The Cincinnati Post 2007

Some thoughts on The Cincinnati Post, whose final edition will be December 31, 2007. (My grandfater, Eddie Halloran, was a former Post editor, and legend).

Basically Scripps (the company that owns the Post) and Gannett (the company that owns the Enquirer) signed a joint-operating revenue sharing agreement between the two papers back in 1977. Even then, the afternoon Post was struggling financially (as were most afternoon dailies at the time, many which have already gone out of business elsewhere). The JOA was a way to keep the Post alive, and for the Enquire some greater reach.

The joint operating agreement basically meant that the Post and the Enquirer would share advertising staff, printing costs, etc., but the Post and the Enquirer would maintain seperate editorial staffs. The JOA was set as a 30-year deal, meaning 2007, and the agreement was never extended.

While it will be sad to see the Post go, even the editorial staff itself realizes that this was inevitable. The Post is simply a good news organization stuck in a business model that disappeared a long time ago.

Others born on July 17

The Hoff! Donald Sutherland!, James Cagney!, Vince Guaraldi!
All share a birthday with yours truly

July 17, 1971 Soundarya, Actress
July 17, 1970 Mandy Smith, "I Just Can't Wait," wife of Bill Wyman
July 17, 1965 Alex Winter, actor, "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure"
July 17, 1963 Denise Miller, actress, Billie-Archie Bunker's Place
July 17, 1958 Belinda Carlisle, rock vocalist, The Go-Go's
July 17, 1957 Bruce Crump, rock drummer, Molly Hatchet
July 17, 1952 Chet McCracken, rocker, Doobie Brothers
July 17, 1952 David Hasselhoff, actor, "Night Rider," "Baywatch"
July 17, 1951 Lucie Arnaz, actress
July 17, 1949 Geezer Butler, rocker, Black Sabbath
July 17, 1949 Terry "Geezer" Butler, rock bassist, Black Sabbath
July 17, 1947 Camilla Parker-Bowles, Prince Charles' lover
July 17, 1934 Donald Sutherland, actor
July 17, 1932 Vince Guaraldi, jazz pianist, Charlie Brown TV specials
July 17, 1921 Mildred Davenport, actress, played "Jane" in Tarzan movies
July 17, 1917 Phyllis Diller, born in Lima, Ohio, comedienne
July 17, 1900 James Cagney, actor
July 17, 1889 Erle Stanley Gardner, U.S. detective writer, Perry Mason
July 17, 1487 Esma'il I, shah who converted Iran from Sunni to Shi'ah

Narron fired (surprise)

Not surprisingly, the Reds fired manager Jerry Narron yesterday. The Reds had the worst record in baseball for the first half of this season, and the manager is usually the first person to go under such circumstances.

However, in this case, most people agree that team's record is more the fault of the awful bullpen (by far the worst bullpen in baseball), and that Narron could only play the players he was dealt, no matter their ability. Most - including me - would say that the blame rests more with GM Wayne Krivsky's inability to find a decent lineup of relief pitchers from which Narron could choose.

Nevertheless, advance scout Pete Mackanin is now the Reds acting skipper. My greatest reservation about this whole deal is that this essentially tells the team -- and fans -- that the rest of this season has already been given up. I hope Krivsky and owner Bob Castellini have a little something more up thier sleeve for the rest of this season than just letting Narron go, because if that's the case you can expect attendence to plummet for the rest of the year, to depths not seen since the pre-Pete early 1980's, when the only reason to go to a game was Mario Soto.