Anybody else pulling football tab all-nighters this week?

[HejiraHenry]

Just askin'.

 

[-Scoop-]

I will. Our deadline is next Tuesday, it'll run on Friday. I've pretty much got all my info, quotes and stats, just need to actually write up the stories (four team previews, one huge feature, and three inside story writeups). Hopefully I'll have it done by Sunday so I can use Monday to edit and have all my copy in within plenty of time so I can edit my staff's stories as well.

 

[HejiraHenry]

Oops. I see there's already a Football Tab thread.

Maybe I'll mosey over there ...

 

[JackReacher]

Henry...you should call it a night, head over to the bar and, in honor of the Olympics, order a Sapporo. Wait. What?

 

[slappy4428]

golly.....



My prep editor is pulling all-nighters... my stories will be finished in the morning.

 

[Wenders]

We've been doing it progressively but we're putting it all together tomorrow. I did all of the proofing and some cutouts tonight while we were waiting for a few things to get done so it should be fairly painless. The only thing is: it has to be ready to go before they print anything else tomorrow and me and my boss both have games to cover, not to mention the regular paper to put out.

But it's football season. It's so close I can smell it! I don't even care, it means something other than soccer and Little League baseball to cover.

 

[Colton]

I pulled two all-nighters and finished our 40-page broadsheet a day early... my life can now resume (such as it is, anyway).

 

[Matt1735]

The worst 30 hours of my prep editing career were those putting the final touches on our nine zone sections in 1992. Hurricane Andrew was destroying South Florida, so all of my "help" from other designers was no longer available. Then, when the final button was pushed, I had to wait around three hours for the press run .... correct the major f-up ... and then finally got home.

 

[cwilson3]

Yep, left after midnight last night and I'm about to go back in now. It's only gonna get worse. But hey, I love it.

 

[HejiraHenry]

The worst 30 hours of my prep editing career were those putting the final touches on our nine zone sections in 1992. Hurricane Andrew was destroying South Florida, so all of my "help" from other designers was no longer available. Then, when the final button was pushed, I had to wait around three hours for the press run .... correct the major f-up ... and then finally got home.

The major f-up always is an issue.

Several years ago, when our page administration software was different, a blank half page "snuck" past everybody and got on the press. It was buried way inside, but still.

We stopped, filled it real quick and rolled on.

I'm pretty sure that can't happen now. (hah)

 

[Matt1735]

The major f-up always is an issue.

Our sections were zoned big-time, and we had a zone that left out the one of the largest schools in the area, if I remember right... even though it was teased on the cover.

 

[BTExpress]

Our 1985 section had 1984 folios.

Didn't get caught.

 

[Walter Burns]

Happily, I've been able to spread the work so I haven't had to pull an all-nighter for a couple years. Now I've been working at least 12-hour days for the past two weeks, but at least I get to go home, sleep, change clothes and shower.
And that, my friends, is progress.

 

[Speedfreak]

What's a football tab? Ours (we did preps, colleges and pros) were bagged a few years ago when they were deemed unprofitable (after being the newspaper's biggest money-making sections for years). Now we provide maybe a 10th of the material and fold it into the regular sports section.

 

[pressboxer]

Our tab printed Tuesday. No need for all-nighters this week.

 

[HejiraHenry]

My concern tonight will be mainly proofing, which is progress.

 

[ColbertNation]

Not this week. But soon. Last year, we had enough staff that I was able to spend an entire shift just on our tab. Not the case this year. I'm gonna have to do it on an off-day (actually, mgmt will probably want me to do it during my regular shift -- wouldn't surprise me). Either way, it will be a good time.

 

[Herky_Jerky]

I haven't done a tab in several years. My last paper didn't do any kind of special section. We just ran features/previews throughout the week leading up to the first Friday.

At my current shop, we just printed our two zoned preview sections. They were four-pages apiece with full-page ads on the back for a coverage area that includes 36 football teams in one state and 23 in the other.

 

[pa writer]

I start putting ours together Sunday, which will mean three hellish nights. That, and I have a 6-month-old at home who I take care of because my wife is back at work, meaning not only late nights at the office, but early nights in the nursery.

Is it Wednesday yet?

 

[apeman33]

Kansas preps don't start until Sept. 5, so my tab isn't for another 2 weeks. However, I always get terrified that the coaches are going to piddle around with my surveys until it's too late. It did happen two years ago for a basketball tab. One boys' coach mailed it back late enough it arrived the day after it printed.

If the surveys all arrive on the same day, say the morning before the tab is supposed to go to press, then yeah, there will be an all-nighter. But I can take the next day off because no other sports are at home on that Thursday.