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The O-Zone Podcast | Gene Frenette on Covering Jags, Retirement & THE Turkey · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Soon.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Ozone Podcast with Jaguars senior writer John Osher.
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: All Right, welcome into this week's Ozone podcast. And I
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: say every week how much I look forward to the guests.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. But in this case,
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to this.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: I am joined today by long time and now former
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: believe it or not. Four the Time's Union columnist Gene
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Fornette Jane. First of all, I appreciate you doing this.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm glad to do it.
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: I didn't know that I had to retire to finally
• 0:40
  Speaker 4: get on an Ozone podcast.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Well that's kind of the rules around here. No current media.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: That's not true, is it. I know it's hard for
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: me to believe each victory retired because I never thought
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: you would it. Is it hard to believe? And how
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: is it going for a couple of weeks?
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: Uh?
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: Now, not really, because, to be honest with you, when
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: my wife re hired like eighteen months ago, I kind
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: of we kind of pegged the spring of twenty twenty
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: five as sort of being the finish line for me
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: because I knew i'd do one I do. I said
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: I'd do a couple more seasons, but I didn't know
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: if I wanted to really do a third. It just
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: too cognizant of the fact that you know, you wait,
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: you wait, you wait, and and while you may get
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: some financial benefits out of it by maxing out your
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: Social Security, the flip side is is that you don't
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: know nobody, none of us. I promised tomorrow, and I
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: wanted to be able to go out while I still
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: felt like I was somewhat at the top of my game,
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: but also healthy, sure, and be able to be able
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: to do things with my wife in retirement. And so
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: that's why I did what I did. I don't you know,
• 1:49
  Speaker 4: I don't judge it on anything else other than that.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: And to be honest with you, your body and mind
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: will sort of tell you when it's the right time
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: told me ten years ago. So yeah, so I just
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: kind of felt like it was the right time. I've
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: had no regrets about it. It was the right decision for me.
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: For others who want to, you know, stay working in
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: the media into their seventies or whatever, if that's what
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: they choose to do, then that's fine.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: I just I just didn't want to do that.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: Fantastic we talked a little bit. I joke with you
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: over the years more than we actually talk, So I'm
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: looking forward to actually talking without I like to give
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: you grief. But forty four years, man, I mean, I
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: know we talked a little bit when you first announced,
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: when I first found out. That's an unbelievable career gene
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: in this media age. So first, congratulations, And do you
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: have a sense of you know, sort of navigating a
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: tough industry. I guess how rare it is going to
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: be for somebody to have a forty four career, your
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: career as a columnist, sports media, whatever that means.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: Well, you know, the ironic thing is is that when
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: I left the Palm Beach Evening Times in eighty one,
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: and I was the prep writer there, and I took
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: the same job at the Jacksonville Journal for seventy dollars
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: more a week, and yeah, and when I left, the
• 3:13
  Speaker 4: guy who replaced me in Palm Beach ironically as Tom DiAngelo.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: And Tom is still there, so he's been forty four.
• 3:19
  Speaker 4: Years in Palm Beach as well. So I mean, obviously
• 3:23
  Speaker 4: it's a coincidence. I figured when I came to Jacksonville,
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: i'd be here like two or three years and then
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: move on somewhere else. I really liked the job. Wasn't
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: all that keen on the city when I first got here.
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: First of all, it took forever to get to get anywhere.
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: I mean, you don't realize how big Jacksonville really is.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: And there was no bypass.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a different driving world than many people
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: who are listening today realized.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: And speaking of driving, you know, and every time you
• 3:52
  Speaker 4: went over a bridge, you had to dump a quarter
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: into the thing, right, or you bought the two dollars
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: book of tickets for you got ten tickets for two dollars.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: So you did.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: What I did was was do the fake and then
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: once you went through in the bell ranguent like you missed.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: No, I never, I never.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: I never did do that because I knew that the
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: people who do who do get caught on that. Yeah,
• 4:13
  Speaker 4: I mean, it's not worth the consequences for not having I.
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: Was fortunate friends of mine did get caught. So I
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: want to get into some of your thoughts on journalism.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: But this is a Jaguars centric podcast. I want to
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: ask Jags.
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: First, Well, you know you've.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: Seen so much of this organization, and you saw a
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: glimpse of what's going on now with Tony taking over.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: What are your thoughts on the direction of the team's going.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: Now, this is a very early projection without really there.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: They haven't put enough to me on the table yet
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: to make a clear.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: Cut judgment on how it's going to go over the
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: long haul. I would say what they've done so far,
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: I like, I'm optimistic about where the direction that this
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: franchise is headed. But again I say that because we
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: all know what happens.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: The April May.
