Farewell to a fan favorite: NFL reporter Mike Sando

DAVID ZEECK; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Last updated: July 1st, 2007 01:25 AM (PDT)

If you don’t follow football or the Seahawks you might not know how big a deal that is, but it’s big.

He’s not just the best beat writer covering the Seahawks in print, but his Seahawks Insider blog was also voted the best newspaper-related sports blog in the nation the past two years. Between 250,000 and 500,000 unique visitors – people all over the world – check in each month (many of them daily) to see what he has to say.

Here’s how one Seattle blogger, Seth (writing on the blog, Seattlest) put it:

“Sometimes history provides the right man for the times. Napoleon for post-revolutionary France. George Marshall for post-war Europe. Don Knotts for post-Roper Three’s Company. And, in our modern times,” Seth wrote, “the Tacoma News Tribune’s Mike Sando for coverage of the Seattle Seahawks.

“This man covers the Seahawks like Cookie Monster eats cookies. Sando’s got Seahawks crumbs flying out of his mouth, cascading down his front, like C.M., he probably has his own Seahawks covering song … or movie …”

That’s pretty much how everyone who works with Mike or reads his Seahawks coverage and blog feels about him.

There were 278 comments Saturday on the farewell message he posted on his blog. Part of Sando’s success is that he’s a regular guy with great talent who exudes humility and humor. He’s a good guy by any measure. And he created a Seahawks fan community on his blog, with his avalanche of data and news and with a folksy style that kept the site under control but very lively.

A bonus was the occasional posting by Mike’s wife, Kim, who would write items for the blog when Mike had a news flash but couldn’t get to an Internet-connected computer. So there were farewells to “Sando-wife” and “Sandokids” on the blog as well.

But, as Mike said, there are no goodbyes on the Web. We’ll be able to read his insights on the NFL at large on ESPN.com. And he, Kim and the boys are staying in Spanaway as part of the deal.

As for The News Tribune, we’re considering how best to fill those big shoes. We’ll let you know as soon as we can who’ll cover the Seahawks this season.

DOES PUBLISHING MUG SHOTS HELP POLICE?

You may notice that we occasionally run photos of people wanted by police.

Sometimes the publicity really helps.

I got an e-mail Friday from a downtown Tacoma resident thanking police for arresting Rebecca Bristlin, who was wanted on three domestic violence assaults as well as for a drug charge and for driving under the influence. Police didn’t know where she was.

“Bristlin has been roaming my neighborhood for quite some time and squatting in the Olympus Hotel,” the reader said in the e-mail. “After The News Tribune printed that she had a warrant out for her arrest on domestic violence charges three weeks ago, I called crime stoppers, the (Tacoma police), and the sheriff’s department.”

Police confirmed they found the woman because of reader tips. We’re happy to help.

Dave Zeeck: 253-597-8434

david.zeeck@thenewstribune.com

Blog: blogs.thenewstribune.com/editors

Originally published: July 1st, 2007 01:25 AM (PDT)