Sunday, August 23, 2009

Misspelled headline, purely on purpose

I helped put out the sports section last night, and I quickly broke a rule about headlines. The story was about two former Heisman Trophy winners, Sam Bradford of Oklahoma and Tim Tebow of Florida, returning this year and making it hard for Colt McCoy of Texas in the Heisman race.

The paper calls this kind of headline a sidebonker. In honor of the two former Heisman winners, the headline was FORMER HEISMEN: Bradford, Tebow put McCoy in shadows. I hope someone gets it.


I edited a story on a soccer player, Oguchi Onyewu, and I used his nickname in the sidebonker -- GOOOOCH! Onyewu takes his game abroad.


I also edited a story on Brett Favre, and the headline is self-explanatory: IN SCHOOL Favre still has plenty to learn about his team as he gets ready to lead Vikings.


I edited a story on Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympics, and I wanted to use a headline that reflected Patrick Ryan's quest. I wanted to use Go, Chicago, but the allotted area was too small. I mentioned that to the paginator (page designer), and he widened the headline area to take in Go, Chicago. Thanks, Rick.


We were busy, as I also edited college football, tennis, golf and baseball stories.


I put the American League roundup together, and I helped with the National League roundup.


While writing the cutline (caption) for the Sprint Cup race, I noticed that Mark Martin's name was listed twice in the lineup agate. They fixed it.


Finally, deadline (midnight) struck, and we were looking at proofs.


And, as always, we're outta here.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Dukin' with the Duke

I've seen dozens of mistakes in John Wayne movies, and I can overlook most of them. Just now, we were watching "The Sons of Katie Elder," and Wayne was battling James Gregory in the exciting concluding shootout. Without reloading or switching guns, Wayne fired 11 shots from a six-shooter.

That's a talented man. And a mistake by whoever was taking care of continuity.


CONTACT: Email me at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com. Also, my Twitter handle is EDITORatWORK.

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Vikings and Eagles and QBs, oh my

I've always liked Brett Favre, although I liked him better when he was a loyal member of the Green Bay Packers. When he started his waffling back and forth on retirement, then pulled that stunt with the Jets, I dropped off the bandwagon.

I don't like a player turning his back on his team and his fans, and I hate the Jets. My team wears aqua and orange, and the Jets are the enemy. J-E-T-S. Enemy.


Now Favre has jerked the Minnesota Vikings around, told Coach Brad Childress before training camp that he wasn't going to be a Viking, then waited until after the first preseason game to join the team. He's a notorious hater of training camp -- I don't blame him there -- but I don't like the way he handled it.


It's funny, but I have a better feeling about Michael Vick. I love dogs -- you may notice the photo of one on this blog -- so Vick's dogfighting ring makes me angry. It's worse because Vick and I both grew up in Virginia, and we both went to college in Montgomery County (I went to Radford College; Vick went to Virginia Tech). It feels like guilt by association.


Still, Vick's paid for his crime (losing two years and a ton of money), so I wish him well. I'm glad he didn't join my aqua-and-orange team because of the distractions (besides, they already have a pretty good Wildcat quarterback), but it'll be fun to watch him play. And the drama with Donovan McNabb, Vick and the other QBs will be interesting.


Favre and the Vikings? I have a buddy who's a big Vikings fan, so I'll probably root for them. But I still liked Favre better in green and gold. I don't easily forgive and forget.


Entries from The Dog Blog

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

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