Interesting that he would feel a need to defend all of his writing over the years - guess the criticism finally got to him. Any truth that they let J.T. Snow vote on whether Dickey's hallucenogenic writings should stay in the paper?
Wow. What a self-serving pile of crap. He could have changed every sentence to, ``See how smart I am? See? See? See?''
Can't blame a guy for being bitter in his situation. He's taken his column for granted for 30-plus years. Heck of a life change to make against your will. But I guess he didn't care about going out with some grace. Now that I think about it, that wouldn't have been his style.
And this from Tom Fitzgerald:
Dear friend of Open Season,
I'm sending this note out to many contributors to my column in the San Francisco Chronicle and to some regular readers who have told me they enjoy the column.
The sports editor, Glenn Schwarz, has decided to discontinue "Open Season." He said the Sporting Green has had too many columnists, in his view, and not enough room for hard news. So after 15 years, most of which it was known as "Top of the Sixth,'' "Open Season'' is closing its doors. My farewell column will appear tomorrow, and I am being reassigned to sports features and other stories.
I have told Glenn I think this is a bad decision, specifically that my column has a large following -- as demonstrated by the 30-to-80 e-mails I receive every day and by the frequency with which it is quoted in other newspapers. I feel strongly that the Sporting Green (and any other big-city sports section, for that matter) needs a place for all the weird stuff and funny quotes that abound in the sports world. He obviously sees things differently than I do, and I respect his point of view.
I plan to throw myself into my new assignments with all the enthusiasm that I devoted to this column. But I've got to be frank: Although not quite as painful as taking a folding chair on the nose, the decision was stunning, perplexing and profoundingly disappointing to me. I feel badly for the column's many contributors, including a group of 30 or 40 "regulars," who spent God knows how much time thinking up sports quips. They endured my rejections and never got a dime for all their witticisms that made it into print. I feel even worse for the readers who hopefully got a few chuckles out of the column on a daily basis over its 15-year run.
I will still be compiling my weekly syndicated column -- also called Open Season -- on Wednesday nights. If you are interested in sending me your quips for that column, please do so in a single e-mail on Wednesday rather than in several different messages throughout the week. As always, please include your name and town. The weekly column appears in about 30 papers in the U.S. and Canada, and I expect that number to grow now that the daily column has been discontinued.
Several people have already asked me where to direct their reactions to the end of the daily column. Please send them to: [email protected] and/or [email protected]. If you have friends who are regular readers of the column, please invite them to do likewise.
I thank you for your support. Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.
All the best,
Tom FitzGerald
SF Chronicle
Yeah, sounds like a bloodbath over there. I'm with Kintetsu on the final GD column. It read like a cover letter. A really self-centered cover letter. That's to be expected when you give a guy free rein for 33 years.
First Neifi and now Glenn Dickey. Two of my favorite punching bags are gone. I can only hope that Skip Bayless and Al Pedrique remain gainfully employed, otherwise I may have nothing to write about.
Neifi may be gone from the Giants, but he's far from done hurting them. Just to further prove he's only good when it hurts the Giants (and helps the Cubs), he's on what has to be his hottest hitting tear ever, helping the Cubs with clutch hit after clutch hit.
Last week, he twice sparked the Cubs to come from behind late in games, once starting off the 8th with a hit off Mota that led to a game-winning rally, another time hitting a go-ahead HR off Oliver Perez (his 2nd HR of that series).
This weekend, he started a game-winning rally in the 9th off Graves with a bunt which led to an error. And tonight against the Pirates, he has another bunt hit, and just got a big two-out RBI single to give the Cubs their first lead (after Patterson failed to score a runner on 3rd with one out). Ramirez followed with a HR, making Neifi's hit essentially responsible for 3 Cubs runs.
Losing Nomar might have even Chicago a playoff spot. Instead, Neifi's been their best clutch hitter and given them everything they hoped to get out of Nomar. Batting #2, he's been on base constantly in front of Alou, Ramirez, and Lee.
If that's not a sign that the end of the world in nigh, I don't know what is.
The contrast between Dickey's predictably wrenching his arm out of its socket to pat his own back and Fitzgerald's graceful, if bewildered exit was a perfect illustration of their characters. As consistently, self-righteously wrong as Dickey managed to be, my favorite example is still when he explained that the reason there are so few good bunters in the majors nowadays is that bat handles are thinner. Delicious. Good riddance.
My only regret is that I'd been hoping for a long time that I coud figure out a way to lock him in a room with Debra Saunders and Aidan Vaziri - is it too late?
Interesting that he would feel a need to defend all of his writing over the years - guess the criticism finally got to him. Any truth that they let J.T. Snow vote on whether Dickey's hallucenogenic writings should stay in the paper?
Posted by: Rick Alber | September 21, 2004 at 10:40 AM
Wow. What a self-serving pile of crap. He could have changed every sentence to, ``See how smart I am? See? See? See?''
Can't blame a guy for being bitter in his situation. He's taken his column for granted for 30-plus years. Heck of a life change to make against your will. But I guess he didn't care about going out with some grace. Now that I think about it, that wouldn't have been his style.
