Sid's columns

Rog

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Is it just me or what, but the writings don't seem like Sid's. I'm sure most of the columns are not written by him, but posted under his name.
The writer(s) have more "pro" interests then the Gophers as Sid did.
I miss that.
 

Did you just start to catch on to this? Sid hasn't been writing them in a long, long time
 

I believe it works something like this:

Sid works with an assistant - maybe more than one. Sid (or so I believe) tells them what he wants in the column, and the assistant does the actual writing. Of course, most of the columns these days are just transcriptions of interviews. A lot of them are pulled from interviews on the Sunday Sports Huddle, or interviews that Sid, or an assistant, does with available coaches and players.

As far as not having as much Gopher material - a lot of the Gopher practices are closed, and there is not much access to players, so Sid (or his assistant) don't have a lot of available audio to transcribe for the column.

It's all a way of keeping Sid's brand active in the paper. Because nobody has the guts to tell a 97-year-old legend that he should retire.
 

If Sid wrote it would have more lines like "ya son of a bitch" and "Close personal friend of mine". Etc.
 

It was several years ago but I had a friend who worked at the Strib and he confirmed Sid still wrote his columns. Not sure if that's still the case post broken hip, but was still true within the last 5 years or so.
 


I believe it works something like this:

Sid works with an assistant - maybe more than one. Sid (or so I believe) tells them what he wants in the column, and the assistant does the actual writing. Of course, most of the columns these days are just transcriptions of interviews. A lot of them are pulled from interviews on the Sunday Sports Huddle, or interviews that Sid, or an assistant, does with available coaches and players.

As far as not having as much Gopher material - a lot of the Gopher practices are closed, and there is not much access to players, so Sid (or his assistant) don't have a lot of available audio to transcribe for the column.

It's all a way of keeping Sid's brand active in the paper. Because nobody has the guts to tell a 97-year-old legend that he should retire.

Exactly. And rather than the assistant writing "inaudible" or asking him to repeat what he mumbled 10 or 12 times, he probably paraphrased what Sid said, so it's close but not exact.
 

It was several years ago but I had a friend who worked at the Strib and he confirmed Sid still wrote his columns. Not sure if that's still the case post broken hip, but was still true within the last 5 years or so.

Which is odd, because a daughter of a co-worker of mine was writing the column 10-15 years ago. The assistants write, Sid approves. Been that way for 20 years or more.
 

I don't know if they make replacement ink ribbons for his antique typewriter anymore even fifteen years ago. So even if he wanted to, two finger typing is harder now.

I know there is a difference in his writings from the seventies and eighties than today. He seem to have more zest then.
 

Sid is still alive? Who knew.
 



Jeff Day helps Sid out on the computer, but the stories are Sid's.
 

A few years ago, the STrib (either by accident, or on purpose, not sure which) posted one of Sid's unedited columns, likely before his handlers did their magic. Let's just say, the final version that ran online and in the paper was nothing like the mistake-ridden, mis-spellings, lack of grammar, etc, that we got a sneak peak online of. There was a thread on this site about it.

Go Gophers!!
 

I've shared this before, so forgive me if you've heard it before. About five years ago I send an email to the Strib - whether to the editor or to Sid I don't recall - sharing what I thought was an important (though obscure) piece of Minnesota sports news. A couple of days later my paragraph ran verbatim in Sid's column. That's when I figured out that something was fishy in Sidtown.
 

I've shared this before, so forgive me if you've heard it before. About five years ago I send an email to the Strib - whether to the editor or to Sid I don't recall - sharing what I thought was an important (though obscure) piece of Minnesota sports news. A couple of days later my paragraph ran verbatim in Sid's column. That's when I figured out that something was fishy in Sidtown.

Did you get "Jottings" placement or was "everybody knows my name" referred to as a close personal friend at least?

Go Gophers!!
 







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