The Milan News-Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
A week in the life
Jerry Hinnen, Fun & Games
PUBLISHED: May 15, 2008
People often ask me, "Jerry, your job sure seems like one that's filled with fun and excitement. What's it like leading the glamorous life of a community newspaper sportswriter?"
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And I tell them ... Well, all right, so no one actually asks me that. Much more often, I get asked things like, "You do know my son's a junior, not a senior, right?" or "Wow, you can really read those scribbles you're writing?" (Yep. My dad was a doctor. The handwriting's inherited.)
But just in case there's anyone who is wondering what my job is like, here's a day-by-day recounting of what went into the Reporter's and News-Leader's sports sections for the May 8 edition:
Wednesday night, April 30: I'm in Saline for the Hornets' lacrosse game against Brighton. Saline wins comfortably, but there's still a few nervous moments for the crowd as Hornet goalie Ryan O'Neil carries the ball much further upfield on his clearances than I sense the crowd is entirely comfortable with. As someone who still retains fond memories of watching mid-'90s Mexican soccer 'keeper Jorge Campos dribble all over the field, however, I'm totally cool with this.
Thursday afternoon, May 1: After writing up the lacrosse story -- and taking care of a few other loose ends -- it's off to Milan to watch the Big Red track teams take on Jefferson. It's a resounding victory for both teams and a nice reminder that Milan's Ron Spears is still, in fact, really, really fast.
Thursday evening: From Milan it's off to Saline's natatorium (that's the fancy word for "pool") for the Hornet girls' water polo team's clash with Ann Arbor Huron. The Rats take it 8-2, but it's nice to see Saline's Alli Littlejohn finally break free of Huron's hard-nosed defense to send a screamer into the net in the late-third quarter. I'm sitting a long away, but you can still tell that shot a little extra zest behind it — sometimes frustration can work for you that way, I guess.
Friday afternoon, May 2: The plan is to go from an interview at the University of Michigan's natatorium (where Saline High School graduate Carrie Frost is practicing in preparation for the women's water polo NCAA championships) to Milan for a Big Red baseball game. But it's been wet all day and the clouds still look unfriendly — the baseball game is off. It's a bummer; this was Milan's only home game in a two-week road stretch.
The good news is that this gives me enough time to stop by the Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association tournament in Saline, where teams from Pitt and Central Michigan are about to kick things off and, more importantly, mayor pro tem Alicia Ping is overseeing a ceremonial opening face-off. We in the industry refer to this as a "photo op," and it's a good one.
Friday evening: It's back to Ann Arbor to watch Saline take on Huron in girls' soccer. After the Rats take a hard-fought 1-0 win, I'm forced to deal with one of my pet peeves: light operators who turn out the lights before I have a chance to do my coach's interview. As mentioned previously, my handwriting's bad enough even when I can actually see what I'm writing.
Saturday, May 3: A day of rest. I'd like to think I should be allowed one.
Sunday, May 4: Mostly rest, but if I'm going to make my deadline I need to make some progress with my stories, meaning that while I'm watching the L.A. Lakers-Utah Jazz series that afternoon, commercial breaks are spent polishing off that week's column and the soccer story. Which is fine —there's only so many times I really need to see that weird Sprite ad where the kids jump into the basketball court like it's a pool.
Monday afternoon, May 5: Saline baseball's hosting Lincoln. The first game finishes 12-11 and (as you might guess) lasts a while, so I'm worried the second game won't go the five innings needed to make to official before darkness sets in. Saline's Greg Spiess ends up striking out every other batter, though, and a 13-1 lead Hornet lead means they don't even have to play the bottom of the fifth. Consider that yet another worry wasted.
Tuesday evening, May 6: After writing frantically and organizing this week's photos and layout all day, it's a nice break to head to Huron once again for a Saline-Huron track meet. I'm too late, though, to watch the boys' discus, in which Saline's Quinn Dawson throws his discus 178 freaking feet. I'm fairly certain that if I tried to throw a live bird, and the bird used its wings and flew for a while, and I got credit for how far it flew, it would still not go 178 feet. (I cannot throw things very far and am amazed by people who can, is what I'm saying.)
I leave the meet at about 8:30, but my night's not over. Tomorrow's deadline day, so I've got a few things to wrap up by the light of the midnight oil and my early start on ...
Wednesday morning, May 7: It's off to Southgate and Heritage headquarters to finalize anything that needs finalizing, text-wise, and actually plug the photos, headlines, captions, "jump" guides, column, and stories onto the computerized page. It's not the quickest process (and 11 pages, as I've got this week, is a decent amount for one guy for one morning) but it gets done and I'm free for the afternoon.
Of course, it's just that afternoon, and Wednesday night, it's time to start all over again.
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