Desk work Nov. 7

Paper trail: We're putting out the Sunday sports section, and it's been busy so far.

I've sent over an auto-racing notebook and started the college football and NHL roundups. I've also edited the Carolina Panthers advance and the N.C. State-Maryland game story, plus the golf story featuring Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods.

I've since done several other stories, including one on an East Forsyth runner winning the state Class 4-A cross-country title and another on Mount Airy and East Wilkes runners winning the 1-A titles. I battled to make the 2-A story fit. I couldn't get Wilkes Central in the headline, and I couldn't figure out a way to use Chase Miller's first name as a verb in the head. That head wound up Miller, now healthy, takes 12-second win.

I used NO HOME COOKIN' for the Carolina Panthers-New Orleans Saints headline, and RIGHT AT HOME for the main headline on the Reynolds Demons story. I guess our folks were right at home today. Actually, Jake Delhomme is returning to his home state, and the Demons will play at home throughout the playoffs until the state-championship game, assuming they win.

I plowed through the high-school football playoff pairings and found a few typos. At least one "vs." was left out, and they left out the "y" on West Montgomery. No big deal, just tedious.

The NHL roundup is done, but I have four games left in the college-football top-25 roundup.

The college-football roundup is done. I'm waiting for it to come into rim.

Ed grabbed the college roundup before I could. He's done. We're done.

We're outta here.

Friday night: I had a first last night in a high-school football game between Forsyth Country Day and Arden Christ School. Cooperative school officials ran an extension cord to the stands, and I sat in the stands with my laptop. I talked to fans while writing the story and trying to keep my hands warm.

Coach Mark Moroz was a good interview, we got the story in early, and it was the centerpiece for the sports section, so everyone was happy. Except the Arden folks, of course. They lost 36-7.

Desk work Oct. 31

Happy Halloween! Yes, I'm working on the sports copy desk on the best day of the year. I've started the top-25 college-football roundup, and I'll pull out the best game for a separate story.

I've also edited a story on a former North Carolina player who is now with the New England Patriots, and stories on Florida State's win over N.C. State and Winston-Salem State's loss to Hampton. I also added two notes to the auto-racing rail. One of them said that North Wilkesboro Speedway will host a USARacing Pro Cup race in October of 2010.

It's been busy tonight. With the rain delay in Game 3 of the World Series, we won't get the game. We've already put in a filler story about small-market teams looking for ways to catch up with big-market teams like the Yankees and Phillies.

We pulled out the Tennessee-South Carolina game as a separate. And, frankly, the last half hour has been a monster (appropriate on Halloween night).

We're watching the World Series, 7-4 Yankees, in the seventh inning, and we'll soon be proofing our final pages.

We're done; we're outta here.

Remember the Titans

I covered a high-school football game last night between the West Forsyth Titans and the Reagan Raiders. The Titans remained undefeated -- they're 9-0. The game was tight in the first half -- 14-11 at halftime -- but West pulled away at the end. Reagan played a great game against a tough team, and I made deadline for the Winston-Salem Journal.

It was a joy to talk to West coach Adrian Snow. I interviewed him last year for a feature for the Surry Messenger, but I'd never met him in person.

Thinking about the Duke

My wife Holly and I often watch John Wayne movies, some of them pretty often. We watch Hatari and Donovan's Reef on a regular basis. If you ask what she wants to watch, Rio Lobo is usually mentioned. We've watched Rio Bravo and El Dorado twice each within the last month or two.

We'll watch Rio Grande, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon or perhaps Stagecoach. I often want to watch The Quiet Man or The Hellfighters, and we'll settle on McQ, The Sons of Katie Elder or Tall In The Saddle. We watch McLintock two or three times a year.

Holly never wants to watch The Searchers, Red River, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence or Hondo. Or The Cowboys. Perhaps she perceives them as violent. In the case of The Cowboys, maybe she doesn't want to watch Wayne's character die. I watch them alone, same with True Grit, when she's at work, although she did watch Hondo with me a few months ago.

