Soucheray on Sid

Joe Soucheray of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reacts to the Strib's angst over Sid Hartman's conflict of interest involving a University of Minnesota fundraiser and notes that he's only been doing this kind of thing for, oh, 60 years. "The people he works for have no clue," Joe notes.

See ya, Dale

Dale Hoffman writes his farewell column to readers of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after 35 years. A solid, elegant effort -- as subscribers came to expect over that time.

Hartman and the "rules"

Sid Hartman has always played by his own rules -- however convoluted and homerish they have been at times -- so it's no gigantic surprise that at age 85, he has run afoul of an ethical problem at the Strib. Not surprisingly, he's basically unbowed and unapologetic. Whatever. I never particularly liked the guy in my limited dealings with him. It's not like he's going to "repent" over this.

Another sportswriting blog

Dave Doyel has begun what he hopes "evolves into a running, periodic commentary on issues in the sports journalism business" at Dave's World: The Biz, another Blogspot production.

Wishing Dave well, and hoping we both update our efforts more regularly than I have been lately. Well, at least this is an update, right?

Dave is a freelance guy with a sports background described here.

Welcome.

Shirley Povich Chair created

The great sportswriters' children have contributed $500,000 toward the The Shirley Povich Chair in Sports Journalism at the University of Maryland. They're going to do a nation-wide search for somebody who will teach, lecture and do research. Maryland says this is a continuation of moves that have made it the top university in the country for sports journalism.

Whitlock and the 49ers 'scandal'

I put the word 'scandal' in quotes because Jason Whitlock says it's really nothing of the kind and posts his column saying so on the sj.com board. (The new improved board is great, by the way.)

Jason makes a lot of really good points. I was kind of conflicted on this story from the get-go. As an inside thing intended for a pro football "family," was it really that inappropriate? All of us tell jokes or whatever to colleagues that wouldn't play well in a public forum.

The problem, of course, is that this wasn't just "told." It was produced, an electronic record of it, and it got out. And then it became a problem.

The 49ers PR guy's mistake wasn't as much his insensitivity in an "inside joke" as it was his lack of recognition of the world he lives in and the fact that things like this are bound these days to get out -- and become completely public.

That was Jason's mistake, I think. He says it wasn't worth prominent play in the Chronicle. I say that whatever our judgment of the relative significance of this, once it got out and was indeed offending people, it became news in San Francisco and was therefore fair, and necessary, game for the paper.

Like it or not, that's the world we live in.