Through the magic and wonder of Twitter (via an email from a friend), it was revealed to me that Jeff Duncan, formerly the Saints Beat Columnist for the Times-Picayune/nola.com has taken a new position with the Times-Picayune/NOLA Media Group.
I have moved into a Sports Columnist role at the Times-Picayune/Nola MG. I'll continue to opine on the Saints but now also Hornets, LSU, etc
Then, upon reading this next tweet response,
@JeffDuncanTP - Congrats, Jeff. Well earned promotion. You are more than a worthy replacement for Peter Finney
I realized there was much more I needed to find out, so I did a little digging and learned some other nuggets about our beloved 'Saints Beat' that I will share with you after the jump. I promise it won't be as long or as convoluted as the Twitterfeed marathon I provided in the Andrew Juge-Sean Pamphilon Twitter Slap Fight post from a few weeks back!
To start this all off today, Duncan called some people out to let them know about his old job opening up (which led to questions that drew out the first Duncan tweet above, as well as some funny tweets that appeared in yesterday's Fleur-de-Links):
Since so many folks tell me they can do my old job better than me. Here's ur chance: Saints Reporter | Nola Media Group http://nola.jobinfo.com/public/description.php?jid=9905806
Apparently, Jeff wanted to make the move...
@raymondereeves: Sad or glad about new role?.. Very happy. I pushed for it. I think it's the best position on the staff.
Amidst the congratulatory responses, up popped some other questions of interest to us here at the CSC:
@JathanMaricelli: Will your Saints "film study" columns continue? ... Yes, but@TripTP will handle the duty & kick tail on it as always.
@nawlinslady1970:@JeffDuncanTP Will u be tweeting updates during Saints games still? Luv that... Yes. More than ever.
@cwacycle: Will Trip still be main beat reporter?..Trip has moved into my old Saints beat columnist spot. We're hiring another beat reporter.
And it was at this point that the aforementioned "realization that more digging was required" hit me like a ton of bricks, and short of locating an official announcement from the Times-Picayune/NOLA Media Group, I came across this "After the Cuts" piece on Gambit/bestofneworleans.com, which mentioned the fate of longtime columnist Peter Finney...
Among the most serious botches: NOLA.com's original story about the firings said, "Among the more notable names leaving the paper are award-winning restaurant critic Brett Anderson and longtime sports columnist Peter Finney." This came as news to Finney's family, as Finney had not yet had his meeting with sports editor Doug Tatum - and was said to be at home composing his latest column when news of his firing appeared.
It was later clarified that Finney would indeed be retiring, but contributing a column on a freelance basis...
...and an offer made to James Varney:
Reporter James Varney was offered a job as political columnist.
Bits and pieces, that's all I've got right now. As soon as more information gets released, we'll just all have to work to put together the pieces of the Times-Picayune/NOLA Media Group's Saints Beat again to know who will be covering our team. I'll accept anyone's offer of help.
So, any early thoughts on this stuff...?