An Elegy for Travis Haney

That said it is amazing that Andrew Miller just started and I will already be boycotting him. It isn’t that I need a writer to be a fan but you can’t come off like that before you cover your first game. I would rather him just be nothing but the facts. If this is any indication on how he will continue to write I want no part of it. If I want that I will just go read an Upstate paper. Also I will miss Haney. I haven’t removed him from my twitter yet. But updates about Oklahoma don’t really do anything for me so I almost feel like I don’t have a choice. I do wish him the best of luck.

Hit the nail on the head.

And seriously, how annoying is this Andrew Miller guy? If he was there in 1984, then he wasn’t just there to see us lose to Navy; he also saw us beat Georgia, Notre Dame, Florida St., and Clemson. Why not mention one of those games? Sounds like the P&C has gone the State’s route and decided to hire a guy who will write yellow journalism and play to the orange-and-purple clad fans in the low country. Shame that a guy who actually covered sports like Haney is gone.

We were very fortunate to have Travis. His coverage of USC baseball, especially, displayed a sort of tireless commitment to the task at hand that was a thing to behold. Met him a few times and he was a real kind, down to earth type fellow. I always admired his impartiality, but also that he (unlike that clown FW referenced) didn’t take undue jabs at the program. Jeez, he even wrote “Go Gamecocks!” in the copies of Gamecock Glory I bought. Can you imagine writing “Go Vols!” or “Go Bulldogs!” if you were covering a team that you probably spent a lot of energy disliking once upon a time.

I haven’t unfollowed him yet, but I’m going to pretty soon here. I equated seeing his OU tweets to seeing Facebook updates from an ex. It’s too painful…it used to be all about us!

Haney was the best Gamecock beat writer I can ever remember. Period. It was more than having a gift for words. He respected the subject; respected himself. You could trust his content – he was a truth teller. He was definitely too good to last long at the P&C. I was crushed to return from vacation and see his good-bye letter. It’s left a void in following the Cocks in summer camp.

Haney was definitely not a homer, but he was someone whose passion for his work made him the first stop for USC news. “Savvy enough to understand Gamecock fans wanted to be understood.” Well said. I would say further that he knew the story was the team – and not manipulating the fans; he understood that the story is “now” and that the real narratives are the ones he discovered for himself, rather than recycled ones handed down from his sports editors. I admired that he chose to base himself in Columbia – its not like he got paid by the P&C to drive back-and-forth from the Holy City to Cola. He invested a lot of his own money to get the right story.

I missed Andrew Miller’s introduction, which FW linked. I agree it missed the mark widely.

I think some of you guys know i live in the lowcountry, so I hope you will understand when i say this, that I first met Miller years ago and that he is a really good guy. He’s been a fixture on the P&C sports pages for years on journeyman beats – SoCon, Big South, MEAC, preps, Stingrays hockey, Sally League Charleston Riverdogs – you name it. This is a big step-up for him and as sad as i was to see Travis go, I was happy to see Andrew get a promotion to a beat that will give him a lot of exposure (Chris Low at ESPN.com regularly links to P&C Gamecocks coverage).

But, alas, he’s been under the baleful tutelage of Ken Burger and Gene Sapakoff too long.

Ken was a UGA grad, would-be novelist and former political writer originally from Allendale who let his drinking push the capital beat at The State to the P&C’s sports pages. He got his alcohol problem under control, but he never liked sports – and he certainly didn’t like sports losers; he was,however, a gifted writer with an eye for the acerbic. He learned he could bait rabid, eternally optimistic USC fans by focusing on their miseries. Complaint letters were like a balm – it meant he was being read. And he won enough regional awards for his non-USC coverages that he was immune. One of his children went to CU. Ken had decades of contempt for USC. And he was bored. He set the tone in the Sports Department for decades. He’s happier since he retired from the sports pages. Two novels. He just totally retired from the PC. He wasnt even baiting USC fans at the end.

Gene Sapakoff was a young guy from Colorado State who got a gig with the P&C and covered Clemson. He fell in love with Tiger Town – hook, line and sinker. Both his children went there. His affection for Pickens Co. shows in his writing. Sapakoff is a competent writer, and you can tell he’s splitting some of the duties with Andrew. But he learned how to get his digs in from Burger. 12-0 was the equivalent of journalistic troll-bait.

I say all that to explain my theory that Andrew was around both those guys too long. Hopefully, with an important beat and some national exposure coming, he will learn to be his own man. He won’t write stories to please them, but to tell the truth without fear or bias. He has a great opportunity. This promises to be a special year for Carolina football. But if Miller doesn’t find his voice, and links and readership drops off, I hope that the P&C realizes it needs to step up. And fast.

Otherwise, I’m seriously considering a membership to The Big Spur.

The gist of my email was that I wanted to thank him for his reporting, and congratulate him on his new opportunity. He sent a prompt reply back, thanking me for my words and expressing his appreciation for all the Gamecock fans who have been so supportive of his work.

Completely agree with this post, especially the part about taking Gamecock fans for granted. Instead of Andrew Miller sharing his enthusiasm for covering sports with us, he attempts to show us why we should be grateful to have him (and fails miserably).

Being a beat writer is much like walking a tightrope between being a homer and a hatchet-man. Haney did as well as anyone I’ve read in that regard. I hope his replacement reads Haney’s coverage and follows his lead.

I wouldn’t even consider myself to be a Gamecocks fan first (Sorry for the heresy) since I grew up in the West. But there have been very few sports experiences that topped the CWS run last year. When Haney started covering the Teal family and their story, it felt like one of the many “feel-good stories” that are somewhat contrived and overdone. But as I followed it more and more, I became more attached. When Travis put down the money for the Teal family to fly up to Omaha after their flights fell through and when he started reaching out to people on Twitter for donations, it became so much more than just a feel-good story. It became an extension of that team and their efforts. There are few times when sports gives you a team and a story and a writer good enough to communicate that story in that way. For that story and that experience, I will forever respect Haney and his writing skills.

I appreciate the kind words.

Quick question for everyone. My understanding was that Andrew Miller is interim guy and that the P&C is still looking for a full-time replacement. Does anyone know if this is the case?

Probably the biggest loss Carolina athletics has received in 2011.