This is supposed to be a cutthroat business and, from a sports standpoint in this town, there’s nothing more competitive than the Redskins beat. The only way to win is to dislike the enemy, focus on one thing — beating them — and moving on to the next day.
Except that it doesn’t happen like that. Except that you develop relationships with those against whom you compete, especially when you’ve known them for more than a dozen years in some cases and a half-dozen in others. That’s why the fact that today is the last time you’ll ever read a Washington Times sports story is cause for sadness.
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It stinks that another sports section, a good one, is gone. I’m not smart enough to know all the reasons — family squabble? sign of the times (no pun intended) in the industry?
I just know that it hurts to know that good people — good writers — won’t be covering Washington sports anymore. And that I won’t get to work alongside some of them ever again. Friendships develop in competitive situations; that doesn’t mean you still don’t want to outdo them, but it does mean that you care about them. During the season, I spend more time with the other writers than my own family. If that’s not actually true, it does seem that way. You spend a lot of time together on the road. So you get to know them well. You celebrate births with them; you guide one another through tough times; you watch their kids grow. You become close. The media room at Redskins Park is like any other office; you work for a while, you BS a little, you argue other times and you laugh together. It’s amazing how many bad jokes we’ve laughed at; how many times we’ve poked fun at one another. It’s different because you are competing and you can’t ever forget that. But that room also makes covering looong seasons, and difficult situations, bearable.
And before you know it, you develop a bond that will last a long time (I’m still close with Jim Ducibella and Paul Woody, both longtime guys who left the beat in the past three years). But I won’t bore you with listing all the names of people I’ve developed close friendships with because of this beat. There are a few. This is just about the guys from the Times. So I’m thankful that, because of my job, I got to know Rick Snider, who started at the Washington Times and then, lucky for us, came to the Examiner. I’m thankful that I’ve known David Elfin just as long (since 1994); and I hope to still benefit from his encylopedic knowledge of the Redskins, not to mention his friendship. He often was our personal media guide. And he fought, on the entire press corps behalf, on many issues. He has a Hall of Fame vote for a reason. Ryan O’Halloran brought out my inner Seinfeld, raising it to a level I did not know existed. He made it fun. I also appreciated the insight he provided on the beat; it forced me to also work harder at doing the same. No matter where he goes, someone will land an employee completely devoted to the job.
There were others; Mark Zuckerman, who covered the Redskins briefly before returning to baseball — where I loved his attention to the details of the game and his insight into the organization. My wife and I were honored to attend his wedding (the groomsmen wore yamakas with baseball stitching; how cool!). Jody Foldesy; the Dude, as we called him, worked the phones well before wising up and leaving the business. I was always envious of Dan Daly, their columnist, of his football knowledge. Nobody in this region knows the history of the game better. What a loss. I’ll miss the occasional visits by Bob Cohn, a talented feature writer. These are the people I got to know best.
Hopefully, some of them will find employment where Washington readers can still benefit from their talent. It will be difficult to have that happen in an evolving industry. We all know it.
Yes, it’s a sad time.
Today I’ll head back to Redskins Park. It won’t be the same.
