So how is everybody feeling? I have used this space to write about a great many issues surrounding this COVID-19 tsunami that has overtaken us in the past week. Today I don’t want to write about nuts and bolts, statistics or curves — though there are plenty of updates to give. Instead, consider this: Every…
California lockdown, a leadership failure and my rules for media engagement
The entire state of California was told Thursday to stay home. To shelter in place. The most populous state in the nation has been ground to a halt. Seven weeks after the biggest story there (and everywhere) was the death of Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash, the health and livelihoods of millions are on…
More bad news — and solutions from unlikely places
So here’s the latest: the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,300 points Wednesday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the U.S. increased by more than 4,000, President Trump ordered Navy hospital ships into New York Harbor and New York City mayor Bill de Blasio came closer to a shelter-in-place order to citizens of the…
You know it’s serious when the politicians start playing nice
I have spent the day writing sports news, and much of it, I’m just going to be honest with you, doesn’t matter to me, or at least, not nearly as much as it ordinarily would. I’m thrilled Teddy Bridgewater is getting a 3-year, $60 million contract with the Carolina Panthers, but honestly, I think it’s…
A new role, amid more dramatic containment measures
Today won’t be much different for me. It will be very different for many of my hard-working WDRB colleagues. Without going into specifics, I’ve never seen a workplace more dramatically and quickly transform than this television station has over the past week. A sizable portion of the WDRB newsroom, the largest TV newsroom in Kentucky,…
In 1918, Louisville came together when faced with flu pandemic
I was paging back through some old newspapers, looking at what generally is agreed to be the worst influenza outbreak in Louisville’s history, and was struck by something. They didn’t know as much back in 1918 when the so-called “Spanish Flu” hit, but they knew more than you probably think. Today, our technology is better,…
Thoughts while social distancing
What do you do when you’re a sportswriter, and sports suddenly disappear? ESPN is grappling with a similar scenario, as it scrambles to provide programming over a family of channels – with no games going on. Thursday night, Sports Business Journal media writer John Ourand shared an outline of programming for the network, with ESPN…
‘Sporting world on hold:’ Kentucky, Indiana adjust to ‘new normal’
In Kentucky and Indiana, if you took a poll of the most important things in life, God and basketball would be in the Associated Press Top 5. On Wednesday morning, Kentuckians were told they might want to think about not going to church on Sunday, and by Wednesday evening citizens of both states were told…
State of the Union, in the age of trolls
I didn’t expect better, but for some foolish reason, I had hoped for better. When it comes to the annual State of the Union address, by now we all know, it’s not the words that matter anymore, it’s the images. All of this is, after all, a television show — especially in a presidential election…
Good grief, and good luck: Missouri State rolls the dice on Petrino
It’s a heck of a life, being a football coach. At the same time, results are everything, and nothing. Contracts are binding, and non-binding. The curious career of Bobby Petrino will resume in Springfield, Missouri, home of Missouri State University, soon to be the latest case study in institutional hubris in pursuit of football notoriety. Petrino’s…