I’ve never liked that dude to begin with. Now I might actually hate him and wonder when the f are we going to get a legit insider for our team? You reading this stephens? You’re a mother fing hack!
It's actually not his fault. I remember reading somewhere that
the LA Kings writer left when I first noticed Stephens sharing Kings' content. I think the writer was Lisa Dillman, iirc. Maybe the pay wasn't that good to retain Dillman. Also, it's probably put Stephens in a bind to take on a second gig, but not get paid for 2 gigs. Otherwise, the Athletic could have signed someone cheaper. After listening to him on the Crash the Pond podcast this summer after acquiring Klingberg, I've become just indifferent to Stephens b/c he talked about his family... making him human. We know he doesn't do breaking news well, but I do like his thought out articles (even if some of them have an unwarranted narrative... cough::: Gibson wants to leave... insert new date ::
.
On a tangent, I wonder if that law passed in CA stating companies need to offer benefits to freelance writers if they published more than 8 articles? The Athletic can see this as a big fiscal win since they're paying only for one family's medical benefits than two. I'm just speculating here, though.