Known it for a while, but yesterday the head honchos at our two local dailies made it official:
Beginning next month the newspaper sports war competition is over. The former rivals are now shaking hands, sharing headlines.
It's happening all over the place, with even super powers like the Washington Post these days car-pooling with the Baltimore Sun. Your friendly lil' Dallas Observer is also making its share of tweaks.
But this unprecedented wife-swapping will change forever how we read The Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram sports sections - in print or online.
I talked last week about how Dallas' Only Daily was shrinking, literally supplying us with smaller, wimpier NBA boxscores and NHL standings. But more than that, I've gotten used to getting my Rangers' scoop from Evan Grant some Mavs' insights from Jan Hubbard.
Starting Feb. 1, notsamuch.
In the FWS-T, you'll get your Mavs' and Stars' beat coverage from DMN writers Eddie Sefko and Mike Heika. In exchange, in the DMN you'll get your Rangers' coverage from not Evan, but Jeff Wilson.
The Cowboys - confirming their status as the Golden Chalice - remain a free-for-all battleground blanketed by both papers.
Explained DMN editor Robert Mong Jr., likely sheepishly, "This arrangement allows both papers to reduce expeneses, eliminate duplicative stories and still maintain high quality exclusive coverage our readers have come to expect."
Columnists, praise Allah, will continue to cover games/stories at their discretion.
I know to the reader this probably isn't that big of a whoop. But to me, seeing a Jim Reeves column in the FWS-T accompanied by an Eddie Sefko game story will be as jarring as the first time you saw Terrell Owens in a Cowboys' uniform.
