So, our paper isn't going to remake for Bonds' 756th...is yours?

We're going with the main front package with Bonds, no matter what, because it's still a compelling story.

My plan is, though, to update the stories as the presses roll if he breaks the record, so the rural subscribers will get the one without quotes and the city subscribers will get the optional.

 

No doubt the job is being done. However, some things are inviolate, and one of them is finishing a page and locking a paper for the final press run, no matter what is happening. Otherwise, trucks sit on the loading dock, overtime is logged, and someone is fired. And it isn't the truck driver. Going over isn't a department decision. It's a publisher-level decision.

 

I wouldn't remake mine, but that's more because of the kind of paper I run, not because I refuse to remake my front.

If I were running a daily with any kind of national aspirations, I'd *tell* the SE that a story's going on the front page of the whole damn paper.

 

That's pretty much how it works at my place too. We stuck his tying the record right on the front went with the blurb and basically prayed he didn't hit another home run b/c the publisher would be all over us like a bad rash if we were late.

 

I've been living in fear for the past two weeks that 755 would happen when I was laying out the front. Dodged that bullet. But me and the SE have a template ready for 756. We are on the east coast, too. When it happens, there shouldn't be a front page without it played big if at all possible. As much as I'm going to hate to see it, it is some of the biggest news in years.

 

We've had a cover sitting in the Mac for three weeks now. When he hits it, it can be slapped on and shipped in 2 minutes.

We've also had contingency plans each day for Page 3, where that stuff goes when we put Bonds on 3.

Our major-league beat writer has a column written for A1, all but the first 3-4 graphs. Whether he's in the office or at home, when he hits it, our guy will be sending those 3-4 graphs in minutes.

And we're prepared to do it for ANY at-bat of his, first through whenever, even with 12:40 final edition. Anywhere up to 1:15, 1:30, we'll PORA. Two of us stick around each night for it ... which has made for some funny celebrations in recent nights when he's been pinch-run for in the eighth.

 

I write for small daily in the Central time zone, and my SE pretty much said we're not going to cut anything local for Bonds.

I don't like it, but it's his section. I just work here. Then again, he's got a day off later this week, and I'm on the desk...Maybe it'll go big that day if Bonds takes care of business before 11 CDT.

 

Ain't worth it for your purposes if the SE has made it clear it's not a priority with him.

 

It's not getting into our paper tonight.

 

I'm waiting to see what happens in his next at-bat. If he hits it, the sports front will be remade with the big news centerpiece and a zoned wire story on 1A will get pushed inside so we can run the sports columnist's commentary (written weeks ago) on the front page.

If he happens to hit it on a night when the 1A CP is wires, I have a CP with that column built to plug in. But tonight, like most nights, we can't swap out a local front-page centerpiece.

 

If I'm a subscriber to a newspaper and Bonds breaks the record, I sure as hell expect to find some coverage in my morning paper. Readers don't care about loading trucks or sending plates or missing deadlines, and any paper that doesn't have Bonds the next day is going to look very stupid.

 

Want to try that line of attack on my publisher?