Sam Zell and Me....

I've never been part of a newspaper ownership change.

My previous job was a family-owned newspaper that had stayed in the Gaylord family hands since statehood (1907, for you non-Okies). Interesting enough, the other major metro in Oklahoma --- the Tulsa World --- is also a long-time family owned broadsheet.

And until not too long ago, Oklahoma also had the Tulsa Tribune, a family owned newspaper that traced family links to Frank Lloyd Wright.

So when I came to the Sun-Sentinel, it was my first time working for a publicly traded company. Now we're part of a private ownership group that is owned by employees. Oh yeah, and a guy named Sam Zell.

I'm normally a cynic. At my old shop, I heard executives say words like "communications vehicle," "solutions-based," and "multiplatform communications company." It seemed like there was always promise of reasons to be optimistic.

I usually felt like Office Space, just like most of you.

But this time I'm optimistic. After the Zell press conference, which was beamed into our auditorium, many employees clapped. I am excited.

I can imagine what they're thinking at the LA Times, which seems to be dancing a jig in print:

"There's no need to belabor the multiple reasons for that failure, but suffice to say that, as of Wednesday, there were only three places in the world where you still could find people who believed in the efficacy of Brezhnev-style bureaucracy and central planning: North Korea, Cuba and Tribune Tower in Chicago."

So this could be a wild and fun ride. Count me among the optimists for a change.