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: June July is what I call the fool's goal time
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: of year. Everything's great, there's optimism, you know, with all
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: thirty two teams possible exception of the New York Giants
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: or what have you. But you know this time of
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: the year every year, you know, fans get fired up, right,
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: and they even get more fired up when there's change.
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: They got fired up with urban Meyer was hired, you know,
• 5:41
  Speaker 4: and you know, and they certainly were fired up after
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: Doug Peterson's first year, thinking hey, this is going along
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: on a very good path. And it just goes to
• 5:49
  Speaker 4: show you that the NFL is every year, with the
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: exception of maybe what the Chiefs have done under Andy Reid.
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: It's really hard to predict because injuries, you know, factor
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: into it.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: And when you've got a new regime.
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: You look at the Jaguars depth chart right now, there's
• 6:07
  Speaker 4: probably like thirteen or fourteen guys which is not an
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: unusually absurdly high number that are on the too deep
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: chart that are new arrivals. They're either unrestricted free agents
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: that they paid for or their draft picks. And to me,
• 6:23
  Speaker 4: what I like about what this franchise is doing is
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: they seem to be creating genuine, legitimate competition at a
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: lot of different positions.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: Which is hard to do. People talk about competitions, yeah.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: But it doesn't.
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I was just looking. I just took
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: a glance at the Hour Lads depth chart for the Jaguars,
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: and I could legitimately look at that depth chart.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: Please tell me, Jane that you did that to prep
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: for this podcast, and that's not what retirement looks like.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Correct, That's correct, that's correct. Yes, the latter is the
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: former is true.
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: But you know, you could look at about five positions
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: where they projected a starter where it wouldn't be that
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: outlandish to see the second guy listed be the starter.
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: Which except is rare competition is off in lip service
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: and it's not.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I can easily see two or three
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: offensive line positions. The guys that are listed there now,
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: you know, might be the backup rat come September ten
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: or whatever the season opener is. So I think from
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: that standpoint, and I just like the idea that from
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: the very moment James Gladstone got here and.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: You look at certainly what happened.
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: I mean, everybody's obviously talking about Travis Hunter. I mean,
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: Travis Hunter has taken over as the face of this franchise,
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: which I'm sure Trevor Lawrence is more than happy to
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: bequeath to him, right because Travis has got a little
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: bit more of the personality to kind of take on
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: that sort of thing that he would kind of welcome
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: it a little bit more. But you know, just the
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: bold move to go up and get Travis Hunter. I
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: mean I wrote about it because I was, you know,
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: I was, I was still a week out from retiring
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: when they drafted him. I just thought it was a
• 8:01
  Speaker 4: bow move that this franchise would not ordinarily make. It
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: certainly would not have been made if Trent Bulk would
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: have been the GM that trade. That trade would have
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: never happened. So I just kind of liked that. It's
• 8:14
  Speaker 4: not just a fresh start, but you've also got a
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: got a head coach who is coming off a track
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: record of transforming the quarterback in Tampa, and Baker Mayfield
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: and so a lot there's a lot of signs pointing
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: in a very positive direction. You know, you know, is
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: Travis Hunter going to be a future Hall of Famer
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: like so many people seem to be projecting him to be,
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: because the optimism about what he can do for this
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: franchise is unbelievable. That Yeah, yeah, Personally, I think it
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: would be easier for the Jaguars to play him more
• 8:46
  Speaker 4: full time as a cornerback and part time as a receiver.
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: But you know, I get it. Liam Cohan wants to
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: he wants to generate the offense. I'm sure he's very
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: selfish about trying to get the extra three or four.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: Points per game talent.
• 8:57
  Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, so yeah, I early on, I like the
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: direction it's going. But you know, I'm not going to
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: sit here and say, hey, there'll be a minimum of
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: love it and five eleven and six This year.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Sure, you know, we'll see.
• 9:11
  Speaker 3: I want to get your perspective on a couple of
• 9:14
  Speaker 3: history things because you've been around this franchise as long
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: as I have, and then you were around for ten
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: years when I wasn't here. We both have the perspective
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: of what this team meant to this city because we
• 9:28
  Speaker 3: both predate the team.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: I grew up here.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: You were here for what.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: Fourteen years before they came, before they started playing.
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: So you saw it when I saw it when the
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: city was the gay or ball in the Florida Georgia
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: game and hoping against hope to get a team. Do
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: you think that a lot of people our age are
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: listening to this, but a lot of young people are.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: Do you think young people in the city appreciate how
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: much the Jaguars have changed? And I guess how because
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: you me have an attachment to it. How glad are
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: you that it's secure now for the future. That has
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: to mean something to you as somebody who has been
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: about sports in this town for forty five years.
