In the previous entry here, I gave you the link to an Albuquerque Tribune column that was rather gushing about former Iowa men's basketball coach Steve Alford. The author, Richard Stevens, basically said Indiana would be insane not to hire away Alford to be the Hoosiers' next coach after they deep-six scandal-ridden Kelvin Sampson.
That was one of the Tribune's last pieces of commentary. The paper is ceasing publication after Saturday, leaving its city with one daily newspaper. Which is all most cities Albuquerque's size can handle in the 21st Century, an unfortunate fact for every citizen who likes to read, and learn, and think.
But the Tribune is going out with a warm feeling about Alford's New Mexico basketball team, and why not? The Lobos are 21-6 overall, 8-4 in the Mountain West Conference. Say what you will, that's a mighty fine first season for a coach at a place, especially a place that experienced just 15 wins last season.
Paid circulation of the afternoon Tribune, which stood at 42,000 in 1988,
has declined to about 10,000 copies. The morning Albuquerque Journal's paid circulation is 106,000 daily and 145,000 Sunday. You can't survive on 10,000 copies a day in a metropolitan area of over 700,000 people. So another newspaper goes bye-bye.
Enjoy the Internet, everyone. Don't forget to take your laptops along to read the day's news as you sit down to breakfast, or are waiting for a bus, or are killing long periods of time in doctors' waiting rooms.
Bitter? Moi? Pshaw!
OK, a little. OK, a lot.