By RON MALY
It's obvious to me that Bryce Miller took one step too many at the Des Moines Register.
Had Miller paid attention to where he might end up, he wouldn't be preparing to soon make a one-way trip out of the building, with his final paycheck in his pocket.
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| Cartoon of a reporter courtesy of Google |
It wasn't long ago that Miller was supposed to be the No. 1 sports columnist at the paper.
Before that, he was the sports editor.
He should have stayed in the sports editor job because, the way the sports department is being managed now, a general sports columnist is no longer needed.
The opinion pieces written by reporters covering Iowa and Iowa State football and basketball are more than enough commentary for any paper that's in a constant circulation freefall, as is the case at the Register.
There was a time, I guess, when Miller may have been regarded as a fair-haired boy in the paper's newsroom.
He did everything to try to impress the bosses.
He worked long hours. He seemed to be kissing all the ink-stained asses he thought needed kissing. He covered sports situations that no one else seemed to want to tackle. He wore a necktie. He showed up on sports-talk radio shows around town. He appeared in front of a video camera to do interviews that were shown [but rarely watched by anyone other than himself and his relatives] on the paper's website. Every time Lolo Jones opened her mouth, Miller quoted her. After all, he liked the hell out of the gig that sent him to the Olympics every four years on Gannett's dollar.
Now, though, all of that is meaningless. Gannett, the worst newspaper company in the world, has ordered yet another cutback in Des Moines and just about everywhere else it puts out a paper.
No amount of ass-kissing a guy did earlier in his career, no amount of 70-hour weeks without overtime pay he put in means anything when cold-blooded Gannett decides to pull the plug on his job.
I guess Miller tried hard to be a decent sports editor and a decent sports columnist.
Unfortunately, he wasn't very good at either job.
I've been around long enough and I've worked in enough newspaper offices to know a lot about what it takes to be a good sports editor and a good sports columnist.
In my ranking of sports editors throughout history at the Register, Miller is tied for last place with Randy Brubaker.
In my ranking of general sports columnists throughout history at the paper, Miller is tied for last place with Sean Keeler.
The best sports editors at the paper were, in order, Gene Raffensperger, Dave Westphal, Dave Witke, Sec Taylor and Leighton Housh [who was called executive sports editor and managed the department when Taylor was writing columns].
The best general sports columnists were, in order, Marc Hansen, Sec Taylor and Maury White.
By the way, Bryce Miller likely isn't the only person in the newsroom planning to beat the posse out of the door in the newest Gannett cutback.
I'm guessing the decisions to leave the building were made by Miller and others after folks in the newsroom were ordered by Gannett to reapply for their own jobs, or someone else's job.
What an embarrassing, atrocious thing to do to people.
The way I look at it, anyone who has already turned in his or her resignation did so because he or she was unqualified and got the feeling there would be no job for them after the bosses reviewed the applications.
It's obvious that newspapering is a terrible, terrible business these days.
