It’s a sunny Wednesday indeed. As heard on 3WT and reported by Dan Steinberg, Tony Kornheiser has accepted an early retirement/cost-cutting buyout from the Washington Post.
Kornheiser, a gifted writer when he wanted to be, more or less (more, actually) abandoned his duties as a sports columnist at the Post nearly a decade ago, to pursue an enlarged if superficial media presence with ESPN and Monday Night Football. He nominally remained a WaPost sports columnist. Certainly he succeeded in broadening his name recognition and well providing for his family. But it’s also fair to question how well served Washington’s sports fans were with the move. Certainly the Post’s editors recognized no conflict.
In the hours and days ahead no doubt we’ll be inundated with bloated bandwidth and belabored broadcast reminiscence related to this media personality’s perceived impact on his community. But he abandoned his community; he was as much a Washington writer this decade as a Washington bureau reporter for the Kansas City Star.
At OFB, we won’t be joining in the lovefest for TK the remainder of this week. Kornheiser didn’t merely consistently give hockey the back of his hand while working here, he actively undermined its presence with his sneering disregard for the game, the local team, and its supporters. For him, there was only one storyline on hockey, one now outdated by decades: the ’80s playoff failures by Bryan Murray’s Caps.
For the past three years, while Washington became home to the planet’s greatest hockey talent — and one of the world’s genuinely most gifted athletes — Tony Kornheiser couldn’t have cared less.
Today, we care a great deal about this buyout news. It necessarily means improved hockey coverage here. Addition by subtraction indeed.
The magnanimous Ted Leonsis never gave up trying to persuade Kornheiser about hockey’s merits and virtues. The owner had him in his box for a playoff game just last month. Details as to how that turned out can be found here.
We ridded our region, mercifully, of another oversalaried, underproducing media personality in George Michael last year. This is a healthy trend we’re seeing by local media: unlarding. Here’s hoping the Post next approaches Michael Wilbon about a buyout.
We’ll chip in.
31 Comments
After returning from a crappy morning at MVA getting my car’s emissions checked, then struggling through traffic to get to work, then arriving to a dead work PC and wastingfar too much time fixing it (the power supply died) . . . well despite all that, Kornheiser’s departure makes this a wonderful day.
Tony hasn’t written anything meaningful for the Post since the late 90′s. He hasn’t written anything for them for the last three years. I liken it to when Kramer gets axed and he says “I don’t even really work here!” That’s what makes this so difficult…
Per our comment policy — that you have agreed to by clicking “submit” — we will not tolerate disparaging comments, personal attacks, insults, or threatening language by deleting the comment as was done with a recent comment.
We also find it interesting that those who dislike blogs — or at least this blog — continue to read them.
I must have missed this….I was busy watching American Idol. LOL
Im with Dave. He hasn’t done anything for TWP in a while. He is more a “media personality” than a journalist.
I find that buyouts rarely are directed at those perceived to be productive and a good value.
Wow, a little bit harsh. That’s why Buzz Bissinger hates you bloggers.
Having said that, I agree with your summation of his ’80s nonsense, but he really hasn’t done anything for the WaPo full-time since the Caps talent came aboard.
* Hockey AND soccer fan who gets both sides of the TK backhand.
Section 117,
Look at the comments on the SportsBog. They echo a lot of what was said here — and vice versa.
The comments on the Caps’ boards are a mirror reflection as well. Lone wolves in this matter we aren’t.
I say it’s about time. You’re right that when he wanted to be, Kornheiser could be a fantastic columnist. But too often he’d rather just be a complete ass. Kornheiser’s constant disparaging treatment of hockey, soccer, etc got on my nerves so much that I stopped watching PTI.
You know, it’s great to see all of these media dinosaurs retire. For years, they were our only outlet for area sports. If George Michael/Kornheiser/Andy Pollin/Wilbon etc weren’t interested in it, you didn’t hear about it. In fact, they could understand why anyone had a different view than they did.
But now it’s a new day. No longer is sports journalism the province of a few narrow-minded gatekeepers who would rather talk about the Redskins than anything else.
Now, we have tv/internet/blogs that cover our favorite teams. For instance, I think ‘Washington Post Live’ is one of the best shows out there because they cover more than just a few area teams. It’s great that they cover not only the major sports, but the obscure ones as well. The Post Paper could learn a thing or two from the Post tv show.
I had a feeling this would be the reaction here.
I guess I’m one of the few people who likes hockey and likes Tony.
Yeah, I think after the 8th or 9th comment on the Bog that talked about “Kornholer” was when I tuned out. Will Leitch pretty much got it right for me:
“We appreciate Kornheiser’s sadness about all this, and can’t imagine how it must feel. Though, to be fair, we suspect his buyout package, along with the ESPN and radio money, should make for quite a comfortable golden parachute… But godspeed, Tony: We’ll miss the columns. Though we suspect we’ll still be seeing you, oh, about as often as we do now.”
But to call this “a new day” is a little bit premature. At least not until I see live remotes from Kettler D-camp, THAT’S when I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Incidentally, Politico is reporting that opinion writer David Broder has also agreed to a buyout at the Post:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0508/WaPos_Broder_taking_buyout_becomes_contract_writer_in_09.html
Unlike Kornheiser, however, Broder remained true to his writing calling. Which may have been the reason for the Post offering Broder a contractual agreement to continue to write.
Love the picture and the prose. Though I’m sure Mr. K is taking his ‘choking dogs’ rhetoric all the way to the bank and his early bedtimes, we’ll be dancing in the streets when the Caps win it all.
LOL Dave
& Hey Tony, A.M.F.!
odessasteps…I’m one of those few as well.
