Hooping it up

The past two weekends have involved covering girls basketball tournaments in Orange County and I wanted a place to put some of the links in case folks wanted to check out my coverage. This past Saturday's game, in which a very good Westminster team came out and quickly took control in the final of Ocean View's tournament, included dealing with a running clock in the fourth quarter, then finding out the system to enter statistics for the newspaper was down, so I had to read my box score over the phone the old fashioned way. Still it was a lot of fun, and we got to try out Slater's 50/50 in Huntington Beach, so that was nice as well.

Anyway, here are the links from Ocean View's Hawk Holiday Classic.

http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/westminster-35108-hawk-holiday.html

http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/ocean-35098-view-quarter.html

http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/beach-35067-ocean-harbor.html

Giving the clock a shot

I had just started to care about college basketball.

Prior to 1980, whenever Channel 12 would show that slide that told me it was pre-empting whatever NBC was offering so it could show an ACC basketball game, I grumbled and found something else to watch. But with Ralph Sampson in his sophomore year at the University of Virginia, the Cavaliers had become interesting. People in school were talking about the games and I wanted to see what the excitement was about, so I started following the team through those Thursday night games with Jim Thacker and Billy Packer into the 1981 NCAA tournament.

Losing in the semifinals to UNC, the Cavaliers came back two nights later to win the last third-place game in NCAA tournament history to LSU (trivia players take note). That was about the time I took notice of the UNC-U.Va. rivalry, which would hit a sour note a year later in the 1982 ACC tournament.

The tournament final looked like it would be a thriller, the new kid on the block vs. the established kings, the North Carolina Tar Heels, coached by Dean Smith. And it was…for about 30 minutes. The problem is a college basketball game lasts 40 minutes. Smith decided to pull the Tar Heels back into a stall, going more than seven minutes without taking a shot. This was their style at the time, and UNC would use it to win the NCAA title three weeks later.

Obviously, I was stung by Virginia's 47-45 loss, but a lot of that came from watching what had become a soccer match (sorry, had to go there). Little did I know that this game would go a long way to bringing the shot clock to college basketball.

I always thought the 24-second clock in the NBA was a little out of the box. Frankly to this day I think that is too rushed. But there also has to be a way to keep teams from just passing the ball around while time bleeds off the clock. The first experiments with a shot clock in the mid-1980s set the time at 45 seconds, and actually turned it off with four minutes left in the game.

Meanwhile, the first experiments with the clock in NCAA women’s basketball…wait, I’m sorry, turns out they were using a 30-second clock since the early 1970s. And they still are.

Eventually, the men’s clock stayed on the entire game and through overtime, then in the 1990s it was shortened to 35 seconds. But high school basketball has mostly ignored the shot clock. When I was working in Virginia, it would be mentioned every couple of years, but ultimately the cost of the equipment, the need for someone to run the clock, just the fact that it probably doesn’t impact the game at that level were all mentioned as reasons against the change.

So imagine my surprise when I walked into the gym at Corona del Mar High School in Newport Beach last Wednesday and saw two shot clocks that were actually in use. Turns out that California is one of eight states where high schools use the shot clock, and it’s the same as in the NCAA -- 35 seconds for boys and 30 seconds for girls.

I asked an assistant coach from the Woodbridge High School girls team the next night how long California had been using the shot clock, and he said at least 18 years since it was part of the game as long as he had been coaching.

What was the impact on the game? Well, not a lot for the first 28 or so minutes, but in each of the first three games I saw there seems to be less fouling down the stretch. I remember a junior varsity game between Page and Luray when the entire fourth quarter consisted of Page players being fouled so Luray could get the ball back. Six minutes of this. So anything that can cut back on those types of games gets my endorsement.

The threat of two free throws after the 10^th foul of the half has not cut back on the length of games, so maybe more states adopting shot clocks could. The NBA is talking about making fouls away from the ball in the last minute or two of a game two shots plus possession of the ball. That could be effective.

In the interim, with the tight deadlines newspapers face these days, I'll endorse anything that keeps the games moving.

Turning on a dime

Well, that was different.

I picked up a sidebar assignment from the Orange County Register after it first appeared that my Friday night football gig was done for the season as the number of games dwindled in the second week of playoffs.

Unlike going to the game site and knowing that my stat reporting would be the most important element, followed by knocking out an 8- to 10-inch story, this was going to be a pure feature, although based on something out of the game, and it had to center on the Orange County school, Mater Dei, which was hosting Alemany.

The game ended up being quite exciting, although I often think that what is exciting for fans makes for a tougher job for reporters: Games with lots of points and games that go down to the wire end up taking more time, then are more complicated to report on.

For me, the initial issue was to figure out what I'd be writing about. Register staffer Adam Maya was there to write the gamer and take care of the stats, which seem to be more time consuming than the actual story. But this was also a 7:30 p.m. start, and on television (with all its commercial timeouts), so making the 10:30 p.m. deadline would be no easy task for either of us.