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I've never been of the mindset even back and
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: I remember when we had this conversation when you were
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: still in Indianationalist You know, you wanted to, you know,
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: you wanted to take the job, but you were concerned
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: about how long the team was going to be here
• 10:25
  Speaker 4: because I was an outsider, Yeah, and you said, hey,
• 10:28
  Speaker 4: I need at least three years, And I said, John,
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: that they're going to be here, right, you know. I
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: just I just felt very strongly that that Shod Cohn
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: was about making this thing work in Jacksonville, because I
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: knew what he had discussed with Wayne Weaver when he
• 10:42
  Speaker 4: bought the team, and I had to clarify.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: I got back before Shod bought, so we were still
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: talking during the Wayne years, so I was not sure.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I just didn't.
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: I just know how hard it is for an NFL
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: team to move. You know, It's not as if this
• 10:58
  Speaker 4: happens a lot, right, I mean, yes, we saw the
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: trucks in the middle of the night go from Baltimore
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: to Indianapolis, and you saw what happened with Cleveland and
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: Baltimore and how much Al Davis flip flopped between LA
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: and Oakland. But other than that, it's it's rare to
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: get to get a circumstance where an NFL team actually moves,
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: And I just kind of felt like I had no
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: reason to doubt that shod Cohn wanted London as a
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: financial supplement to its franchise, not as an option to
• 11:30
  Speaker 4: go overseas, because I still don't think the NFL in
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: Europe can work. I just I don't see how. I
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: just think there are too many hoops to jump through.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: At all.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I thought it was much more, much more dangerous
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: or for the Jaguars to move to like you know,
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: in la or a Saint Louis or something like that,
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: than it ever was to London. But to answer your
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: question about whether the young whether the young generation can
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: appreciate that, I don't know that you can, because if
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: you've never known the Jaguars to be nonexistent, you know,
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: it's hard.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: To get a sense of what that history is.
• 12:12
  Speaker 4: And as you know, I mean it was a little
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: bit of an upset when the Jaguars got the franchise, right,
• 12:17
  Speaker 4: I mean, Saint Louis had to drop the ball, and
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: they dropped the ball and Jacksonville capitalized it got the turnover,
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: and you know, thirty years later, they're still here. And
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: despite all the terrible seasons the Jaguars I've had over
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: the last you know, seventeen eighteen years. You know, and
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: obviously I'm biased because I'm in the industry, but I
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: just think the city of Jacksonville is so much better
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: with the Jaguars than without them.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: It just gives you, first of all.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: It's a fantastic entertainment option for some people, and even
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: for people who don't care about football but care about
• 12:57
  Speaker 4: Jacksonville wanting to grow as a city. I mean, you
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: get a lot more respect when you have an NFL
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: team than when you have no major pro sports franchise whatsoever.
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: No doubt I can talk to you about a million
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: different topics because we know a lot of the same
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: topics and you've been doing it for you did it
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: for so long. But what over the years your relationship
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: with Tom Cofflin, just covering him as an entity in
• 13:30
  Speaker 3: this city, with the J Fund, with the team. When
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: I say the word Tom or I would say the
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: name Tom Coughlin first reaction, and then just talk about him.
• 13:41
  Speaker 4: Well, I would say, when I think of Tom Cofflin,
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: I think as much of the J Fund as I
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: do of him being a two time Super Bowl winning coach.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: I mean, I think more people obviously will think of
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: him as a two time Super Bowl winning coach and
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: I hope one day that that his resume gets him
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But that's a
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: separate topic. You know that that's becoming more challenging. But
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: when I think of Tom Coffin, I think of the
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: foundation upon which the Jaguars are built. I mean, it's
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: like you have this you know, you're building this house,
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: and before you can design the kitchen and the bedrooms
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: and all that other stuff, you have to have the foundation.
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: And to me, that's what Tom. When I think of
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: Tom Coffin, I think of the guy who built the
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: Jaguars foundation. And he had the power to do so
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: because he was both the GM and the head coach.
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: And he did a fantastic job. I mean, four postseason appearances,
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: two AFC title games within the first five seasons is
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: pretty remarkable.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: I've always been intrigued, probably as we've gotten further away
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: from it. I'm gonna shift to college football for a second.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: The time that we covered college football together, I only
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: covered for a couple of years, but I covered the
• 14:57
  Speaker 3: Spurrier and you were right there. You touched the Bowden
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: there at FSU. Clearly the golden era of college football
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: right here to me? Do you have an appreciation for
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: how fortunate you've been to have sort of seen a
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: lot of that.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Level of college football up close?
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: That era?
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: I mean, it was.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure the Times Union covers it as much
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: as it used to, but during that time, you were
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: face front for the best.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was.
