In his inaugural column today, The Sun’s Kevin Cowherd crows that he is “all smiles” because, after years of writing a features column, he has finally become a sports columnist:

“There comes a point in every man’s life when he sits back, puts his feet up on the desk and thinks: How can I get a gig doing something I love that involves no heavy lifting?

Ladies and gentlemen, I have found that gig.

So let’s get the introductions out of the way first, shall we?

The name is Kevin Cowherd, and after years of writing a features column for The Baltimore Sun, I switch over today to writing a sports column.”

The fact that Cowherd earned this role solely because two excellent columnists, Rick Maese and David Steele, were laid off two weeks ago does not seem seem to dampen his enthusiasm in the slightest. At best, it is tone-deaf of Cowherd to rejoice in his good fortune while so many of his colleagues—and fellow Baltimoreans—are lamenting the brutal round of firings The Sun has just endured. At worst, it is cruel, specifically to Maese and Steele. Given the state of the newspaper industry in general, Cowherd, a veteran newsman, should have the decency to celebrate his personal victory in private.

-Evan Serpick

[photo courtesy of The Sun]