As it turned out, the teams kept piling up the points and our deadline was pushed back, which is good since the game did not even end until 10:25 and we still had interviews to do. By that time Adam and I had decided I would write on the challenge to Mater Dei junior quarterback Chase Forrest, even if I had to start writing that story with 8 minutes left and I had to lead with it looking like a loss for the Monarchs.

Twenty-two points  in 7 1/2 minutes certainly changes things. But also makes them more complicated.

Having to scramble for an idea and then see it through on a tight deadline reminded me of my early days as a reporter. More often then not you'd go to a town council meeting with an idea of what you'd write about, and maybe something happens in the chamber that changes that, but it was within the context of that meeting so the choices of story still had some limit. Other days you'd walk in the door and find out you were writing a story about where cars are supposed to be in those crossovers while waiting to make a U-turn.

Thankfully, this came together better than I thought it might when I was staring at the computer at 10:50 trying to sew the thing together. And it was quite a game to watch.

http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/forrest-34619-dei-mater.html

Oh, and I appeared on TV (yet again) too.

So long to an old friend

In New Orleans, there is no longer a daily paper. Soon, Syracuse and Harrisburg will also face that reality. But in all three cases, the framework of the daily is still there, reporters will still post stories to the web those days that the newspaper is not printed, and longtime readers can take comfort in knowing their source of information is still available, although in a different format.

That’s one thing readers of The News & Messenger don’t have in Prince William County. When the Manassas-based paper closes shop in seven weeks, the InsideNOVA website will go with it, and residents of Virginia’s second-largest county will lose their most reliable source of news.

I’m particularly interested in The News & Messenger’s fate for several reasons. I was a stringer for the two papers that were merged to create it, the Journal-Messenger of Manassas and the Potomac News of Woodbridge. I actually applied for the assistant sports editor slot at the Potomac News twice in the 1990s. And the J-M was a worthy adversary when I first got to The Northern Virginia Daily in 2000, proving to be the last paper to beat us in the Virginia Press Association sweepstakes, although that win essentially took place before Bob Wooten arrived at the Daily at the end of 1999.

Some six years before that, I got a call from the Potomac News asking if I would write a story from a Brentsville-Page County football game I was already covering in Shenandoah that Friday. Sure, I said. Around that time the News had launched a Sunday edition (and put its Saturday paper on hiatus), so doing a story and stats for them still involved filing Friday night, but not on the deadlines I would face with the J-M in 1995-96 or Orange County Register.

While the story was well-received, the Potomac News did not have anything else for me, so when J-M sports editor Josh Barr got in touch with me the next fall, I started covering Manassas Park and Brentsville when they would play at Page or Luray. In two years, I probably wrote seven or eight stories, covering football, basketball and even the Region B volleyball tournament. Those $25 checks came in handy at the time.

As I moved on to the Daily News-Record and The Northern Virginia Daily, I always kept an eye on what they were doing in Manassas and Woodbridge. I have always been a proponent of newspapers being local, doing what they can do the best. Sure, The Washington Post and Washington television stations cover Prince William County, if you consider showing up whenever something explodes as coverage. There was plenty of stuff that you’d never hear about if not for the truly local paper: City councils, boards of supervisors, education coverage. All of the “unsexy” stuff that does not translate to television but affects people’s lives every day.

When were the television stations and the Post interested in the Shenandoah Valley? When a hurricane was on the way, when a mobile home blew up and when the Salahis instigated some sort of hijinks. Similarly, they concentrate their efforts on Fairfax and kind of let Prince William twist in the wind. So the Potomac News and the J-M had their niche.

Until they were merged. Until Media General decided to close down the presses in 2009 and start printing the paper 75 miles away in Hanover County, squeezing in the run between editions of the Times-Dispatch. Factor in the time it would take to get the papers back to Prince William County and the deadlines created their own issues. I am not sure what time the News & Messenger goes to press these days, but when the change was made in 2009 it was too early to get much (if any) live prep coverage in the paper. And just like those local governmental stories, something local newspapers do better than anyone else is high school sports. That is, until your ability to do so is compromised.

Oh sure, that coverage can be found on the website so if it doesn’t make the paper, just look there. Except for the people who don’t want to look there, who have found it in their newspaper all these years and do not understand why that is being taken away from them.

I was shocked to see that The Journal & Messenger’s circulation had fallen to 10,000 (from 22,132 as separate papers in 2005) until I starting thinking of what it had become. I hear it has about 26,000 likes on Facebook and the InsideNOVA website is quite popular. But the center of the operation was marginalized, and the prospects of making it profitable again were slim.

Interestingly, however, the plug is being pulled on the website too, probably because without print income it is impossible to keep it operating. That leaves readers in Prince William County several weeklies and websites such as Patch to keep them informed.

Because of the special circumstances – proximity to Washington, printing on early deadlines, and the recent purchase along with most of Media General’s other papers among them – the loss of the News & Messenger is not a canary in a mineshaft. But it is disappointing to me, both in seeing good journalists lose their jobs and readers lose a reliable source of information.

Playoff time

Covered my first CIF playoff game on a windy Friday night in Costa Mesa. It might have been 58 degrees but with the 25 to 35 mph winds I really felt like I was back in the Shenandoah Valley. The weather held down the crowd, but it was a great opportunity to see two of the top running backs in Orange County. Here's my story.

http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/yard-34476-estancia-magana.html

Something to play for, and a bath to boot

I did not know enough about California's high school playoff system last week at this time to know my Friday game actually meant something.