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: Not only was it a golden era for college football
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: in this state. And I think you would be hard
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: pressed to find two more successful head coaches who were
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: coaching at rival schools than Bowden and spur.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Your And we almost took it for granted.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: Maybe maybe Tom Osborne obviously right in his era, right,
• 15:52
  Speaker 4: Barry Switzer, that's the only other one that I could think, Okay,
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: I mean, you know Bo schamp Black or what he has.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: I mean, but you know, I was too young and
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: dumb to realize it.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: So that was the nineties, and all of this coincided,
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: by the way, with a time where newspapers really mattered
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: the internet. The Internet hadn't been really full fledged yet, right.
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: It truly was the golden age, you know, And I
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: mean the eighties and the nineties for newspapers, and also
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: the seventies and sixties.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: And all that as well.
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: I mean the nineties was kind of like the last
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: part of the Golden age for newspapers, right, And it
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: just so happened to be at a time when Florida
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: and Florida State, I mean Florida State was on a
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: fourteen year streak of top five finishes. Spurrier was winning
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: like six six SEC titles in a twelve year span
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: at Florida.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: The days, my friend, we thought they never ended.
• 16:50
  Speaker 4: And oh, by the way, that Jacksonville has an NFL
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: team and they're going to the postseason, you know, year
• 16:56
  Speaker 4: after year.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know that football in this area will.
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: Ever have a better time than that, right, I mean,
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: you hope they will, right, But.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: You'd be hard pressed to find something better than that.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: It's hard to imagine.
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: You assume they're both in the top five, and for
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: a little while it's been a while around here, but
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: for three or four years, you sort of assume this
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: tune to be in the postseason.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: So that's exactly right.
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: This is very journalism one oh one, And I'm sure
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: people who don't care about journalism will fall asleep. But
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: it's my podcast. So where do you see it going?
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: You know, in terms of newspapers, you know, your position.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: I grew up dreaming of wanting to be a columnist.
• 17:39
  Speaker 3: Now it's not quite you know, it's a tougher it's
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: a tougher industry to define. You're not really the rock
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: star as much as maybe the mid nineties, right where
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: do you see it going?
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: You know, five ten years?
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Quite frankly, I don't like the direction that is going.
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: A lot of a lot of content that you see,
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: sports content that you see on the internet now is
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: somebody playing off what somebody else wrote.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: You know, they they see, oh this is what you.
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: Know, somebody on ESPN said about this, and then they
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: create a blog about that and that gets thrown up there.
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: Everything's like these short, blurpy reads now that people you know,
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: there's there's there's no time for storytelling or anything like that.
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: Uh now, which is what?
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Which?
• 18:35
  Speaker 4: Which is why I kind of appreciate the athletic a
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: little bit because they still they still, you know, still
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: reserve some room for doing that. But everything is, you know,
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: throw it up on there, and the bigger name you
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: can throw in there, that's going to get more clicks.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: Uh, you know, have at it, you know, you know.
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: I mean, and accuracy doesn't matter, not as much.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: No, it doesn't. I mean it doesn't.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: It doesn't matter whether it's politic or whether it's sports.
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: Just get a name in there so that they can
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: put this up on their Google searches and to get
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: the clicks and.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Everything like that. I mean, think about this.
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: The Jaguars are going to be playing the Kansas City
• 19:15
  Speaker 4: Chiefs on a Monday night football game right week five,
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: Week six.
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: How many stories do you think in.
• 19:21
  Speaker 4: That week are going to be about Travis Travis Hunter
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: versus Taylor Swift, you know, I mean, it's just the
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: fact that you have to think about that just for
• 19:33
  Speaker 4: a second, tells you where the train is headed.
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and that could be a series of podcasts with
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: people such as yourself and myself and probably not get
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: as much depth as you could because it's it's troubling
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: for people like us. But okay, now, I guys the question,
• 19:54
  Speaker 3: You've got to tell me the story behind the Turkey,
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: because anybody listened to this, there's a there's a Twitter
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: picture that I repost every and many of my unfunny
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: friends in the media tweet it was.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: The Turkey for real? Take me through the morning of
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: the turkey.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: The turkey was for.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: Real, because this is why everybody's listening to this podcasting.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: So here's the great irony about that picture. Right. I
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: never and I when.
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: I say never, I mean n E V E R
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: tweet put anything up on social media about food.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: Ever except that one.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Except that one. I don't know what.
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: I don't even know what made me do it. I'm
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: just sitting there at the table. I just said, I
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: just so, I just took a picture of the turkey
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: that was stuffed and all this stuff. And I guess
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: just whether it was the angle of the picture or
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: how the turkey looked, you know, to people who saw
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: it, it didn't look appetizing at all.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Wait, what the heck is this? Right?