Posted by: kintetsu | September 21, 2004 at 10:49 AM
And this from Tom Fitzgerald:
Dear friend of Open Season,
I'm sending this note out to many contributors to my column in the San Francisco Chronicle and to some regular readers who have told me they enjoy the column.
The sports editor, Glenn Schwarz, has decided to discontinue "Open Season." He said the Sporting Green has had too many columnists, in his view, and not enough room for hard news. So after 15 years, most of which it was known as "Top of the Sixth,'' "Open Season'' is closing its doors. My farewell column will appear tomorrow, and I am being reassigned to sports features and other stories.
I have told Glenn I think this is a bad decision, specifically that my column has a large following -- as demonstrated by the 30-to-80 e-mails I receive every day and by the frequency with which it is quoted in other newspapers. I feel strongly that the Sporting Green (and any other big-city sports section, for that matter) needs a place for all the weird stuff and funny quotes that abound in the sports world. He obviously sees things differently than I do, and I respect his point of view.
I plan to throw myself into my new assignments with all the enthusiasm that I devoted to this column. But I've got to be frank: Although not quite as painful as taking a folding chair on the nose, the decision was stunning, perplexing and profoundingly disappointing to me. I feel badly for the column's many contributors, including a group of 30 or 40 "regulars," who spent God knows how much time thinking up sports quips. They endured my rejections and never got a dime for all their witticisms that made it into print. I feel even worse for the readers who hopefully got a few chuckles out of the column on a daily basis over its 15-year run.
I will still be compiling my weekly syndicated column -- also called Open Season -- on Wednesday nights. If you are interested in sending me your quips for that column, please do so in a single e-mail on Wednesday rather than in several different messages throughout the week. As always, please include your name and town. The weekly column appears in about 30 papers in the U.S. and Canada, and I expect that number to grow now that the daily column has been discontinued.
Several people have already asked me where to direct their reactions to the end of the daily column. Please send them to: [email protected] and/or [email protected]. If you have friends who are regular readers of the column, please invite them to do likewise.
I thank you for your support. Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions.
All the best,
Tom FitzGerald
SF Chronicle
Posted by: Jon | September 21, 2004 at 11:23 AM
Yeah, sounds like a bloodbath over there. I'm with Kintetsu on the final GD column. It read like a cover letter. A really self-centered cover letter. That's to be expected when you give a guy free rein for 33 years.
Posted by: Marty | September 21, 2004 at 11:48 AM
And David Steele is bidding adieu, too. Headed to the Baltimore Sun. We can only hope that Ray Ratto is next.
Posted by: El Lefty | September 21, 2004 at 12:33 PM
First Neifi and now Glenn Dickey. Two of my favorite punching bags are gone. I can only hope that Skip Bayless and Al Pedrique remain gainfully employed, otherwise I may have nothing to write about.
Posted by: Doug | September 21, 2004 at 12:58 PM
Skip is now an ESPN hack. It's worse than it sounds. He's a Cold Pizza hack. Personally, I don't consider that gainfully employed.
Posted by: Marty | September 21, 2004 at 03:54 PM
Doug,
Neifi may be gone from the Giants, but he's far from done hurting them. Just to further prove he's only good when it hurts the Giants (and helps the Cubs), he's on what has to be his hottest hitting tear ever, helping the Cubs with clutch hit after clutch hit.
Last week, he twice sparked the Cubs to come from behind late in games, once starting off the 8th with a hit off Mota that led to a game-winning rally, another time hitting a go-ahead HR off Oliver Perez (his 2nd HR of that series).
This weekend, he started a game-winning rally in the 9th off Graves with a bunt which led to an error. And tonight against the Pirates, he has another bunt hit, and just got a big two-out RBI single to give the Cubs their first lead (after Patterson failed to score a runner on 3rd with one out). Ramirez followed with a HR, making Neifi's hit essentially responsible for 3 Cubs runs.
Losing Nomar might have even Chicago a playoff spot. Instead, Neifi's been their best clutch hitter and given them everything they hoped to get out of Nomar. Batting #2, he's been on base constantly in front of Alou, Ramirez, and Lee.
If that's not a sign that the end of the world in nigh, I don't know what is.
Posted by: Josh from Hollywood | September 21, 2004 at 05:50 PM
what self-serving tripe. god forbid that I'd ever leave like that.
good riddance.
Posted by: Rick | September 21, 2004 at 11:07 PM
The contrast between Dickey's predictably wrenching his arm out of its socket to pat his own back and Fitzgerald's graceful, if bewildered exit was a perfect illustration of their characters. As consistently, self-righteously wrong as Dickey managed to be, my favorite example is still when he explained that the reason there are so few good bunters in the majors nowadays is that bat handles are thinner. Delicious. Good riddance.
My only regret is that I'd been hoping for a long time that I coud figure out a way to lock him in a room with Debra Saunders and Aidan Vaziri - is it too late?
Posted by: Hal | September 23, 2004 at 03:22 PM