Fire Tom Batzold

Since I am listening to the Rhinos pregame, Tom Batzold is a perfect target to insult. Mr. Batzold is the Sports editor of the D & C and thus is not only responsible for bringing us the work of Bob Matthews and Leo Roth, and filling the left column of the Sports section front page with "hilarious" excerpts from wire stories (usually several days old), but ultimately for deciding what stories make the paper and where they are located.

In today's paper, above the fold, is a story about a Bills defensive tackle, which is OK, since I guess there are some people who care about football in May. On the right is a wire article about Sabres forward Derek Roy/Rue-ah, which is cool except that game 2 isn't until Monday, and that he played here, so we already know how to pronounce his name. The Wings recap is at the bottom.

In the middle, with the largest picture, is another wire story about the Kentucky Derby, an event which:

-isn't actually a sport
-has no local connection
-takes all of two minutes
-can be read about on/in any number of websites and publications

Bourbon is really all it has going for it.

At this point, you may be asking, "Brian, aren't the Rhinos playing tonight? You know, the most popular Rochester sports team based on average attendance, winners of four straight championships at one point, and one of the five best run sports teams in the world. Doesn't a preview of the match belong on the front page?"

My answer: "You're goddamn right.” Instead, there is a three paragraph, six sentence item on the last page of the section. Way to go Mr. Batzold. I would probably hate my customers too if I had your job.