Winding down...

My paper cut our football preview(s). Entirely. I'll miss that 40 hours of OT in my paycheck, but that's about it.

 

The last football tab I did was 24 pages, half prep, half college.

How many high schools? One.

12 tab pages on one high school football team.

 

Our annual 160 page behemoth hit the streets today.
Kickoff is less than 48 hours away.

 

Evil: You should get in on our section swap.

 

I would love to if I thought it would do any good.
I swapped last year and really liked a lot of the ideas in Shot's section. I also like the one someone had flagged on line from Tacoma?? or someplace in Washington.
Took it to the powers and they pulled a Dr. Evil on me:
"Well shit. Let's just do what we always do."

We have done the same format for the last 20 years and no one - besides me - has expressed any interest in changing it.
Of course, if the ad department can sell enough adds for a 160 page tab every year why change.

 

Evil: Well, your ideas would probably be helpful to the rest of us, especially those of us who are in search of fresh takes on a subject we all have to tackle yearly.

 

If you saw my normal paycheck, you'd be happy for me that I get overtime.

 

PB: That's pretty much universal in our industry, me thinks.

 

that seems about right, doesn't it?

 

Interesting situation with my preview this year.
First time they have ever done something like this, so it was four tab pages run of press. The middle four pages, so it was all color.
I had a preview story, sidebars on their brutal early schedule and their history running the option, stats from 2006, a look at position battles, a look at the conference, driving directions, team picture and schedule.
First time it's ever been done here. Oops, someone forgot to tell our two-person ad staff to sell anything for it, so it's four pages with no ads.
I was pretty proud of how it turned out. However, when I get to work on the day it comes out, I have a nasty, vicious, annonymous, five-minute voice mail from a lady who was pissed I didn't preview the JV and freshman teams.
Gawd, I hate parents sometimes. Someday, my goal is to cover an orphanage's high school teams. That would be nice.

 

Love the hate mail. Embrace the hate mail.
I got one today from a guy who said all I do is go to the games and eat, that the preview was the result of lazy coverage and that I don't deserve my job.
It was entertaining, and I never cease to be amazed that people who don't know me talk to me (or about me) like they do.

 

Finished our 20-page/18-team tab last night at around 2:30 a.m. Now I can breathe.

It turned out looking great though.