Tony was an idol of mine growing up and still remains one even if his career is strictly based on television now compared to the print media and radio waves (where I first became a fan of his).
He won’t care about what anyone (especially on a hockey blog) thinks about him and his retirement from the Post…and that’s why I’ll always like and have respect for Tony.
One assumes that the Post would want to keep some kind of relationship with TK, given that he probably still drives a decent number of hits to their website.
I always find it ironic when blogs get ripped for being “irresponsible” and ruining thoughtful discourse; meanwhile PTI, the mainstream yell-fest at the root of the 24/7 sports debate era, gets a free pass.
That established, their snide anti-hockey commentary completely fed into the “hockey is dead” cliches that pervade the sports world today. Combine that with unfounded hockey bashing and I am a bitter guy towards Tony especially. Sorry for the rant, just my two cents.
Tony was a good writer and the column that he did for the Style section was amusing but then came his radio show, PTI, MNF. I can’t remember the last time I read his work in the Post. I stopped listening to his radio show and watching PTI several years ago. I’m not interested in the sports that he pushes and got tired of hearing negative comments about sports that I like (hockey, soccer, WNBA) because he did not know the sport. How people that are “sports reporters” can continue to get away with bashing certain sports because they don’t follow it is beyond me. It was really annoying when ESPN carried hockey yet Tony and others on the network were allowed to feed the anti-hockey cliche.
Best news I have heard in years. This guy is a total clown and unfunny ass. I have hated him for decades
Once upon a time I would have been saddened by the departure, but the past few years have soured me on Kornheiser. His rants against Hockey and Soccer have gotten sad and old. I to have stopped watching PTI because of it. When is he retiring from ESPN so I can watch that again?
I love hockey and the caps, which is why I read this blog.
I like soccer,(Arsenal fan), I’m not super dedicated to DC United, but that is my local team of choice.
All this venom for someone who hasn’t written on a regular basis in two years. People get over it, TK wasn’t a hockey or soccer fan, other than the beat writers name me someone in the MSM that is.
No columnist or writer is going to change the way I think. Yes it would be nice if there was more articles coming out of the Post other than from Tarik, but if there was OFB may not exist.
French’s does not make enough mustard to cover this hot dog. This Long Island boy used to brag about his rank ignorance of and indifference to the Islanders. Why should he have cared a whit about the Caps? Worst of all, Tony the K popularized a kind of smirky, smart aleck, epigram spew that now is common among sports buffs and message board fans. In trying to act like the coolest, smartest guys in the room, they show just the opposite. Bon voyage to the purgatory he so richly deserves.
With Leather chimes in:
TK LEAVES JOB HE REALLY LEFT YEARS AGO
“Coming as a shock to the hundred of fans of his radio show, Tony Kornheiser took a brief break from discussing American Idol.”
http://www.withleather.com/post.phtml?pk=5760
Kornhole is one of the most pretentious has-beens in the media–all media, not just ESPN/WaPo.
He will be known as a true master of bombast and logical fallacies. Let’s hope Wilbon is next.
If a tree falls in the forest and noone hears it, did it really make a noise? That kind of sums up Kornheiser leaving the Post. I enjoyed him once, but he so debased his talent and his profession that I long ago stopped listening, reading and watching. I’d call him an entertainer, but that would be unkind to all the true entertainers who work hard at their profession. As for his departure being a great day for hockey, I disagree. Any hockey fan worth their salt knows that anything coming from TK on hockey carries the same weight as Brittany Spears discussing quantum physics.
Per the comment policy, please never, ever lump in soccer with hockey in any discussion.
That was funny, JR.
(For what it’s worth, I agree.)
I’ll pitch in some bucks to get Wilbon out of the Post. I regularly look forward to skipping his columns.
I am not sure anyone on this board has actually read Tony Kornheiser, or Michael Wilbon. Tony has said in print and on TV that “Hockey is the best in arena experience of any sport”. Look it up. Either this is typical factless spouting which gives blogs a bad name or intentional misinformation on your part. Tony’s criticisms has always been of how the owners and to some extent the players ruined hockey with the lock-out. You have to be Nancy Drew to find Hockey on TV. I have not read anything negative Wilbon(who played Hockey growing up), has said about Hockey. In fact I think he goes out of his way to say positive things about Hockey. I read the Washington Post fairly regularly so feel free to post any links which back up your claims.
Wendell, it’s hard to link to a Post article where Kornheiser belittles the Capitals . . . because for the most part he never wrote about the Capitals at all. By either ignoring the sport or occasionally casually bad-mouthing the lockout he made it seem to the casual sports fan that hockey was irrelevant at best, or a joke at worst. Mind you, the lockout was a major blunder, no doubt. But when that’s the main storyline a prominent name like Kornheiser emphasizes long after the lockout ended, it further harms the sport.
Have you watched PTI or listened to Kornheiser’s radio show? The rare times he mentioned hockey was to dismiss it or ridicule it. Sure, he had the occasional offhand remark about hockey being a great live sport, though he never backed it up by actually attending games or talking about it at any length. Now some might say “Well, that’s radio/TV, he’s just catering to his audience.” But then his attitude was either manufactured for his shows to pander to his audience, or it’s how he really feels. Whichever the case, it’s something Capitals fans won’t miss.
As for your need to be Nancy Drew to find hockey on TV, that is a terrific example of the “typical factless spouting … or intentional misinformation” you mention. If you live in Washington DC and cannot find your local sports channel (FYI: Comcast SportsNet) or Versus, then you’re just not trying.
Kornheiser abandoned the Capitals and hockey a long time ago. The feeling is mutual.
There is obviously a lot to know about this. There are some good points here.