Tuesday, October 18, 2011

'Blue ball of death' said meeting its own demise

[Sculpture as installed on 11th floor of Gannett Tower] 

Anonymous@7:21 p.m. yesterday agreed that CEO Gracia Martore handled herself well during a company-wide question-and-answer session with employees after the release of the third-quarter earnings statement.

Wrote @7:21: "One of the questioners asked if it was true that the blue ball was gone from the 11th floor. She laughed and said that it was, and added that it is a piece of art and is being treated accordingly."

That question might have baffled many of Gannett's more than 30,000 employees who don't work at Corporate headquarters in McLean, Va. For all of those, here's the story about that now-infamous sculpture, one at the center of Corporate's controversial decision to fire three USA Today employees just before Christmas 2001.

Related: a short video of the blue ball.

[Photo: "Blue Ball of Death," by Flickr user ladygypsy]

37 comments:

  1. I don't know what prompted the employee's question. But there was discussion here on Gannett Blog about the blue ball's absence starting last Friday in this thread.

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  2. Did Craig Dubow take it home to exercise with?

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  3. That Blue Ball was a reminder to all who passed it that your time was Gannett's, not for your family, and certainly not for your wife... thus leading to...

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  4. Did the three fired employees ever bring a lawsuit against Gannett for wrongful termination?

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  5. Jim allowed pro-Nazi posts this weekend and kept them up even after they were pointed out.

    Keep that in mind while you run with your conspiracy theories.

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  6. 10:10 "Pro-Nazi?" That's a stretch. They were comments that included a variation of that word -- specifically: Nazia.

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  7. Symbols often show change faster than new
    initiatives and policies. I don't know if Gracia will be a good CEO, but I applaud her for at least having the self-awareness to get rid of what became a divisive symbol. Reminds me of Jack Lemon throwing the Palm Tree overboard in the movie "Mr. Roberts." Now let's hope she can lead, but...a it's a start.

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  8. You were very slow at removing those comments, regardless of whatever spin you want to put on them. Either you wanted the insults to stay longer, or you were too dense to grasp them. It has to be one or the other.

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  9. 10:58, maybe it's just that this isn't Jim's fulltime job? Duh. If you honestly expect him to be monitoring this blog for inappropriate comments 24/7 while he's supposed to be earning a living (since this blog certainly can't pay all the bills for him), then you're living in an alternative reality.

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  10. Conspiracy theory: Perhaps the true reason that Jim allowed some blog comment to stay up longer than you expected was because he was ... having a nice brunch, maybe some eggs and home fries and a nice English muffin.

    Second conspiracy theory: Perhaps the people who complain the most about Jim's lack of monitoring ... are the same people who post the objectionable comments in the first place.
    Ahh, straw men, one of the oldest tricks in the book.

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  11. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  12. Symbols aren't everything, but they matter. Martore deserves credit for this as one small step toward building a common sense of shared purpose and sacrifice.

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  13. That blue ball was a symbol of times past. The glory days. 2001. Classfied sections. Fat papers. No competition.

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  14. Let see, Gannett,pays, off politicians, STEALS, literary ideas, has lawyers, sleeping with their opposition, who knows a murder or two maybe in their pass. Some asshole, who got his job, because of who he was relate too, fires three employees, who before this was in good standing, for spreading a little dust. What next, laying off staff, while giving themselves a raise.

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  16. You guys are showing your ignorance. As usual, you don't know what you're talking about, but that doesn't stop you from saying all sorts of things.

    Jim knew about the comments. He deleted the responses, but he left the original comments up for hours.

    Next time, try to understand what you're talking about BEFORE you post anything. That will be new for you, but give it a shot. Then you won't waste time reciting breakfast details or other things that are irrelevant to the discussion.

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  17. 2:21 -- ha! Great post.

    But now we'll get to hear the usual whining from the brownshirts about how not everyone is a writer, etc.

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  20. Saw the Blue Ball one time. Wasn't that impressive. But it was part of an art installation that had elements embedded in the floor tiles in a hallway leading to the Blue Ball. Wonder if all that's gone, too. When they took the Blue Ball, did they just roll it to the elevator?

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  21. The atmosphere of the 11th floor of Crystal Palace, after stepping off the elevators, reminds me of the dreadful walk into a funeral home.

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  22. Oh come on Jimmy. 1:46 is incoherent, and I can't point that out? You leave up 2:44's response? And you leave up the even less relevant response at 3:13? Speaking of coherent, does this pattern of taking down some comments and leaving other worthless ones up reflect any kind of coherent comment policy?

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  23. 5:22, I was backing you. So calling for deletion of my post is a bad on your part.

    And why did the My Boss post disappear?

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  25. 6:11, most of the posts here are irrelevant to Gannett. They have little substance or significance.

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  26. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  27. Oh, I get it. Gracia didn't have it removed, Craig took it home.

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  28. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  29. 9:02 PM, you must be right. The blue ball was an as-yet-unpublished provision of Dubow's retirement package. He's taking it home with him.

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  30. I love it! Gracia finally got the good old boys by the balls! Or should I say Blue Balls! I heard a story years ago that someone was fired for just touching the “blue ball.”

    Got get 'em Gracia! About time a woman ran this corporation. Now maybe something will actually get done!

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  31. The bad karma of the blue ball and resulting firings, layoffs and everything else that has stripped the soul out of USAT since moving to a grossly overpriced new building can't be ignored. Yes, the economy turned sour. But long before the recession, there was a shift at USAT in how it treated employees -- seasoned, loyal employees. It, along with the decadent campus, cost a lot of people their jobs -- not just the blue ball offenders. The stress of the last few years has cost some people their lives. USAT became a horrible place to work once Gannett began taking a more active role in how it operated, which was about the time the Crystal Palace was built. USAT became like every other Gannett property...heartless at the top and talent deprived in the mid and lower management ranks. There were so many thoughtless cutbacks and dismissals, it's amazing the place is still in business.

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  32. I am No. 2. Who is No 1? You are No. 6.

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  33. Wow, great analogy, 1:51am.
    At Gannett, truly everyone is "The Prisoner."

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  34. 6:02 I removed the My Boss post because it included a crude reference to Gracia Martore.

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  35. 11:14, you left out the biggest problem. Employees accepted the dumbing-down process because they thought it would make their jobs easier. Instead, they lost their jobs.

    Even today, most people still will not admit to buying into that process. That's why we see so much indignation here. People simply will not admit they supported the philosophy that wrecked the product.

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  36. I think you are giving Gracia far more credit than deserved. Just look at the blue ball as another employee, cast aside to save money. Keep your eye out at Christie's and Sotheby's for the blue ball.

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Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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