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: I never dreamed it would take the shelf life that
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: it did.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: And here it is, like because I think it was
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: frid after I got back. It was it was twelve
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: or thirteen, Oh yeah it was.
• 21:10
  Speaker 4: It was easily over a decade ago, so you know,
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: it was just like this, just like this innocent, Oh,
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: I'll just throw this up there, not, you know, not
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: that I was expecting any great feedback. And and obviously
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: if i'd have known what I know now, I would
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: have never.
• 21:27
  Speaker 3: Put maybe you would have. It's been a great it's
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: been a great touchstone for everybody. But do you have
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: an appreciation, Jean? And I don't really talked to you
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: about this, for you know, a Twitter Jeene has been followed,
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: you know, the Turkey and people, the fans really have
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: embraced you on Twitter.
• 21:55
  Speaker 2: And there's a weird part of Twitter as well. There's
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: but there there.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: Are factions of Jaguars fans that Jean Frenette is part
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: of it. And I think that's pretty cool. And I
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: know you're a professional, but there's also that as well.
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean number one and maybe this is this
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: is maybe the you know, the way my dad was
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: if you got to be able to laugh at yourself.
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: Sure, if you if you screw up or whatever.
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: Or you do something and I'm not talking about a
• 22:23
  Speaker 4: screw up where anybody's hurt or anything like that. I'm
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: just talking about or a journalism which is not Yeah,
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: and if you and if you make a mistake, you
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: just show it, right, I mean not it. I mean
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: nobody does their job absolutely perfectly where they don't make mistakes, right, Okay,
• 22:40
  Speaker 4: that's that's even that's even true for a Northeast Florida
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: cultural icon.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: When I first thought leader.
• 22:50
  Speaker 4: When I first saw that, I go, oh, okay, this
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: is one of those things that John's gonna make stick.
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: And for those that you don't know in the Ozone
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: mailbag fans, I think I did it once. And fans
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: just love to sort of make up feats of strength
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: for Gene, feats of cultural identity that he has nothing
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: to do with. They associated with Gene and he is
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: longtime Florida Times Union sports columnists and cultural icon, Northeast Florida,
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: Northeast Florida cultural icon, Eugene P. Gene Furnett, And you know,
• 23:31
  Speaker 3: to set the record straight for a lot of people
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: who watch this, Gene as much as we tease him
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: about the Turkey, as much as we have teased him
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: about different things. So out of the Corsy has always
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: been the best sport and gets the spirit of what
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: things are. And again, I think that's why a lot
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: of fans on Twitter, because this is a long time
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: fifteen years on Twitter sort of interacting being a guy
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: that people go to in the Jaguars and you've always, uh,
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: I thought done a great job of embracing that.
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: Well, I got a question for you in relation to
• 24:10
  Speaker 4: this uh tag as Northeast Florida Cultural icon icon. What
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: came first that? Or King of All Funk?
• 24:18
  Speaker 3: Which which came King of All Funk may have been
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: before that, It's probably around the same time.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: But I am the King of All fund Yeah.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Well, and k O A F fits better than n
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: f C.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: I right, that is true.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: That is true.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: It's so are you gonna miss it?
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: I will miss parts of it. I will not miss
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: all of it. I certainly don't miss what the profession
• 24:51
  Speaker 4: has become. As as we've gotten older, and you know,
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: as as many people know, Gannett has not only bought
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: The Times Union, but they've bought up virtually all the
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: papers in Florida, with the exception of Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: And Saint Pete.
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: Okay, they you know, they own, they own, you know,
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: they own Gainesville, Tallahassee, uh, Brevard County, West Palm Beach, Lakeland, Sarasota,
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: Fort Myers, Pensacola.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: I mean that's what they're doing, really, is the news.
• 25:23
  Speaker 4: They're creating their own State of Florida network. So uh so,
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: Times Union doesn't send people anymore to Florida football games
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: or f s U games in anything.
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: Which is a mammoth change that's really tough for local
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, it just is.
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: I mean it doesn't mean that as a columnist, I
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: couldn't continue to write about them. I just wasn't going
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: to be traveling there to go get stories. You got,
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: you know, you got you got to get interviews by phone,
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: and you have to rely on the s I D
• 25:54
  Speaker 4: departments well.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: To kind of deliver to interviews.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: The difference in this day and I know I was
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: around Florida when you're covering Florida. You know, when you're
• 26:05
  Speaker 3: the columnist, you had very personal relationships with Bobby Baden
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: and Steve Spurrier that would probably be very hard to
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: replicate now just because you're not in person. And for
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: fans who are winning while I'm talking about this, that
• 26:19
  Speaker 3: affects coverage, That affects the depth of information that a
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: fan in Jacksonville can feel for the program. It's just different.
