Suspended LAT Columnist to Probe Sports

No one has been following the really sad Michael Hiltzik/Los Angeles Times saga more closely, and more accurately, than Kevin Roderick at LAobserved.com. In a nutshell, the paper determined that Hiltzik violated its ethics rules, and stripped him of both his blog and his Golden State column. I just have this bit of news to add: I’m told that when the Pulitzer prizewinning Hiltzik returns to the LAT after his suspension without pay, he will be reassigned to “sports investigations.” I wish him well on his new beat (and I’m openly jealous, too, because that’s an area I’ve always wanted to explore). But is the LAT aware that there are even more opinionated, not to mention hostile, sports fans out there than political pundits? I have one piece of advice for Hiltzik when the nabobs natter: chill.