Readers may notice something odd about today’s front page.
Then again, maybe you won’t. At least that’s my hope.
The front page of today’s print edition is not dominated by last night’s dramatic win by the Phillies, with Jimmy Rollins knocking in two runs with a two-out-double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to lead the Phils to an improbable come-from-behind, walk-off 5-4 win over the Dodgers.
The win gives the Phils a 3-1 stranglehold on the National League Championship Series, just one win away from returning to the World Series to defend the crown they won last year.
Oh, the game is out there. It’s featured in the skybox across the top of the page. But it’s not our lead story. We reserved that spot for the settlement of a dispute between Chester city firefighters and officials over a U.S. flag decal that was displayed on a locker. The city relented and now will allow the sticker, and also reinstated the firefighter, who had been suspended for two days at the end of last week.
Covering Delaware County is what we do. Of course, the Phillies are a big part of that. There is no shortage of readers who call to complain every time we lead the paper with a big sports story, and make no mistake, last night’s win by the Phils is a very big story. They tell me that’s what the Back Page is for, that we should reserve the front page for a news story.
Actually, there were two news stories that I considered for today’s lead spot. The other was about a man charged with attacking Upper Darby police with a samurai sword. Upper Darby top cop Mike Chitwood even went so far as to identify him as “Delco’s Last Samurai.” We “teased” that story off the front page.
But the Chester story was generating a lot of controversy, and we decided, literally, to run it up the flagpole.
Of course, that decision was made at about 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon. I don’t have the luxury of waiting until ten minutes before midnight to make that call. If I did I might have made a different decision.
No doubt there are a lot of people, like me, who lapsed into sleep somewhere around the eighth inning, with the Dodgers clinging to a 4-3 lead. We woke up this morning literally not knowing who won the game.
That mystery was soon solved by flipping on the radio and checking KYW.
It was confirmed by the morning papers, inlcuding ours, in an unusual circumstance, actually informing many people who won last night’s game.
Yes, I could have constructed a page that focused on the Phils and then simply changed the key elements of the page after the game. It would have involved using an early color photo, locking that in on the page, and then changing the black type – including the lead headline - on the page later on.
Color causes us problems in terms of time and production. So when we have a game we know is going to run late, such as playoff baseball or next Monday night when the Eagles play in Washington, we will use one of the early photos that we get from our photographer at the game. Last night that was Eric Hartline. That’s his shot of Ryan Howard on today’s back page watching his laser beam of a homer disappear into the right-field seats in the first inning.
Of course, the key photos would be from the celebration after the Phils dramatic ninth inning win. But that occurred at about 10 minutes before midnight. That won’t work for us.
There is another element readers should know about, and which might explain why your paper was delivered a little bit late this morning.
While thrilling for fans, an ending like last night’s is agony for newspapers – and sportswriters.
Our writers covering the game do not have the luxury of waiting until the contest is over to write their stories. They literally are crafting their stories as the game is being played. We call it “running” copy because it is written as the game is running.
No doubt most writers had already locked in on a theme of the Phils dropping Game 4 last night and facing the challenge of a deadlocked series.
At 10 minutes to midnight, with a walk, a hit batter and one swing of Jimmy Rollins’ bat, all that went out the window.
Suddenly writers were completely rewriting their stories to reflect the Phils’ come-from-behind win.
I’ve always envied writers from the West Coast, including the contingent from L.A. covering the Dodgers last night. The last-minute heroics – while certainly souring the mood of Dodgers’ fans – likely did not faze them a bit. That’s because it was only 10 minutes to nine on the West Coast. Plenty of time to rewite their stories to reflect the Dodgers’
epic collapse and still make deadline.
Our normal deadline most nights is 11:40, about 20 minutes ‘til midnight. With all these 8:07 starts, we knew we would be holding the press to be sure we got the result of the game in.
No doubt we’ll be doing that again Wednesday night as the Phils seek their second straight National League pennant.
It just might be our lead story on the front page. Of course, that depends on what else happens that day. We cover Delaware County. The Phillies and their playoff success are an important part of that.