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: It's the way it is.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: But I'm with you, It's what I would miss it
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: if I were in your shoes.
• 26:32
  Speaker 4: Yeah, And it's another reason why I think that people
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: who cover the NFL, who have covered both college and
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: the NFL now much before the NFL, because at least
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: you can go into a locker room. Sure, you know
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: in college football, we haven't been in a locker room
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: twenty years, right or whatever.
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: You know it's done to me having covered it, but
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: I know it's true.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: Now they bring, you know, a select group of players
• 26:55
  Speaker 4: to you and then you get to interview them that way,
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: but it's just there you've lost. You lose the personal
• 27:01
  Speaker 4: connection that the media person, whether it's a columnist or
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: a beat writer has with the athletes.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: You at least have that a little bit with.
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: The Jaguars, although they will make sure that their big
• 27:12
  Speaker 4: stars probably get to keep their distance, like Trevor Lawrence
• 27:15
  Speaker 4: and now Travis Hunter will only be a once a
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: week guy in this coming season for the media to
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: have access to, and of course you'll have access after games, right,
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: But you know, so it's it's a much It was
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: so much more of a personalized business back when I
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: back when I when I was coming up in the
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: eighties and nineties, and that.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Part I will miss.
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: What I won't miss is how corporate, uh, the newspaper
• 27:42
  Speaker 4: game has become.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Now they're you know, they're issuing.
• 27:45
  Speaker 4: Playbooks to these more still to the writers about Okay,
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: here's what we want for this week. You know, let's
• 27:51
  Speaker 4: make sure that we we hit this story. Not necessarily
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: because it's a great story, but because they think that's
• 27:58
  Speaker 4: going to get clicks, and that's gonna get the that's
• 28:01
  Speaker 4: what's going to stir up the Google searches. And and
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: the thing is, even if something gets a lot of clicks,
• 28:07
  Speaker 4: and I'll tell you, I'll give you a perfect example.
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: One of the things that got that gets a ton
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: of clicks down in the West Palm Beach area was
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: stories about when all this live golf controversy was being
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: stirred up.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: All of a sudden.
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: You know, they saw all these clicks and they're thinking,
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: oh my, this is great, right, but.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: It gets old after a while.
• 28:27
  Speaker 4: Okay, here we are here, there are two years since
• 28:30
  Speaker 4: living the PGA tour were supposedly gonna come to this agreement,
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: and they're still you know, they're still and and but
• 28:36
  Speaker 4: yet but they have to keep feeding that beast because
• 28:39
  Speaker 4: the the writer may be tired, the writer may be
• 28:42
  Speaker 4: tired about writing about it, but the higher ups don't
• 28:45
  Speaker 4: get tired about seeing.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: What the numbers.
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: There's no substance to it anymore correct.
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: All right, One thing we do here, Gene is the
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: ozone five five quick questions and change them a little
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: bit for you. Then gets information from you too, Gene Furnette,
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: what was your last binge watch?
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: My last binge watch on TV?
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: On TV? You remember TV.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: Binge watch? I was I was I was doing. I
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: was doing.
• 29:15
  Speaker 4: A pretty heavy deal of law and order.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: I tend to, you know, I guess you know. I'm
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: showing my age here.
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: I tend to like the older shows more than I
• 29:27
  Speaker 4: do the newer ones. I could I couldn't tell you
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: anything about.
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: Some of the No, no, that's a little that goes
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: a little too far back.
• 29:36
  Speaker 4: I'm having a hard time getting off the dateline binge now.
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: Okay, that's another that's not it.
• 29:43
  Speaker 4: And I prefer the one hour ones as opposed to
• 29:45
  Speaker 4: the two hour ones. Okay, but yeah, if I'm going
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: to do a binge watch, it's probably going to be
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: that music.
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: What does Gene Furnette listen to on the way in?
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: I'm probably gonna give myself away. I actually there's a
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: and this is I'm not saying that this is necessarily
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: my favorite. But there is a Christian station in town
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: called k Love that I do listen to quite a bit.
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: I musical artists, I mean, Billy Joel is just one
• 30:12
  Speaker 4: of my all time favorites. I've been to about probably
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: about five or six of his concerts over time, country
• 30:20
  Speaker 4: music a little bit, not a lot, But I don't have, like,
• 30:25
  Speaker 4: what one specific hip hop guy.
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that's me.
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: Probably that, but not anything real. I'm not married to
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: one specific station, that's for sure.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: I flip around.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: I think I know the answer. Most memorable event he covered.
• 30:42
  Speaker 4: Most memorable event that I've covered, yeh, memorable to me
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: because I because I was so familiar with them was
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: the Hall of Fame induction of Tony Basselli and Leroy Butler.
