No-hitters and Your Paper

Um, or what Doc said.

 

Running a refer in the 1A skybox or even just on the sports front to a story on page 2 or 3 is perfectably acceptable in that case ...

 

For the record, we ran it on the front, replacing the Scotus story from the AP (can't remember the particulars). It got done a little sloppily, but it was the right choice for us. Not for everyone, though.

 

OK, then I'll say this ... it had better be a DAMN good sports front without that no-hitter. Not just talking about yours; I mean ANY sports front that doesn't have the no-hitter out there and had the time to get it out there.

And Doc? We're an East Coast paper, too. But if I pick up the paper in the morning and we didn't make the adjustments for this game, I'm going to be pissed.

 

Shotts, when's your color go, though? Doc's paper has an insane color deadline, which handcuffs the shit out of the front.

 

You're exactly right, Mert. It does. I should have thought of that.

Our color's as live as the page. No limitations. But I can remember when it wasn't.

 

We are not allowed to make that call here, shot. Press room fucks run the show, plain and simple. But I stand by my product. We put out a damned good paper.

 

Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't think about that, bud. It's a very real hurdle.

I think more than anything, I'm put off by the suggestion that a no-hitter isn't worthy of front-page play. And it's tough for me to think of too many things in late April which is MORE deserving.

 

I can attest to that, fwiw.

 

Yeah, it is. And it pisses me off that we even have it, because on nights when we did get an extended deadline, it didn't affect the delivery whatsoever. So why don't we always get it?

 

My old (eastern) paper had a dead-set color deadline at 10 p.m. We couldn't break it for any reason -- all we could do was kill any color we already had set.

A picture-less no-hitter story would have been the only option (unless, of course, we wanted to really look stupid and use a black/white shot out front.)

The point is -- and anyone who's worked a desk on deadline knows it: There are many factors involved in making these decisions, and every paper has to make its own decision, based on its own situation. A no-hitter is not the be-all, end-all when it comes to putting out every paper in the country.

 

Can you at least agree that if you're in a world where color deadlines are no more of a hindrance than regular floor times, THEN a no-hitter is a be-all, end-all?