Anybody else pulling football tab all-nighters this week?

Our tab isn't just football. We preview volleyball, boys and girls cross country, soccer, tennis and golf. We cover 14 preps and 2 colleges, so we have about 80 stories, photos and cutlines to squeeze into 60 tab pages. I write a few of these stories, and the ones my staff write, I take home to edit on my laptop after work. So for about two weeks, if I'm awake, I'm working on something, whether it be for the tab or daily section, for our newspaper.

Bottom line -- by the time I'm covering my first Friday night football game, I'm pretty well burned out because I've been sleeping or working for two weeks straight.

 

wow. that tab sounds like it sucks ass. ever suggest to your EE that too much information is simply too much information?

 

I agree that you've gotta do it right if you're gonna do it. am impressed that you do. just haven't seen any others that are ... simply because, in most every market I've seen/been in, the readers will burn down your building if you rate a high school kid like that, especially if you're truthful about it.

 

Yes. Like I said, I know exactly what you mean. I think it may be a matter of this: We've been doing it like this for nine years now, and people know there aren't going to be any punches pulled. Plus, our guys are pro enough to know not to rake a specific kid over the coals -- I mean, outside of a cold position ranking.

 

so how do you get away with it at quarterback? I mean, he's the only kid there, really.
(I'm not going after you in any way, btw ... I'm honestly just shocked that you guys can pull this off the right way. I mean, shit, readers all over will get pissed if, in the weekly pick-ems, you don't always 'support our boys' and pick the home-town team.)

 

I think, jps, that if our guys are handing out a 1 at QB, we're talking about a freshman or sophomore who hasn't taken a varsity snap, doesn't have any rep from other sports, and the coach has pretty much told our guy, "We're in trouble here, hoss."

I haven't heard a lot about it, but I'm sure the capsule ratings provide bulletin-board material here and there. Or maybe our beat guys do catch a raft of shit about it and they don't say anything. (Nahhhhh ... that's not it. )

EDIT: Holy shit, I just checked the tab, and three of our 15 Quad-A schools have 1 at quarterback. We're in for quite a year here.

On the other end, we don't go big unless it's really warranted. We handed out a 10 for one team's running backs this year, and it was probably only the fifth or sixth "10" we've had in nine years (47 teams X 10 ratings X 9 years = 1,930 ratings). The tailback is going to have the Pennsylvania career rushing record by the end of the season, and his fullback is already committed to Rutgers as a defensive lineman.

 

He knows it's simply too much work. Heck, everyone involved knows. The problem is that it's the way we've always done it. And why? Because years ago, we had a publisher who had a kid who was a golfer, and he just had to be included. And if you include golf, you have to include the other "non-revenue" sports.

I complain, bitch and moan a lot, and even toss a few things around the newsroom during these lovely two weeks, but it does have its advantages. Theoretically, if every athlete shows up to picture day, we have a 60-page reference guide that includes every face and correct name spelling -- again, theoretically -- of every athlete we cover. That's nice. Is is appreciated by our audience? Hell no.

 

for the love of god, man, i feel for you.

 

Thanks, it's really nice to know someone understands.

 

i think we all could put ourselves in your shoes. please tell me you only do that in the fall and not two other times a year.

 

He doesn't really. He just likes appearing sympathetic

 

No, we do it for winter and spring, too, but those aren't nearly as taxing as the Fall Sports Edition. Winter only has boys and girls basketball, wrestling and swimming, and not all of our schools have wrestling and swimming.

With track, baseball, softball, tennis, spring is a bit worse but no where near the monster the fall is.

And despite Slappy's witty humor, I generally appreciate the commiserating.