THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 29, 1995 TAG: 9510280024
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: LYNN FEIGENBAUM
LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
Baseball may have gotten a bit tarnished in recent years, but the World Series is still a big deal. And Game 3 had fans glued to TV and radio.
If they could stay awake, that is. The Tuesday-night game stretched into a long 11 innings, with the Cleveland Indians holding off until 12:42 a.m. to score their winning run.
Fans who dozed off before then made a beeline the next morning for their Pilot Sports section. Some were lucky, some weren't.
In my paper, the Sports banner read, ``Murray lifts Indians in 11th,'' with a brief but complete account of the game.
But two out of five readers got an edition printed before the game ended, with a note explaining that Game 3 ``was not over at presstime'' and directing them to call the newspaper's INF0LINE number for the latest score.
No luck there either. The INFOLINE sports update was out of order. Strike 2 and you're out. Yeah, I know there are three strikes but, in this case, two did the job.
The problem is deadlines: The metro edition, which goes to South Hampton Roads readers, has a final deadline of 11:55 p.m. It can be ``replated'' - that is, updated - for about the next hour, but some readers will still get the earlier version.
Robert Schultz of Virginia Beach didn't buy that explanation.
``For something as important as the World Series, you'd think they could send that page last with the score,'' said Schultz. ``It's a shame I have to watch the news in the morning to find the score of the game.''
There are always reasons for these things. A year ago, the complete game might just have squeaked by in time for the full metro print run. Now, said section editor Bob Fleming, with the newspaper committed to getting papers on doorsteps by 5:30 a.m., deadlines have gotten earlier.
Most of the time you won't notice the difference. But when Monday Night Football or a World Series game runs real late, it's a tight squeeze.
That's where INFOLINE comes in. Didn't get the final score? Just dial 640-5555, category 7778.
Strike 2 . . . INFOLINE gets its sports updates via satellite from the Associated Press. There had been problems with it all month, said Alison Schoew, program director of the audiotext service, and that night the satellite feed failed completely.
Schoew went back to basics for Game 4, getting a Pilot sports editor to tape the game results for INFOLINE. But, just as inexplicably, the AP system worked. And since the game ended at a reasonable hour that night, all metro editions had the game results anyway.
Consider this an explanation, not an excuse. It would be nice if we could bend the rules, or deadlines, on special occasions - the Series being one of them. The downside, of course, might be late delivery to your house.
Or Strike 3, as it were.
TRIVIA QUIZ. Speaking of sports, what happens when you cross a band leader and a football coach? Answer: You get a strange obituary for Maxene Andrews, youngest of the Andrews Sisters.
The AP obit ran on Monday and earned us some bemused calls when it stated that the sisters' harmonies included ``Winter Wonderland'' with Vince Lombardo.
Did we mean (a) Vince Lombardi, the late great Green Bay Packers coach; (b) Guy Lombardo, the late big-band leader of New Year's Eve fame; or (c) Victor Lombardo, Guy's brother and also a band leader?
The answer: Guy's the Guy. Somebody goofed.
POTSHOTS AT POWELL. ``Norfolk snaps to attention for Powell,'' was the headline last weekend after the retired general came to town. But some readers accused The Pilot of snapping, or maybe I should say sniping, at Powell before he even got here.
They were referring to the front-page lead on Oct. 19, a walkup to his arrival. Right below the banner headline was a brief chronology of his career, with such ``highlights'' as:
1968: Critics says Powell's investigation of U.S. atrocities in Vietnam was ``less than zealous.''
1972: Powell ``spent most of the next 20 years in Washington, acquiring the `political general' label.''
1984-86: Powell gave ``misleading testimony'' about the Iran-Contra affair.
1990-91: He ``misrepresented himself as a war hero'' after the Persian Gulf war.
That's a brief summary of the brief chronology, and it startled readers like Derek S. Brown of Accomac, who found it ``most unbalanced.''
``Certainly, like every human being, he has made some errors,'' said Brown, ``but you have nothing to say positive on his career. I'm a little surprised.''
So was I. While I found the rest of our coverage balanced and fair, this was nothing less than a potshot.
MUSEUM TALK. And, finally, readers who can spell were less than complimentary this week about a text block in Tuesday's Daily Break.
Comparing two local museums, Nauticus and the Virginia Marine Science Museum, it said, ``Nauticus is about man. VMSM is about nature. Rather than conflict, these two local museums compliment each other.''
That should, of course, be ``complement.''
Said one caller: ``If they compliment each other as spelled, they must have to talk.''
POSTSCRIPT. Look for the Report to Readers next Sunday in its regular spot on the Perspectives page. It's only because of our General Assembly coverage that I have the rare privilege of appearing on the Editorial page today! MEMO: Call the public editor at 446-2475, or send a computer message to
lynn(AT)infi.net
by CNB