Not-so-Sunny

My former editor and longtime sports reporter Paul Oberjuerge was recently laid off by the San Bernardino County Sun/LANG/whatever they call themselves. He was in the business for more than three decades but that mattered little in the end. Oberjuerge has written multiple stories on Landon Donovan in the past, including a story in 2004 about Landon and then-girlfriend Bianca Kajlich and the ordeal involving her brother Andre and how he nearly lost his life in an accident in Prague. That was, and is, a moving story, the kind of story only Paul got.

In many ways, Paul was an example. He covered four consecutive World Cups, from Italy 90 to Japan/Korea 02. I remember being in awe when I was there in 1998 about his trip to France to cover the World Cup and how great it would be to do that. Little did I know I'd go to Japan four years later and, aside from the games, the experience was terrible. I always respected Paul because he liked the game and treated it with respect. I wrote features on Carlos Hermosillo (which also ran in the USA Today, which I was so enthused about), Cobi Jones, the Mexican national team, Ante Razov, Bruce Arena, etc., and covered MLS Cup all in 1998.

Anyway, being the writer that he is, Paul's got a blog up and running. He had a blog but now that he's no longer employed by The Sun, he's got one of his own. His first post is about the fateful day of his firing. It's Paul at his finest, being humble when he could have been nasty and few would have second-guessed him.