[Timesink]

Why would a college degree be so important to be a damn sports columnist?

It's not. Most papers (hell, most employers across the board) just put the "requirement" in there to be elitist and/or to reduce the number of applicants. Fewer incoming resumes = fewer resumes to have to pore over. Plain old laziness.

But having written for The Times should have easily trumped any lack of a degree, especially if he put in most of the college time anyway. Freeman's problem is that he lied about it.

[mrustow]

But having written for The Times should have easily trumped any lack of a degree, especially if he put in most of the college time anyway. Freeman's problem is that he lied about it.

Exactimiento. It was really stupid, since telling the truth would not have cost him the job. I think that either he lied out of sheer habit, or to be consistent, so that no one would ever find out he'd lied to the Times.

I realize that it would be unlikely for people to get their hands on his NYT and IS resumes and compare them, but if he had told the truth to the Star, it might have eventually gotten around that, "Hey, Mike Freeman is a successful sports writer, in spite of never having finished college." Word might've gotten back to the Times, and someone might have exposed Freeman for his earlier lie. Freeman might have recalled that it was conflicting resumes that proved to be Janet Cook's undoing.

[jocon307]

"But having written for The Times should have easily trumped any lack of a degree,..."

Yeah, you'd think that, wouldn't you? Oh, well, I lied about my qualifications ONE TIME, and of course I got busted. But it was more a fudge (like this guy's) than a lie, and I got the job anyway. But boy, I learned my lesson, and would NEVER fudge like that again.

Now, should I be worried about U of Delaware? The kid is applying there. I just want her to get in someplace and GO! But I don't want her to comeback a craven, mendacious, dissembler, that's for sure. She's enough of a bs artist as it is.

{Sigh} Motherhood, nothing but worry!