Anybody else pulling football tab all-nighters this week?

what's a capsule?

 

It's what we do rather than those 12-15" preview stories. Each team gets a 2X10 capsule, where the writers rank the team on each of 10 categories -- quarterbacks, defensive linemen, depth, etc. Then they add it up for a power rating to compare them to other teams.

Capsule also includes a paragraph for the writer to sum up the outlook on the team, the season schedule, an oddball factoid about the program -- and four head shots.

Oh, yeah. We're sure to include the team's helmet.

 

I like the way our local paper does it. They spend almost all of August running features on each team, one per day -- including a full depth chart, returning-lettermen photo, schedule, etc. -- and put capsules in the tab, which hits the stands the day after the team stories end.

 

what's a mug?

 

True. And, truth be told, we didn't pull any all-nighters in getting our 56-page tab out the door, largely because my assistant is so much better organized than I am.

The monkey wrench for us this year was having our lead desk guy still in the hospital. Thank goodness he's gonna be OK, but couldn't he get sick in June? (Just kidding.)

I did have a rough day/night/day on Wednesday heading into Thursday, proofing and putting on the finishing touches while also mustering at 6 a.m. so I could "watch" our area Olympian in the gold-medal finals of her event.

I could do the all-night thing with ease at 21 and even at 31. At 41, not so much. Now, at 51, I gotta get some sleep.

 

There's one way.

Seriously, with 47 capsules, I would pick one player and run a small photo (or cutout) with each capsule.

188 mugs just seems too assembly line.


That being said, I'm happy to announce that I just completed my 19th consecutive year of having absolutely nothing to do with our football section.

 

you scared me with the breakdown of a cap, my friend.

 

I scared me with my breakdown of a cap, my friend.

 

is this worth it, though? I mean, if the team has no shot at winning more than one or two games all year ... can you really rate a high school quarterback at 2 or 3 because you know he'll suck? no. because you will have your phone ringing off the proverbial hook. you've gotta give him a 7 and say he just might be ok. maybe you get away with giving him a 6. but otherwise ... ?

 

We do it all the time; a few 1s, even. And consider this ... there's a coach's rating, too.

I fully understand what you're saying. But you've got to be frank with it, or you're going to have 47 teams with a 45 rating. And our ratings this year range from 21 to 69.

 

Hmmm. I'm sure there's a joke there.

One thing we did this year was make damned sure all of our color positions and gray bars were squared away before we started sending.

That's been a huge hassle at times in the past.

Even at that, I had to shuffle a couple of pages after the fact to make everything work out, but that one wasn't our fault.