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Sad day for hockey coverage
By Tom Zulewski July 12, 2007 |
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As I went through my business on Tuesday night, I got a call from none other than the esteemed producer of this fine web site, Lee Leonard. "Did you hear that Rossi and Chi got laid off?" he said. My reaction was incredulous. He couldn't have been serious. Sadly, he was. Two of the Bay Area's best (and seemingly the only) hockey journalists around, Ross McKeon of the San Francisco Chronicle and Victor Chi of the San Jose Mercury News were released from their duties. According to the blog on the San Jose Sharks' web site, McKeon accepted a buyout offer from the Chronicle, but Chi was among 31 newsroom employees let go by the Mercury News. I must begin by saying that McKeon and Chi are good people. They were tenacious in finding stories that kept readers interested in the game of hockey and they always had time for their colleagues. But sadly, the Bay Area's two largest newspapers didn't have the funds to keep them around. It's a sad fact of life these days, especially after the Mercury News was sold to MediaNews Group, which basically owns most of the papers now in Northern California, from San Jose to Vacaville. Is it a sad day? It is if you're a hockey fan. It's a day to tighten up the chin straps and win the physical battles in the corners for the guys who are good enough to land at another news organization, one that isn't so obsessed with the bottom line and knows how to make this thing called the Internet work for its success. I believe Ross McKeon and Vic Chi will land at another news outlet and they'll get to cover the NHL. If it means a move to a real hockey market, so be it. It'll be a lot better than the treatment the Bay Area media is giving the league, and the game of hockey, right now. |
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