It's funny, but she mentioned last night that she liked Hondo because of Geraldine Page; they didn't pick an unrealistic beauty, like Grace Kelly in High Noon. Maybe she's warming to Hondo. Personally, I like John Wayne, Michael Pate (the Indian chief) and Ward Bond. Pate also played in McLintock, and he and Wayne referred to the "remembered fight" in Hondo. Pate was British, I think, but he made a wonderful Indian.

I have Trouble Along the Way with Donna Reed, Chisum, Big Jake and Islands in the Sky, an eclectic group of movies, although I don't have some of his better non-westerns.

No, I don't watch all of Wayne's movies. Some of his early movies were terrible, and I've never cared to see the Voyage Home or the Green Berets.

I wasn't a big John Wayne fan when I was a kid. Now, I watch his movies regularly. Now, I am a big fan.

Or maybe I just like watching a guy named Marion Morrison.

Trivia: John Havlicek of the Boston Celtics was nicknamed Hondo because of being a John Wayne fan.

Deskwork Oct. 17

Putting out the paper: Yes, I'm helping put out the paper again today. I've started putting together the college-football roundup, and I'll have to find two separates to run alongside it. The Ohio State loss to Purdue is an obvious game to pull out. Southern Cal and Notre Dame is another possibility.

The Sprint Cup race is being run tonight at Charlotte, so we'll be late with that. If we have room, I'll put together a notebook or sidebar.

Otherwise, I've edited a few stories so far. The hapless Redskins are playing the even more hapless Chiefs tomorrow. Should be fun. I also edited the NFL notes -- former Ram Cullen Bryant died -- and Wake Forest's huge loss at Clemson.

The headline for the column on race-car owner Richard Childress was OFFTRACK: Childress battles downturn.

Since then, I've edited the Virginia Tech loss to Georgia Tech, the East Carolina victory and the NHL roundup. Plus the calendar. The college football top 25 is done, so we're waiting for the race story from Charlotte. We're not going to get the baseball game between the Yankees and Angels.

I just finished the last file, the race story. It took a few minutes to make it fit and to get the headlines right. They're looking over proofs now.

We're done. I'm outta here.

Putting out the paper

Desk duty: Yes, I'm helping put out the sports section again tonight.

I've already started the auto-racing notebook and the college football top 25 roundup, and I have a lot more to do.

I just finished editing the auto-racing notebook and the racing roundup, plus a feature on the Redskins playing a winless opponent each of the first five weeks. The winless opponent this week is the Carolina Panthers (0-4).

I edited the story for the surprising Duke win over N.C. State, as well as the Appalachian State, Virginia Tech and East Carolina games. I also edited some baseball stories, including the one about the snowout in Denver.

I surprised at least one of my co-workers by being able to handle the tabs on the auto-racing rail. It's something I'd struggled with earlier, and I still occasionally have questions about tabs. I did, however, have to ask a co-worker to help with a baseball box. I still struggle with them.

We got our late college-football games, including a separate on the Florida-LSU game -- I'm glad Tebow's all right. We've read proofs, and we're done.

Yes, we're outta here.

I'm back...

Desk work: I only work desk at the local newspaper once a week nowadays. I worked last Thursday, so that nine days feels like a lot more.

I'll put together roundups for auto racing, college football, the NHL and golf, and I'll do a notebook for auto racing. Looks like it'll be a busy night.

Appalachian State beat The Citadel, 30-27, and the ASU quarterback said the game was a dogfight. I couldn't get The Citadel's nickname (Bulldogs) in the headline, but it came out Mountaineers prevail in a 'dogfight'.

The last hour tonight was a whirlwind of college football, hockey, golf and other sports. There was little time to think, but we finished about 10 minutes before midnight, our deadline. I didn't have any great headlines, but I did get to use the verb succumb in a Carolina Hurricanes headline.

Yes, we're outta here.

Friday night: I covered the Reagan-Carrboro high school football game last night. I was a little upset when I realized just before gametime that it was homecoming (usually, a long homecoming halftime will make the game longer). I needn't have worried. They had a normal amount of time allotted, and they stuck to it. We were out of there in plenty of time.