He quit his job. He threw in the keys. After 11 years on the job, Matt Calkins decided he couldn’t write another word as a sports columnist at The Seattle Times.
Calkins says his editors spiked a column he’d written about Sophie Cunningham. I reached out to management at the paper for comment. Nobody has answered. If they do, I’d tell the paper that if they’re going to bother to employ a columnist, they shouldn’t spend their time spiking columns.
Cunningham had taken a stance against biological males competing in women’s sports. Calkins wrote a simple and mundane piece about a few dozen folks who showed up outside Climate Pledge Arena to support her view. After passing the column through a few editors, it was killed.
Too hot a topic?
Too polarizing an issue?
If the goal of The Seattle Times was to spike a dicey column and avoid negative attention, public backlash, and controversy, it basically just walked into the party and threw up all over the floor.
Anyone have a mop handy?