cowboy_witch (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} cowboy_witch) wrote,@ 2009-05-20 12:50:00 |
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Daily Press rant
I don't know who ultimately decided to move writers' deadline up from 10:45 p.m. to 10:20 p.m., but no one's happy about it. Not the writers, not the editors who work late at night in the office working on editing stories and laying them out on the pages. It makes all of our jobs harder, to be perfectly honest.
Last night was a perfect example. I drove to Yorktown to cover the semifinals of the Bay Rivers District girls soccer tournament. No big deal; I've covered soccer for a while, and I know it's usually a fairly quick game. The clock only stops for injuries and goals, so each 40-minute half passes quickly.
The first semifinal started at 5:30, with the second slated to start around 7:15. I figured I'd be out by 9, could go home and write my story with no worry of missing the new, earlier deadline.
Right?
Because of my time estimate, and the fact that there's no wireless internet at the stadium, I didn't take my laptop with me. That meant I would have to go home -- a 20-30 minute drive -- to write my story. Again, no problem.
Right?
Apparently not. The first semifinal, between Lafayette and Grafton, took forever. Tied at 0 after regulation, they went to overtime. Virginia high school soccer overtime rules are as follows: at the end of regulation, the teams will play two five-minute overtime periods. No sudden victory; even if you score in the first minute of the first overtime, you're still playing the next nine minutes.
After those two periods, if the score is still tied, they play two more five-minute overtime periods, though these are sudden-victory (or sudden death, or golden goal, or whatever you want to call it). This time, if you scored in the first minute of the first overtime, that was it. Game over.
But no. Lafayette and Grafton still couldn't score. We've played 100 minutes of soccer, it's 7:45, and there's still no winner. Moving on to penalty kicks. Each team gets five kicks, and if they're still tied after those five, the teams will keep kicking until someone misses.
The first five kicks came and went -- we're still tied! It took nine kicks for each team before Lafayette (finally!) won.
Then there was a 25-minute warm-up period before the second game between Jamestown and Tabb. That game didn't start until just after 8:30. Soccer games, with two 40-minute halves and a 10-minute halftime, usually take an hour and a half to complete.
That is, of course, assuming there aren't any time stoppages for injuries. Jamestown and Tabb had two of them, including a lengthy one after two played collided. The second game didn't end until 10:00.
Now, if I'd gone home to write the story, I would've gotten home around 10:20 or 10:30, meaning the story wouldn't be written until about 11:00. Under the old deadline, the desk would've understood and been fine with that. But with the deadline now 10:20 (for what they call "first edition"), there was no way.
No laptop, no wireless -- stuck 30 minutes from home and pushing deadline. What do I wind up doing? I dictate the story to the office. That's right, I blabbed into my cell phone while the guy on the other end tried to keep up on the keyboard. I could hear the keys tapping on the other end of the line.
This isn't the first time I've dictated a story; I've done it a few times for football games that ran late. But I usually already have the story written and just can't get online to send it. I didn't even have that this time, so I was formulating the story as I was dictating it. They wanted 500 words; they got 450.
The desk loved what I did, that I was resourceful enough to make deadline, even though I wasn't actually writing the story. They told me I "did a hell of a job getting this to us," but it was such a pain in the ass. I always prefer to actually write my story, even though by dictating, I still get my byline and the pay.
Still, without the earlier deadline, this probably isn't an issue. Whoever thought that up is a dumbass. The new deadline might not bother the news writers much -- most of their stories probably can be written during a normal business day. But sports writers? A lot of games happen at night, and they don't always end quickly. Such an early deadline does nothing but fruatrate the hell out of us.
I know they won't do this, but I would love it if the deadline went back to 10:45.
I don't know who ultimately decided to move writers' deadline up from 10:45 p.m. to 10:20 p.m., but no one's happy about it. Not the writers, not the editors who work late at night in the office working on editing stories and laying them out on the pages. It makes all of our jobs harder, to be perfectly honest.
Last night was a perfect example. I drove to Yorktown to cover the semifinals of the Bay Rivers District girls soccer tournament. No big deal; I've covered soccer for a while, and I know it's usually a fairly quick game. The clock only stops for injuries and goals, so each 40-minute half passes quickly.
The first semifinal started at 5:30, with the second slated to start around 7:15. I figured I'd be out by 9, could go home and write my story with no worry of missing the new, earlier deadline.
Right?
Because of my time estimate, and the fact that there's no wireless internet at the stadium, I didn't take my laptop with me. That meant I would have to go home -- a 20-30 minute drive -- to write my story. Again, no problem.
Right?
Apparently not. The first semifinal, between Lafayette and Grafton, took forever. Tied at 0 after regulation, they went to overtime. Virginia high school soccer overtime rules are as follows: at the end of regulation, the teams will play two five-minute overtime periods. No sudden victory; even if you score in the first minute of the first overtime, you're still playing the next nine minutes.
After those two periods, if the score is still tied, they play two more five-minute overtime periods, though these are sudden-victory (or sudden death, or golden goal, or whatever you want to call it). This time, if you scored in the first minute of the first overtime, that was it. Game over.
But no. Lafayette and Grafton still couldn't score. We've played 100 minutes of soccer, it's 7:45, and there's still no winner. Moving on to penalty kicks. Each team gets five kicks, and if they're still tied after those five, the teams will keep kicking until someone misses.
The first five kicks came and went -- we're still tied! It took nine kicks for each team before Lafayette (finally!) won.
Then there was a 25-minute warm-up period before the second game between Jamestown and Tabb. That game didn't start until just after 8:30. Soccer games, with two 40-minute halves and a 10-minute halftime, usually take an hour and a half to complete.
That is, of course, assuming there aren't any time stoppages for injuries. Jamestown and Tabb had two of them, including a lengthy one after two played collided. The second game didn't end until 10:00.
Now, if I'd gone home to write the story, I would've gotten home around 10:20 or 10:30, meaning the story wouldn't be written until about 11:00. Under the old deadline, the desk would've understood and been fine with that. But with the deadline now 10:20 (for what they call "first edition"), there was no way.
No laptop, no wireless -- stuck 30 minutes from home and pushing deadline. What do I wind up doing? I dictate the story to the office. That's right, I blabbed into my cell phone while the guy on the other end tried to keep up on the keyboard. I could hear the keys tapping on the other end of the line.
This isn't the first time I've dictated a story; I've done it a few times for football games that ran late. But I usually already have the story written and just can't get online to send it. I didn't even have that this time, so I was formulating the story as I was dictating it. They wanted 500 words; they got 450.
The desk loved what I did, that I was resourceful enough to make deadline, even though I wasn't actually writing the story. They told me I "did a hell of a job getting this to us," but it was such a pain in the ass. I always prefer to actually write my story, even though by dictating, I still get my byline and the pay.
Still, without the earlier deadline, this probably isn't an issue. Whoever thought that up is a dumbass. The new deadline might not bother the news writers much -- most of their stories probably can be written during a normal business day. But sports writers? A lot of games happen at night, and they don't always end quickly. Such an early deadline does nothing but fruatrate the hell out of us.
I know they won't do this, but I would love it if the deadline went back to 10:45.