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Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The End of the Looser

Or, if you prefer, The New Beginning.

As those of you who hang with me on Facebook know, things are a-changing in my life. Not an infrequent thing, but this time the change is a good one. A really good one. A spectacular one.

The Looser is going legit again.

The Washington Times is bringing back its sports section. Showing incredible wisdom (or massive stupidity, one or the other), it has chosen me to be the sports editor of the relaunched section.

To say I'm jacked beyond belief is to understate things considerably. I'm jacked beyond belief to the 1,000th power. I've tried other things but the news media is what I know, what I do. And this is home. This is a marvelous area. When I first left 37 years ago to attend VCU, I thought I'd be back one day. Had no idea it would take 37 years.

I'm doing the transition out of one job and into another thing over the rest of this month. As great as this opportunity is for me, I'm still saddened by what's going on with FanHouse and I want to stay at that party until the end. I had a great time there and thought I'd found my final job. I gained some new skills, things that enhanced my qualifactions for this job. I work with a terrific group of people. I will miss FanHouse terribly.

But I'm so very fortunate to have another exciting job to move into full-time, starting March 1. The possibilities, as they say, are endless. I get to build a staff, plan coverage, help make the printed Times sports section something fun to read and the web version a must-bookmark on your computers.

I'll keep this page and post blurbs on it here and there but it will be very infrequent and mostly plugs for things we're doing at the Times. Hey, use EVERY avenue available to plug your product.

I will not stop blogging, however. The editors at Times sports will have a blog and I will still be doing some writing about the Nats and many other sports. This IS quite a multi-sports area.

You can count on me throwing the link to the editors' blog and all our other blogs up here when they're ready.

Marc Lancaster, a FanHouse colleague who has considerable experience covering major league baseball, will be joining me as our Deputy Sports Editor. I'll have two hires to announce very soon and a bunch more to announce shortly. We're not wasting time. We're going to get up and running quickly.

To all those who read these bleatings regularly, I thank you. I've had the pleasure of meeting many of you on my trips to the park (trips that will be a lot shorter once I finally get moved). And I ask you - keep reading at www.washingtontimes.com. And tell your friends. And their friends.

13 comments:

Aussie Gus said...

Great news Mike. All the best in the new role, and I'll bookmark for sure!

Anonymous said...

I hope you'll improve on the technical aspects of the Times website. Mark and Ben were always great, but I hardly read them when they were with the Times because the webpage was a decade behind the times.

pb

dj in Fl. said...

Good news for those of us who enjoy accomplished writers. I will follow you, right after I read Zuckerman each mornng.

Feel Wood said...

Congratulations. Glad you did what you had to do to find a gig. But this is the last I will be reading any of your work, or that of any of your employees - unless you can convince the Moonies to sell that paper. Sorry about that.

But could you do me a favor anyway? Hire Loverro, so I'll never be subjected to any of his wretched writing ever again. Thanks in advance, and good luck.

DCDingo said...

I'm happy that you're happy. I must say things are looking up in the media patch lately and hopefully a sign that the economy really is starting to recover. I will miss your witty, cynical and self-deprecating musings on this blog.

BinM said...

Mike: Godspeed & good luck in your new gig. I'll miss the true voice of the FanboyLooser as part of my 'balance point' on the Nationals.

Just remember to keep your powder dry & your resume' up-to-date; You never know what the owner of the publication may do next.

natsfan1a said...

Congrats on the new position! I've always appreciated the journalistic background that you brought to this blog, and I'm happy to hear that you will be plying your trade with a newspaper once again. (I'm enough of a dinosaur to pine for the bygone days of print journalism.)

sec3mysofa said...

It beats pinin' for the fjords, 1a.
As for me, hell, I'll read anything, I don't care who paid for it.

Hendo said...

Congrats and good luck, Mike. I'll give you a wave from the top row.

WFY said...

Congratulations!

So, I guess you will be returning to Nationals Park?

VP81955 said...

Looking forward to this; I enjoyed the original incarnation of the Times sports section (one of the best things about the newspaper), and I eagerly await version 2.0. (And since I have relocated to Lynchburg, I hope the Web version will be an improvement over the earlier one.)

Sec 204 Row H Seat 7 said...

Congrats big time!! I have enjoyed your posts, particularly your retelling of your spirited conversations with your son the Braves fan. Hope you keep that up. Will you be rehiring Zuckerman!!

Anonymous said...

Rename your Blog - you "journalist you! It should be "Loser," not "Looser."

Unless you really mean "looser" as in "The nut is looser."