Altavilla

[Vancat]

Maybe I missed something...but after the twitter brouhaha, what's happened to John Altavilla?

 

[Wbbfan1]

Guessing he was suspended by the Courant and his place was taken by Paul Doyle and AP Articles. The question is will he be back next year? Wouldn't mind if he's not back that his replacement is Rich Elliott. Not advocating his firing.

 

[Cheddie]

He hasn't been either covering the team or tweeting. Doyle and Lori Riley were doing tournament stories. But JA did a column for yesterday's paper ("the fly").

 

[JimGunther]

I would be VERY DISAPPOINTED if the Courant didn't bring John back (not surprised but, disappointed).

 

[Vancat]

I feel bad for the guy. He missed the best part of the season.

 

[CL82]

Same. I view it as a tempest in a teapot (At this point, my kids would look at me like WTF does that mean?) and a cautionary tale of getting too comfortable on Twitter.

 

[bschwartz]

I don't speak for him, but he might be ready for a change. He complained a lot about the non competitive games this past season. I do think he is a really great column writer. We're also not privy to other demands from his employer that shape his work, if any. A few years back, when he was doing the whole constituents bit, I thought that was phenomenal. In general, I think the horde has been pretty good this year. I credit Jim Fuller for experimenting with video the way he has though I would pay to get him an external microphone.

 

[mikejays]

I like John a lot. While I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information, I heard in Tampa that John will continue to cover the Connecticut Sun for the Hartford Courant, but that he will no longer cover UConn women's basketball for them.

 

[Huskyin808]

Apparently I missed something. I follow him on Twitter, but there must have been a day or two I missed something. Anyone care to fill in what happen?

 

[Kibitzer]

A few years ago, John and I had an unpleasant exchange, on and off the Boneyard board. So I can't honestly say that I miss him. I wll state that I hope he overcomes whatever this current difficulty is and that he renews his former status as a credible sports journalist.

 

[Vancat]

he tweeted something that some people found "inappropriate" about the Texas Cheerleaders and then the Courant printed an apology. Haven't seen him since. Frankly I don't know what the big deal was.

 

[DEK1234]

I don't speak for him, but he might be ready for a change. He complained a lot about the non competitive games this past season. I do think he is a really great column writer. We're also not privy to other demands from his employer that shape his work, if any. A few years back, when he was doing the whole constituents bit, I thought that was phenomenal. In general, I think the horde has been pretty good this year. I credit Jim Fuller for experimenting with video the way he has though I would pay to get him an external microphone.

Jim Fuller really impresses me. I like his work.

Something make me think that John won't be too broken up about leaving the beat if that's the case. He did complain a lot about the blowouts. If he can find another position soon, especially in pro sports, he probably wouldn't be too upset.

 

[Fishy]

Apparently I missed something. I follow him on Twitter, but there must have been a day or two I missed something. Anyone care to fill in what happen?

He posted a picture of the Texas cheerleaders and a couple of mildly inappropriate comments on Twitter.

It was unprofessional and showed a pretty impressive lack of common sense, but wasn't the end of the world.

But, if you derive you living in part from posting information on social media, you need to be a hell of a lot smarter than he was.

 

[lanieer]

I'm betting he was going to move on next year to another beat. His tweets really had expressed his boredom with the games as he spent more time checking out things non basketball related. I followed him and was surprised at his negative comments most of the time. Hopefully while covering the Sun he expresses some informational comments. Feel bad for him but he should have known better after all he's a male covering a women's sport.

 

[Woof 101]

Nice that The Courant retained him, I do not want to see anyone lose their job. Having said that he was very lucky with the cuts print media have been making. Paul and Lori filled in very nicely in my opinion on short notice. I enjoyed what they both brought to the table. JMO but John was not at a level he should have been getting to cover such a revered team for the nations oldest publication. He often came across as childish and not very professional. Kind of like Mike Anthony discussing who had the best chicken wings more often than the team he was covering before they demoted him. I wish him luck in his future endeavors.

 

[DaddyChoc]

John is back on Twitter but of course the season now...

 

[ChicagoGG]

Mike Anthony has spent more time discussing his food options (usually free from the event he is covering) over the years than he should. One of the reasons, I think, that Tom Yantz has the golf coverage instead of Mike. Don't bite the hand that feeds you by neglecting event coverage for food critiques.

 

[SportsPageMike]

I feel for John because we went through the same thing many years ago when one of out galleries was thought as non appropriate by the UConn media relations department. They took our credentials away for all UC sports. We have not covered the Huskies since. We still support the team and cover them when they travel. Am hoping that John gets his position back. He always has good things to read.

 

[Husky25]

He posted a picture of the Texas cheerleaders and a couple of mildly inappropriate comments on Twitter.

It was unprofessional and showed a pretty impressive lack of common sense, but wasn't the end of the world.

But, if you derive you living in part from posting information on social media, you need to be a hell of a lot smarter than he was.

Everything you say is of course true. However Mr. Altavilla merely expressed a comment that which the University of Texas (and most other programs) implicitly desired...within the context of a sporting event.

Otherwise, the gentlemen at the 0:56 mark of this clip would suffice: