2 veteran South Florida sports columnists reflect on the future of newspapers after being laid off

Two veteran South Florida sports columnists who lost their jobs at rival newspapers this year say the layoffs left them stunned, and they worry about the future of the industry.

Dave Hyde, a former Sun Sentinel sports columnist, said he was thrown for a loop when he was laid off. His farewell column ran in late June.

"Initially, it was jarring. I'm a writer. I wanted to write the last paragraph myself," Hyde said.

Three months later, his longtime friend Greg Cote wrote the same kind of column for the Miami Herald after he was let go.

"My wife was the first person I told," Cote said. "She said, 'Good.' She knew the Herald had made a decision for me that I could not make for myself."

Cote started at the Herald as a part-timer in high school and stayed 54 years. He and Hyde were once colleagues there before Hyde left to join the rival Sun Sentinel. Hyde was 28 when he became a sports columnist.

"When we got jobs as columnists, they were like Supreme Court justice appointments. They were for life," Hyde said.

Life in the newspaper business has changed dramatically. Readership is down, and staffs are shrinking.

"It's just so sad to see how the industry is dying," Cote said. "While there are not as many as there once were, there are still ardent newspaper readers. They are the victims here."

Hyde and Cote talked with CBS News Miami anchor Jim Berry, who spent many years covering sports. They laughed about the good times and the controversy some of their columns caused.

Cote recalled the uproar over a column in which he suggested the Miami Dolphins might trade quarterback Dan Marino for draft picks to begin rebuilding.

"I made a point of making sure I went into the locker room the day after I wrote something controversial. I thought it was important to face the people I wrote about," Cote said. "That was fun."

Hyde said it wasn't always fun at the time.

"It wasn't always fun then, but looking back on it now, it was," Hyde said.