In today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette general columnist Brian O'Neill announced in what will be his final column that he was accepting a buyout from his employer and retiring. O'Neill came to Pittsburgh in 1988 as a columnist for the Pittsburgh Press, survived the demise of that paper in the early 1990's and has been at the PG ever since. His three-times-a-week column covered the gamut from the scoundrels and scalawags in Harrisburg ("America's Largest Full-Time State Legislature") to the chronicling the travails of the Pirates to stories of just plain regular people that populate his North Side neighborhood and all throughout the greater Pittsburgh and southwest Pennsylvania region, the "Paris of Appalachia", as he dubbed it. My favorites were stories of his family....his mother who could "wisecrack like Barbara Stanwyck", his cheapskate brother, "The Incredible Dullboy", his own tendency for cheapskatedness, and best of all, his stories about sneaking into Shea Stadium during his youth, even sneaking in during the 1973 World Series. These stories were special favorites of my Dad, who knew a thing or two about sneaking into sports venues.
I have had the pleasure of getting to know Brian personally over the years. He helped me out on two occasions in the past by agreeing to serve as a guest speaker at both my Highmark Retiree Club and for the Pittsburgh Chapter of SABR. On a more personal level, he has also joined our infamous Saturday morning breakfast gatherings at the Allegheny Sandwich Shoppe on several occasions. With more time on his hands now, perhaps that can become a more regular thing.
It wasn't too long ago that I made the statement that "Brian O'Neill was one of the few remaining reasons that I remain a subscriber to the Post-Gazette." The philosophical turn of the PG's editorial direction has been a turn off, to be sure, as has the paper's strong armed union busting tactics. In his final column, Brian appealed to the readers to remain with the paper. "If you think government is bad with us watching them," he said "wait until you see what they will do with no one watching them." True words to be sure. If you missed it, here is Brian's final column:
If you are on The Facebook, I strongly recommend that you seek out Brian's fellow PG columnist Tony Norman's comments about him today. Unlike me, Norman is a real writer, and his words are a terrific tribute to O'Neill.
There is now a big void in the Pittsburgh scene. Enjoy your retirement, Brian, and see you at the Sandwich Shoppe.
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