Just sometimes not the most important part.
Then again, maybe you won’t. At least that’s my hope.
The front page of today’s print edition is not dominated by last night’s dramatic win by the Phillies, with Jimmy Rollins knocking in two runs with a two-out-double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to lead the Phils to an improbable come-from-behind, walk-off 5-4 win over the Dodgers.
The win gives the Phils a 3-1 stranglehold on the National League Championship Series, just one win away from returning to the World Series to defend the crown they won last year.
Oh, the game is out there. It’s featured in the skybox across the top of the page. But it’s not our lead story. We reserved that spot for the settlement of a dispute between Chester city firefighters and officials over a U.S. flag decal that was displayed on a locker. The city relented and now will allow the sticker, and also reinstated the firefighter, who had been suspended for two days at the end of last week.
Covering Delaware County is what we do. Of course, the Phillies are a big part of that. There is no shortage of readers who call to complain every time we lead the paper with a big sports story, and make no mistake, last night’s win by the Phils is a very big story. They tell me that’s what the Back Page is for, that we should reserve the front page for a news story.
Actually, there were two news stories that I considered for today’s lead spot. The other was about a man charged with attacking Upper Darby police with a samurai sword. Upper Darby top cop Mike Chitwood even went so far as to identify him as “Delco’s Last Samurai.” We “teased” that story off the front page.
But the Chester story was generating a lot of controversy, and we decided, literally, to run it up the flagpole.
Of course, that decision was made at about 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon. I don’t have the luxury of waiting until ten minutes before midnight to make that call. If I did I might have made a different decision.
No doubt there are a lot of people, like me, who lapsed into sleep somewhere around the eighth inning, with the Dodgers clinging to a 4-3 lead. We woke up this morning literally not knowing who won the game.
That mystery was soon solved by flipping on the radio and checking KYW.
It was confirmed by the morning papers, inlcuding ours, in an unusual circumstance, actually informing many people who won last night’s game.
Yes, I could have constructed a page that focused on the Phils and then simply changed the key elements of the page after the game. It would have involved using an early color photo, locking that in on the page, and then changing the black type – including the lead headline - on the page later on.
Color causes us problems in terms of time and production. So when we have a game we know is going to run late, such as playoff baseball or next Monday night when the Eagles play in Washington, we will use one of the early photos that we get from our photographer at the game. Last night that was Eric Hartline. That’s his shot of Ryan Howard on today’s back page watching his laser beam of a homer disappear into the right-field seats in the first inning.
Of course, the key photos would be from the celebration after the Phils dramatic ninth inning win. But that occurred at about 10 minutes before midnight. That won’t work for us.
There is another element readers should know about, and which might explain why your paper was delivered a little bit late this morning.
While thrilling for fans, an ending like last night’s is agony for newspapers – and sportswriters.
Our writers covering the game do not have the luxury of waiting until the contest is over to write their stories. They literally are crafting their stories as the game is being played. We call it “running” copy because it is written as the game is running.
No doubt most writers had already locked in on a theme of the Phils dropping Game 4 last night and facing the challenge of a deadlocked series.
At 10 minutes to midnight, with a walk, a hit batter and one swing of Jimmy Rollins’ bat, all that went out the window.
Suddenly writers were completely rewriting their stories to reflect the Phils’ come-from-behind win.
I’ve always envied writers from the West Coast, including the contingent from L.A. covering the Dodgers last night. The last-minute heroics – while certainly souring the mood of Dodgers’ fans – likely did not faze them a bit. That’s because it was only 10 minutes to nine on the West Coast. Plenty of time to rewite their stories to reflect the Dodgers’
epic collapse and still make deadline.
Our normal deadline most nights is 11:40, about 20 minutes ‘til midnight. With all these 8:07 starts, we knew we would be holding the press to be sure we got the result of the game in.
No doubt we’ll be doing that again Wednesday night as the Phils seek their second straight National League pennant.
It just might be our lead story on the front page. Of course, that depends on what else happens that day. We cover Delaware County. The Phillies and their playoff success are an important part of that.
Just sometimes not the most important part.
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