John Feinstein Laid Off From The Sporting News

By Marcus Vanderberg 

John Feinstein‘s run as a columnist in The Sporting News is coming to an end.

“I got a phone call Tuesday from some bean counter in a suit who told me that now that Sporting News has acquired AOL Fanhouse, the company wants to, “maximize our assets,” by using the fulltime columnists working at Fanhouse in the magazine. I love the way these guys talk don’t you? I said, “so you’re firing me to save money.”

“Well, we really appreciate everything you’ve done for the magazine.”

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“No you don’t,” I said. “If you did, you wouldn’t be firing me to save money.”
My guess is the guy has never once read anything I’ve written. He’s been too busy counting beans and buying suits.

Am I upset? Sure I am. I liked writing the column and I thought I did it well. If someone fired me because my work wasn’t any good, it would be disappointing. Being fired by some guy (I swear I can’t remember his name and I’m not going to bother looking it up) who thinks Sportscenter is great journalism is a little bit hard to take.

I’ll get over it. But I will hold a grudge. If nothing else, I’m good at that.”

Well said, “Junior.”

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