Browns and the '05 preseason with the Lions, he ended up with a broken leg each time. He may not be fond of our Astroplay. Just sayin'.

So you're saying that he could bring in a better brand of Alpo for Jauron to sift through? I won't disagree with that opinion.

That's the question. Lot of people looking for the answer, but nobody's come up with a good one. Chuck Ward, the former ME/publisher at the Olean Times Herald, was dead set against putting content on a free Web site; they still put a very small percentage of their stuff online, and then, not until the paper is already on the stands. I do the same thing -- we go to press on Wednesday night, and none of my stories are uploaded before Thursday morning. But when you talk about newspapers competing with the internet, take a step back and look at how much of the news on the Web is provided by newspapers. Won't be able to get that content for free if nobody's there to write it in the first place. And there's the thought that should scare the crap out of everybody. Edit: not surprised that we think alike on this, UConn.

Won't be any newspapers left TO get a job with, the way it looks right now. The late, lamented BCE is getting some company ...

Bucs have already told Garcia he's not coming back. He's fair game. Still just an unconfirmed radio report for now, though.

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Sorry, but I didn't have my recorder with me when I talked to Guy.

The Post is a Lean Dean Singleton enterprise. Never say never, but it's far more likely that they'll make cuts of their own now that the competition is gone than bring anyone else in.

Guy brings players in, but Jauron has final say on whether or not to sign them.

Inside the newspaper industry, it's long been suspected that 2009 will be the year when multiple big-time newspapers start closing up shop. So it begins: What this means for us: no more Broncos news from Jeff Legwold (who also holds Denver's HOF vote) and Lee Rasizer, or columns from Dave Krieger or Bernie Lincicome. The Seattle P-I is in the same boat -- if no buyer steps forward by the middle of March, they're most likely gone as well. P-I Seahawks beat writer Clare Farnsworth has Seattle's HOF vote. Sonuvabitch.

Twenty-three minutes behind our man Graham. Sorry, Mark.