Sunrise, Sunset: Changes for Mlive.com’s Highlight Reel, John Niyo, Chris McCoskey, & Dave Birkett

They say you leave bad news for Fridays, and . . . well,  Phil Zaroo, over at Mlive.com, has closed the doors on the Highlight Reel blog.  The Highlight Reel was a great place to find stuff other than “what everyone was talking about,” and home of the farthest-reaching Lions link-dump around.  Phil also let me pen an article or two over there.  His Lions writing, and Mlive.com’s Lions coverage, will of course continue at http://www.mlive.com/lions, but the Highlight Reel is no more.

In happier news, the Detroit News’ John Niyo has gotten a well-deserved bump—he’s now a full-time sports columnist.  Chris McCosky takes over the Lions beat, and Tim Twentyman will continue covering the Leos as well.  The Lions

One-time Lions beat writer for the Oakland Press, and current coverer of U-M football for AnnArbor.com, Dave Birkett confirmed via Twitter he’ll be replacing Nick Cotsonika on the Lions beat at the Freep.  This is great news.  Birkett’s stuff at the Oakland Press was always fresh; he always seemed to zig when everyone else was zagging, repeatedly coming up with fresh angles.  Dave’s also been extremely cool to me personally, going all the way back to the beginning.  I’m really excited to be able to read his stuff again.

Watching the carousel  spin like this is hauntingly familiar.  If life reflects art, I guess the media reflects its subject, right?

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