Flyers

Sam Carchidi Leaving Philadelphia Inquirer via Buyout

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jan 2nd, 2022 · 9:11 AM EST

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Officially official:

After 46 wonderful years at The Inquirer, I’ve accepted the buyout & will start a new phase in my life. Thanks to all my great editors & amazing colleagues, & thanks to all our passionate readers. It’s been my pleasure — and I still plan to do some #Flyers freelance work. Cheers!

— Sam Carchidi (@BroadStBull) January 2, 2022

Sam is the final Inquirer writer to take the buyout for this round, following Joe Juliano’s recent departure. You probably knew this was coming because we teased it a couple of times over the last few months:

“Juliano’s departure is part of the paper’s shift into newer, digital-focused content. There’s one more departure to go, which should be announced soon…”

And also this:

“There will be a few more departures as well, which haven’t been announced yet, as the Inquirer brings in more than a half-dozen younger sports writers and editors who increase staff diversity.”

I think most people got the hint, but if you didn’t, womp womp. It was right in front of your face. Sam got to break the news himself, which we figured is the least we could do as these guys were announcing their departures and/or retirements. Let it be known that Crossing Broad did not scupper anybody’s buyout or retirement announcement because we are an honorable and serious and modest blog.

Carchidi was a Flyers beat writer at the Inky for more than a decade, and he started working there back in the mid-1970s. He had some recent stumbles, like that time where he asked the Flyers players to just “forget about all of the social issues for a minute” and that other time when he was duped into checking on a fake Wayne Simmonds trade. He had a Twitter kerfuffle with Claude Giroux and was a frequent Maestro target during the heyday of Crossing Broad, when Kyle would incessantly rip the Flyers beats for being lazy. Carchidi was the last standing member of the “Core Four,” which I think warrants an uber-rare Kyle post.

But on a more serious note, congratulations to Sam for 46 years in the business. It’s nearly impossible to log that amount of service time in any industry, let alone journalism. He’s a nice guy and recently became a grandfather. Interestingly enough, he’s going to keep at it on a freelance basis, which is the same thing Les Bowen and other recent buyout takers decided to do. You’d think they’d all just retire and walk off into the sunset (they were making pretty good money and got a great package), but you see that some of the old school beats and columnists still have the itch for writing and being around the game. Keep an eye out for his landing spot, which should be announced soon. There’s another tease for you.

edit – worth pointing out that the Inquirer now has two Flyers writers, both women in their 20s