By all accounts, Adam Jacobi is a first-class sportswriter. Even first-class sportswriters occasionally make costly mistakes.
According to a series of tweets this afternoon, Jacobi has been fired by CBS Sports due to an erroneous report of Joe Paterno’s death that was published under his name. In these tweets, Jacobi did the right, and professional thing, and admitted his responsibility in the matter and exonerated CBS Sports of any blame in his firing.
Adam Jacobi@Adam_JacobiI had an awesome 17 months with CBSSports.com. I’m sorry to everyone, most importantly the Paterno family, for how it ended.
Adam Jacobi@Adam_JacobiIn the end, CBS had to let me go for the Paterno story going out the way it did, and I understand completely. Thanks, everyone, for reading.
Beyond these tweets, Jacobi begged people not to take out their ire on his firing against CBS Sports.
Guys of Adam Jacobi’s quality do not last long on the “free-agent” market of sportswriting. Chances are, he’ll land on his feet, and soon at that.
He is obviously a man of integrity who is strong enough to admit a mistake and move forward. Those qualities are rare in the days of passing the buck and dismissing responsibility which the internet has brought into our lives.
Best of luck to Adam Jacobi.
People make mistakes, and mistakes are meant to be recovered from.