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: I mean I've known them both for and I knew
• 30:55
  Speaker 4: Leroy back when he was fifteen sixteen years old because
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: he was which by courkyd over at Lady and I
• 31:01
  Speaker 4: used to go over there practices, but to see them
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: inducted on the same day, and you know, and I
• 31:08
  Speaker 4: knew LeRoy's mother so so well because she lived in
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: her Arlington neighborhood near Jayu and I used to see
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: her walking her dog. It was a shame that she
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: wasn't around to see that. And and also for Tony
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: not having his not having his dad, but just watching
• 31:24
  Speaker 4: not only watching the ceremony unfold and their speeches and
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: all that, but going to their celebrations afterwards.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: I went to Tony's first.
• 31:32
  Speaker 4: I went for an hour and a half, and then
• 31:34
  Speaker 4: I went to LeRoy's about twenty miles away. That for
• 31:36
  Speaker 4: about an hour and a half. Just the the unbridled
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: joy was.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: Just I've never I've never.
• 31:43
  Speaker 4: Seen Tony so happy as he was that dad, and
• 31:47
  Speaker 4: the same for Leroy. Yeah, And it was just you know,
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: just knowing what you know, what it to get to
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: the pinnacle of your profession and having it happen for
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: such quality human beings.
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: That was That was the best work day ever.
• 32:00
  Speaker 3: My guess is a close second would have been the
• 32:04
  Speaker 3: World Series Oakland San Francisco. I remember you covered that
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: from the paper back when the paper covered World Series events.
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: And you probably don't remember this, but I was a
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: huge Oakland A's fan. And Jane brought me back on
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: Oakland A's World Series pennant from that. Oh, that's that's
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: how far back you and I.
• 32:22
  Speaker 4: Go, well, listen, what's amazing about how much the newspaper
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: game has changed.
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Not only did the TU.
• 32:28
  Speaker 4: Send me out to California, but they brought me back
• 32:32
  Speaker 4: after the earthquake delayed the World Series.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: And then I went back.
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: For Games three and four.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: People in the business now, for the TU to have
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: covered baseball without a team, it just shows you the
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: money the newspapers had back then. It was a different game.
• 32:49
  Speaker 3: Your biggest influence, like, who's the reason that you're here?
• 32:57
  Speaker 4: Well, I told this story in my farewell column. But
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: I was twelve years old going into my last year
• 33:06
  Speaker 4: of Little league baseball and my dad came home one
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: night and he was he was my coach for the
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: first three years, and said, I'm not going to be
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: coaching anymore, and you know, and I was like flabbergasted,
• 33:18
  Speaker 4: is like, hey, what do you mean. We're finally going
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: to have a really good team this year because we
• 33:22
  Speaker 4: got we got we got more twelve year olds on
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: the team we had we had the previous years. I
• 33:27
  Speaker 4: think we went from two and twelve to five and
• 33:30
  Speaker 4: nine to seven and seven, and now we were going
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: to have an even better team. And he says he's
• 33:35
  Speaker 4: getting out, and so they completely reshuffled the whole league.
• 33:39
  Speaker 4: And it turns out that the guy that was my
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: new coach happened to be a sports writer and he
• 33:43
  Speaker 4: was a two time sports writer of the Year in Vermont,
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: and when I expressed an interest a couple of years
• 33:49
  Speaker 4: after I got done playing for him and being a
• 33:51
  Speaker 4: sports writer, he let me go around with him to
• 33:57
  Speaker 4: to cover football games, keep the charts for me. But
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: I got to see him go and interview people after
• 34:01
  Speaker 4: the game. And I know it was only on a
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: high school level and you're only basically interviewing the coach.
• 34:06
  Speaker 4: Players weren't high school players weren't really interviewed back then,
• 34:09
  Speaker 4: the coaches were. But it gave me a feel for
• 34:12
  Speaker 4: what it was going to be like and I and
• 34:14
  Speaker 4: I wanted more of it, and then I got my
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: and then he helped me get my first job, like
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: about nine months later when.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: There came and opening.
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: So in terms of influence, I would my little league
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: coach was big. And also when I was in when
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: I was in West Palm Beach, Bill Panella, who ended.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: Up coming to Jacksonville from about period a year and
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: a half.
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: He was my executive sports editor there, and he was
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: a really big influence because he wasn't afraid to tell
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: you where you needed to get better, and he would
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: never do it in a face to face meeting.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: He'd always leave.
