Jonathan Tannenwald Hired at Philly.com

By Mel Greenberg

PHILADELPHIA _ The tradition continues, which is when something good happens to associates of the Guru, they earn their own headline in the Guru’s blog.

In what is becoming a busy fall for the Guru’s young talent division, we are pleased to announce the hiring of Jonathan Tannenwald at Philly.com., the umbrella internet site for the Inquirer and Daily News.

Philly.com also has projects as its own initiative.

Jonathan is a recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania here in Philadelphia and many of you have seen his contributions to the Guru’s blog in the summer covering the WNBA Washington Mystics in his hometown.

A noted soccer buff, he also covered the men’s and basketball teams, as well as other sports, for the Daily Pennsylvanian at school.

Jonathan’s hire comes one month after Kate Burkholder, another prior enlistee to the Guru’s growing army of young talent, had her first non-collegiate newspaper article appear in the Inquirer on a Rutgers football player who is from this area.

Kate is a junior from across the river from here in Marlton, N.J., and has covered the nationally-ranked Scarlet Knights women’s basketball team. She joined the blog late last season and continued through the summer with contributions on the WNBA.

One of these days she may take a break from classes and her school paper to catch up with you all since she has the keys to the blog (hint, hint).

Later this fall, Erin Semagin Damio will be checking in from Northeastern U. in Boston where she is a sophomore. A member of the rowing team, she handled some Connecticut Sun games in the WNBA playoffs for us in August. She grew up in Storrs, which also is the campus town of a certain major university known for its women’s hoops.

In a few days, we will announce another hire of someone a little older than this group, but a colleague in the business who can still be considered “young talent.”

Maybe the Guru is in the wrong business considering all this activity stemming from his efforts.

But we can’t take total credit for Jonathan’s hire because many others here at the paper offered recommendations for Jonathan, who can work angles better than the best pool players, considering the competition which he overcame to land the job.

As to what he will do at Philly.com, as he explained to us, “My job description includes working with the breaking news on the website and helping with the transition to a new website over the next few months.”

Of course, the fact that Philly.com now adjoins the Sports Department here gives the Guru the privilege of gaining his help in co-ordinate Philly.com links and sites involving the Guru’s work in the both print and at this blog.

So congrats to Jonathan.

Waxing Nostalgic.

In discussing her recent hire of Women’s Basketball Hall of Famer Marianne Stanley as an assistant coach at Rutgers, C. Vivian Stringer, another Hall of Famer, recalled when the two worked together years ago on a USA Basketball squad.

“Normally, a committee selects your assistants,” Stringer said. “But I was allowed a choice that year and I picked Marianne.

“She has so much basketball knowledge. I remember one day where we just sat down for almost eight hours to discuss concepts of x’s and o’s (strategy for those of you who are glossary-challenged).”

-- Mel