OT: Sarah McLellan leaving Coyotes beat, Richard Morin takes over.

[TheLegend]

If memory serves, Bob McManaman (sp?) has filled in for Sarah in the past.

Bob hasn't endeared himself to Coyotes fans lately.... not since the crack he made on Twitter about a new arena.

 

[SniperHF]

Just be aware of the one other person at the AZ Republic who's done anything in regards to the Coyotes this year and his claim to fame was asking Barroway and Steve Patterson if they had plans to move the Coyotes to Tucson. And he was being serious about it.

That was hi-freaking-larious.

 

[Hinterland]

Well, I think McLellan deserves a fair chance. I think she's a good writer...just had a tough time in a hostile environment. Don't think she was able to write what she wanted.
Taking Michael Russo's ex-job should be quite a challenge though. People will compare her to Russo who's one of the best insiders/beat writers nationwide.

 

[Matias Maccete]

Seems like a step up for her probably, so that's cool. I thought she was fine as a reporter. It would've been nice to see some more hard hitting questions, but really I doubt anyone would have answered them, and she probably would've been cut off by the organization then, so I don't really blame her. I wish her luck in Minnesota.

 

[XX]

Nothing of value was lost. You have one job as a sports writer and that's to add to the conversation beyond the plain facts. She never did that.

She will be attempting to replace Russo, good luck with that

 

[rt]

She seemed nice and I hope she does well.

I'm sure they'll find another entry level stenographer to apply zero critical thinking or analysis and print only and exactly what the team wants printed.

This is absolutely true. She nearly exclusively printed direct quotes from either the top or the face of the franchise and box score information. A software program could do that . An intern with a fillable form could do that.

Though she did write the occasional human interest piece about the team, and those were nice. She did a fine job at both things. Being a news bot and writing nice fluff pieces.

In this market, with this team, I don't see us getting anyone better than that. I think she's about as good as we can hope for. If the team wins a couple of championships and garners a much larger share of the market's serious sports fans who want serious sports reporting, then sure. As of now, there is absolutely zero motivation for her replacement to step on toes or try too hard. She did all that was asked of her and did it reasonably well.

And someone who's good looking in order to help sell the papers.

Hmmm...I disagree. Just my opinion but this has nothing to do with anything. Whether she's pretty or not pretty doesn't have anything to do with her sports writing job. Not any more than being a pretty or not pretty software developer has anything to do with having a job as a software developer anyway.

 

[Mosby]

Must be a decent raise to leave AZ for MN.

 

[XX]

Must be a decent raise to leave AZ for MN.

Minneapolis is better than Phoenix in every way except weather, IMO.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

I wish her well, and I wish her better writing skills as the MN hockey market is neither as small nor as ignorant as our market.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

I wish her well, and I wish her better writing skills as the MN hockey market is neither as small nor as ignorant as our market.

She'll have far better access and resources to back her up in MN than she was getting with the Republic. She'll be fine.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

Chris Russo will still be covering the MN wild, just for another site. Sarah better improve her game or the side by side comparisons will get ugly rather quickly.

 

[Sinurgy]

Minneapolis is better than Phoenix in every way except weather, IMO.

That explains why so many people flock to the great city of Minneapolis and few ever move here.

 

[Dirty Old Man]

Minneapolis is better than Phoenix in every way except weather, IMO.

also mosquitoes (which is a consequence of weather to some extent I suppose, still...)....and that's coming from a Floridian

Having said that, I've probably spent a total of 3 weeks there in August, October, and April, and yes, it is very nice.

Too chicken to try to go there in winter though. Bok bok b'gok.

 

[Jagged Ice]

That explains why so many people flock to the great city of Minneapolis and few ever move here.

Chris Russo will still be covering the MN wild, just for another site. Sarah better improve her game or the side by side comparisons will get ugly rather quickly.

Wrong Russo. You meant Michael Russo.

 

[Ciao]

Michael Russo is a very, very credible journalist who has been covering the NHL for almost 20 years. I hope he has it in him to help mentor Sarah. Sometimes a sense of true professionalism will lead you to do that.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

Michael Russo is a very, very credible journalist who has been covering the NHL for almost 20 years. I hope he has it in him to help mentor Sarah. Sometimes a sense of true professionalism will lead you to do that.

Wouldn't that depend upon the nature of Russo's separation from the Trib?

 

[Dolemite]

Michael Russo is a very, very credible journalist who has been covering the NHL for almost 20 years. I hope he has it in him to help mentor Sarah. Sometimes a sense of true professionalism will lead you to do that.

Sarah doesn’t need mentoring. She’s got serious game. Her abilities were limited by 1) the perpetually cruddy Coyotes teams 2) the republic never sending her on road trips 3) the competition for other sports in the market 3) the lack of space in the paper for her work.

I worked beside her when I covered the team and this move will allow her to be a true beat reporter. She’s gonna shine covering the Wild.

 

[SR]

She got pushed aside on so many occasions during interviews, especially with Tippet. She was just kind of there. To me it seemed like no one respected her or really gave a shit about her and her questions.

Mediocre and luke warm at best. Good luck sara.

 

[Dolemite]

She got pushed aside on so many occasions during interviews, especially with Tippet. She was just kind of there. To me it seemed like no one respected her or really gave a **** about her and her questions.

Mediocre and luke warm at best. Good luck sara.

When I was there during Post game pressers she always got the first question. She was on a deadline.

 

[XX]

When I was there during Post game pressers she always got the first question. She was on a deadline.

She always asked the softest of questions. Nothing of what you've said has been an explanation for her complete lack of writing voice.

 

[SR]

When I was there during Post game pressers she always got the first question. She was on a deadline.

First question, last question, doesn’t mean shit when you’re question is clearly dismissed. Numerous times Tippet would interrupt her mid sentence and half ass answer her question without making eye contact.

To me she was never respected, just kind of there, with the same material.

 

[TheLegend]

First question, last question, doesn’t mean **** when you’re question is clearly dismissed. Numerous times Tippet would interrupt her mid sentence and half ass answer her question without making eye contact.

To me she was never respected, just kind of there, with the same material.

In all fairness Tippett rarely looked at anyone during post game interviews.

People who have their minds made up about her aren’t going to change them any time soon.

I enjoyed reading quite a number of her articles but I also didn’t expect a whole lot given the paper she worked for.

 

[SR]

In all fairness Tippett rarely looked at anyone during post game interviews.

People who have their minds made up about her aren’t going to change them any time soon.

I enjoyed reading quite a number of her articles but I also didn’t expect a whole lot given the paper she worked for.

Don’t get me wrong, I am all for any publicist supporting the Coyotes, not enough of them. I also read a lot of her stuff, stuff we all really already knew, but for the casual fan I can see it being informative.

I liked her, she was persistent and she wasn’t lazy, but very true, not going to change minds that perceived her as soft.

 

[Dolemite]

First question, last question, doesn’t mean **** when you’re question is clearly dismissed. Numerous times Tippet would interrupt her mid sentence and half ass answer her question without making eye contact.

To me she was never respected, just kind of there, with the same material.

Do you know how big the media room is? It’s puny.

 

[TheLegend]

Richard Morin takes over the Coyotes beat writer.....