• 34:47
  Speaker 4: He would leave notes in your mailbox, and that was
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: very beneficial because you were getting honest, legitimate feedback, and
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: as a young journalist, that's what you crave, even if
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: it's and if it's something that he's critical, okay, but
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: it's a learning experience. The older I got, the less
• 35:06
  Speaker 4: you got of that because everybody was so caught up
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: and making sure that the higher ups were being pleased, right,
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: they don't they they sort of lost the art. Sports
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: editors have lost the art of actually teaching, sure, and
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: and a lot of that gets lost. And a lot
• 35:23
  Speaker 4: of the young guys that come up now, or young
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: and young women that come up in the business, they're
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: sort of you know, unless an older colleague kind of
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: takes them under their wing. The sports editor is too
• 35:38
  Speaker 4: wrapped up in other more important things to forget about
• 35:41
  Speaker 4: being a teacher and a mentor give.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: Me one column you remember, you remember, let me let.
• 35:47
  Speaker 4: Me start with a story first back in In fact,
• 35:51
  Speaker 4: it was Bill Panella that that came that came up
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: with this idea. When the Cleveland Indians pitcher and I
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: forget his name got killed in the boating accident, remember,
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: and the other and another one got great injured story
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: as well. Uh, he said, hey, why don't you look
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: into going down to see if the if the widow
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: who was still living in the house by the lake
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: where the fatal accident occurred.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: And this was probably mid February, February.
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: Of ninety four, it was when the Olympics was going on,
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: the Winter Olympics was going on, and uh, surprisingly she
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: she agreed to it. So I was. I spent three
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: or four hours there at the house, visiting the site
• 36:30
  Speaker 4: and all that, and I got in touch with other
• 36:32
  Speaker 4: people who were on the boat, and uh, you know,
• 36:36
  Speaker 4: and it it turned out to be one of the
• 36:39
  Speaker 4: one of the more impactful stories that I wrote, and
• 36:42
  Speaker 4: the TU nominated it for a Pulitzer.
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: And it was a.
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: Stunningly good story, really was.
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: But as far as the column goes, you know, the
• 36:53
  Speaker 4: memorable ones are probably the ones that might be might
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: involve a little bit of controversy where there was a
• 36:57
  Speaker 4: Jaguars coach being fired I'll never forget. After the two
• 37:04
  Speaker 4: thousand and ten season, well, I think the Jaguars were
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: eight and five, and they lost their last three games
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: and finished eight and eight, had a chance to win
• 37:13
  Speaker 4: the division. Peyton Manning beat him out in Indianapolis, had
• 37:17
  Speaker 4: a chance to win the division. They ended up eight
• 37:18
  Speaker 4: and eight, you know. And I and this was Jack
• 37:23
  Speaker 4: del Rio's eighth year as the head coach, and I
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: advocated for his firing. I just kind of felt like,
• 37:31
  Speaker 4: you know, for three straight years, you know, without playoffs,
• 37:35
  Speaker 4: and it just wasn't going in a good direction. It
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: wasn't like the bottom hadn't fallen out or anything. So
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: I wrote the column. They didn't fire Jack. And then
• 37:47
  Speaker 4: my first meeting with Jack in April, after reading that,
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: I brought it up. I said, look, I know we
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: haven't had a conversation since I wrote the column advocating
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: for your firing, but I just want to let you know.
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: I mean, it was nothing personal or anything like that.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: Jack. However, Jack looked at me.
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: And said, well, it wasn't very well received in my house,
• 38:10
  Speaker 4: but he actually was very was very good about it.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: I mean he understood that that's you know, that's part
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: of the job. That's part of the gig.
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: And of course before the following season was over, you know,
• 38:20
  Speaker 4: uh about the team. Yeah, it was you know, and
• 38:23
  Speaker 4: it was just you know and Jack.
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 38:26
  Speaker 4: I think it was after thirteen games or something like that,
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: or maybe it was eleven because I think melt.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: Tusher finished the last five games.
• 38:35
  Speaker 4: But yeah, that was that was kind of memorable because
• 38:38
  Speaker 4: of of I think I might have been the first
• 38:42
  Speaker 4: one in the media to advocate for that and then
• 38:45
  Speaker 4: and then Jack's reaction afterwards went.
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: More received in my house.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: Well, Jane, to close, I just want to tell you,
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: you know, worked with you for twelve years, the TU,
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: worked around you for fifteen forty four years. That at
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: the Times Union is an unbelievable feat. I am proud
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: to call you a friend. I'm proud to call you
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: a colleague from day one at the TU.
• 39:09
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna say he took me under your wing, but
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: always one of the more helpful people that I ever
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: worked with. You'll be missed. Enjoy retirement. You have earned
• 39:19
  Speaker 2: a power.
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Appreciate it.
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: John, I uh and I'll and I'll always credit you
• 39:23
  Speaker 4: with the with the phrase a little gino is always
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: Keith A.
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: Little gino is always Keena, Jeane. Thank you very much,
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: my friends, all right, thanks for having me.