Update On The "Jack Sell Affair"

I just want to briefly update my post of earlier this morning over Joshua Axelrod's article in this morning's Post-Gazette on Chuck Noll's first Steelers training camp wherein former PG Steelers beat writer Jack Sell, who was quoted extensively in the article, was misidentified several times in the article as "Jack Sells".

Shortly after making my post, I sent an email to Mr. Axelrod and pointed out the error.  He promptly and politely responded and acknowledged his mistake, stating that it was a "silly mistake on my part".  He told me that the online version of the story was immediately corrected, and that a correction will be printed in tomorrow's print edition of the paper.

So that puts that to bed.

Josh Axelrod is the son of the late Post-Gazette sportswriter Phil Axelrod and current PG features writer Sharon Eberson, so he comes from good newsie stock.

Where Are The Editors at the PG?

Chuck Noll and his first Steelers coaching staff

at St. Vincent College

1969

Perhaps I am becoming what I always decry - an Old Guy Shouting At Clouds - but sometimes, you just gotta do what you gotta do.

Today the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ran a feature on the sports pages to mark the 50th Anniversary of Head Coach Chuck Noll's first training camp with the Pittsburgh Steelers.     The article was written by Joshua Axelrod, and no Steelers fan will dispute the appropriateness of such a story.  To research and write the story, Mr. Axelrod went into the morgues of both the PG and the old Pittsburgh Press and culled his article from reports from the Steelers beat writers at the time, Pat Livingston of the Press and Jack Sell of the PG.  Again, not a bad way to go about it, and probably about the easiest way for a reporter to come up with a story.

The problem is that throughout the article Mr. Axelrod refers to the PG's reporter at the time as "Jack Sells".   So, here are my questions:

• How is that in looking at the copy from the 1969 issues of the Post-Gazette, Mr. Axelrod saw the name "Jack Sell" and typed the name "Jack Sells" in his article?
• How is it that an editor at the PG missed this mistake?  
• Is there no one on the PG's sports department editing staff that remembers Jack Sell and who could have corrected this error? Obviously not. 

Jack Sell, as I remember him, was a sportswriter of the old school.  He revelled in cliches.  Boxers were "mitt tossers", track and field athletes were "thin clads", football players were "gridders", and I believe it was he who coined the term "Rooney U" to describe the Steelers. His brand of sports writing was of a bygone era, and he would be laughed at today, but despite all of that, he deserves to have his former long time employer get his name right when referencing his work here in 2019.

A Local Favorite Retires

I learned this past weekend that long time Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Movie Editor and Critic Barbara Vancheri has retired.  

I consider this a loss to movie fans in the Pittsburgh area as I considered Barb a discerning critic, and I knew that I could almost always (with some exceptions, of course) see a pretty good movie and, just as importantly, avoid seeing a pretty bad movie, by following her reviews.  I especially liked how she would often end her reviews by using a whimsical simile.  Something like..."The movie is like a bucket of movie theater popcorn.  It tastes good while you're eating it, but you still feel empty as soon as it's finished."  I loved those!

I am happy that Barb made the decision herself to retire. It is always great to leave on your own terms.  I wish her nothing but the best as she enters this next phase of her life.

Full disclosure, the Vancheri and Moellenbrock (that would be my wife) families lived on the same street in McCandless.  Marilyn and Barbara and her sister and brother were childhood friends growing up.  Heck, Barb Vancheri was at our wedding!  So, Marilyn certainly knows Barb far better than I, but in later years, with the development of email and especially since I began writing about movies myself in this Blog, I would email back and forth with Barb about these topics.  She would always respond and, I might add, respond graciously to this hack amateur movie fan blogger.  I will certainly miss that.

I am not sure what the PG will do to replace her, but the early returns do not look promising. Today's Weekender Magazine featured a write-up on all of the "Summer Movies" that will come out in the months ahead - its as the kind of feature that Barb always did so well - and it was written by someone from a Milwaukee (?) newspaper.  Not a good sign, but that is a topic for another day.

While I can't claim to know Barb well, I think I can say that she is an essentially modest person, and that she probably is not happy that I am writing this and putting this small spotlight on her, but I am doing it anyway.  I want her to know that I will miss seeing her in the Post-Gazette, that I appreciate her friendship, and that I wish her nothing but happiness and success in whatever she chooses to do in the years ahead.