Thanks again, AP

Would never in a billion years have guessed there are more Knights and Pioneers than Wildcats.

 

Once we get into the heart of the SEC schedule maybe we can get Tigers-Bulldogs and Tigers-Bulldogs

 

One thing I have noticed about AP stuff lately, and I don't understand how this happens is....
I'll get capsules (NBA, NHL, Top 25, etc.) for most games but I'm still waiting on a couple of the later games to finish up. I can pull AP stuff off of the system that we have at the office, or through the AP exchange website. But sometimes the NewsNow stories appear on the ESPN website before they show up on the AP Exchange, or the regular system that we have at the office. Is AP sending stuff directly to ESPN.com before it posts through its own system?
Sometimes I just pull the box score of a game and write my own capsule because I get tired of waiting.

 

Yeah, don't know about the ESPN thing. I always thought it was just a matter of our copy getting hung up somewhere in out stupid servers.

 

Tonight's an example of this. Three early game, one West Coast with an 11 p.m. EST start I wouldn't get in anyway. Has the roundup of the first three games run? Not that I've seen, but our front end can be wonky at times.

Had the same problem in the summer. It was like they were reluctant to put it on the wire without the Mets or Yankees story in, even if it meant waiting until the end of a Rockies home game to send the first cap of the night.

 

I don't understand the need for capsules. I guess when I was a one-man show at a smaller paper, it was convenient. But it seems more efficient to me to just copy/paste the APNewsNow versions as they come in. I don't like to wait.

 

Last week we had a winter storm come through that forced the cancellation of all the area games that night. We were going to get the pages off to the press as early as possible.

All we were waiting on was two AP stories. Earlier in the afternoon, the AP said both stories would be done by 5 p.m., which was going to work out great. Then about 6 p.m., AP sends another notice saying the stories would actually be up at 7 p.m.

 

I agree. The only time I use the AP caps is for football usually. Even then, it's just the early games and I still end up tacking on the 4 p.m. games as they come in and formatting them to style.

 

But there are situations in which we don't always have time to be hunting for individual NewsNow stories for nine NBA games, six NHL games and 10 Top 25 basketball games. Also, NewsNow versions can be a little wordy, which means we need to take the time (that we don't always have) to edit them as well.
The AP should get consistent. Sometimes they will send out capsules that "will be updated" as more games end. Other times they don't send anything until all games are finished. If you're not going to send capsules with early games, do it every day. If not, don't do it at all. That way we know what to expect coming in.

 

How long has The AP not shot games of teams ranked in its top 25? Haven't been used to not having AP art.

 

You talking college hoops, Matt? Because I thought they sent out pics of all the games involving top 25 teams (of course, not always in a timely fashion ...)

I know the ranked Gonzaga team helps provide found money for a few eastern Washington freelance photogs, for just that reason.

 

Basketball. Didn't shoot either Colorado State game last week. Monday game I understood since it was the Rams's first day at No. 24, but The AP telling us the day of it wasn't shooting CSU at New Mexico State (despite saying it would earlier in the week) really grinds my gears.