The Golden West League game pitted a 4-5 Ocean View team against 2-7 Loara, who I had just seen the week before losing to Westminster as the Lions sewed up a piece of the district title and their own berth in the playoffs.

So imagine my surprise when I was reading an e-mail from Orange County Register team leader Brian Patterson early Friday afternoon. Just like the previous week, he was outlining the playoff scenarios for the two dozen stringers working that night, since we needed to get that information in our stories. Despite their records, the teams in my game were still in line for the playoffs. All Ocean View needed was a win to finish 3-2 in the league and get its third playoff slot. If Loara won, it would be part of a three-way tie at 2-3 and coin flips would determine if it, Ocean View or Orange got the spot.

When I arrived at Glover Field in Anaheim, I asked about the coin flips, and someone from each school told me off the record that they had taken place and that Loara won, so this very game would determine the third-place team.

Lucky for me, it was an exciting game that moved at a great pace, wrapping up with Loara's win at about 9:20, giving me a little more than an hour to file my statistics and story. I was even able to get a quick interview with Loara's coach, Dean Lappin. I had just finished jotting down his last quote when I sensed players coming up from behind us.

My interview allowed them enough time to grab a cooler and dump it on their coach. One of my legs got wet as well, but I was none the worse for wear. I saw Lappin in the middle of a group of players, said thanks and gave him a thumbs up. Just another Friday night on the beat.

Here's the coverage from OCVarsity.com. Not sure if there are any photos floating around, but if I find one I will post it.

http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/stirrat-34301-loara-spot.html

A test for social media

Getting ready for my Community Emergency Response Team class tonight and watching the coverage of Hurricane Sandy, and I had a few thoughts.

During the first week's class, our instructor, who really did help "write the book" that the feds now use for CERT training, stressed over and over that people need to get on Twitter -- they don't even have to tweet -- so they can keep tabs on things whenever there is an emergency. It's a thought I passed along to a few recalcitrant friends, although at least one who also refuses to join Facebook was a bit snarky in his response (which makes me think he'd have an even BETTER time doing the back-and-forth on Twitter).

Of course, social media is only as good as the people who are posting make it. And in the early hours of the storm, it has been a bit bumpy.

We've already had a bit of an online tussle about a photo at the Tomb of the Unknowns. Taken during a storm last month, some have retweeted or shared it stating that the three soldiers are out in hurricane conditions right now. While it is true soldiers are out there, the Old Guard quickly noted that what is circulating is not a current photo, and put some up at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.515517068472407.121621.109701809053937&type=1  They are no less dramatic than the ones making the rounds, and have the added benefit of truly reflecting what's going on.

This actually is not what I'm most concerned about. We have seen in the past that some people will retweet, repost or forward stuff without regard to its veracity. These are powerful tools that social media puts in the hands of everyone. While almost everyone uses them responsibly, do think twice about what you are hearing or seeing before hitting send. It is important that everyone remain vigilant and correct those who would misinform. If someone says you need to evacuate or boil your water, retweet from the official source, not your neighbor's dentist.

The next couple of days are going to be rough in the East. Facebook and Twitter are going to be valuable resources to keep people informed and in touch with each other, at least as long as they can hit a cell tower or their ISP. But if people clog these channels with half-truths or outright lies, their value is diminished.

It's an old saw, but no less true today: Just because it's on the Internet doesn't make it true.

Clincher

Did my first game with playoff implications last night. It was also at a location as convenient as they will get for me traveling from Torrance to Orange County for work. Westminster is only a mile or so off the 405, and just an exit past the 22, so I made it home in 32 minutes. Don't ask about the 70 minutes it took to get there.

http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/westminster-34120-loara-playoff.html

High praise for the running clock

Another Friday night, another high school game for The Orange County Register.

I got my first district game, an Orange County League tilt between Saddleback (of Santa Ana) and Costa Mesa, which was 2-5, but lost each of its last two games by two points. You can get some of the play-by-play from my story at http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/costa-33983-mesa-yard.html, but what that won't tell you about is the 45 minutes that featured one play or how the "running clock" rule saved my bacon.

With 36 second left in the first half, Saddleback lost one of its leading rushers (one minute after another went down) to injury, and it took a bit of time to set his dislocated arm get take him off the field. Then Saddleback let the clock run down and took a penalty before punting to end the half. That was followed by 25 minutes of halftime for Costa Mesa's homecoming. That put my 10:30 deadline in danger.

But Costa Mesa was able to get a 35-point lead late in the third and boosted it to 42 points before the fourth quarter started. Several of the writers at The Northern Virginia Daily had told me about the Virginia High School League's running clock rule, and I knew California had a similar regulation, but this was my first time to see it in play.

After the start of the fourth quarter, if the lead is 35 or more, the clock runs except for scores, changes of possession or injuries. Incomplete pass? Keep that clock running. Out of bounds? Out of luck (if you wanted the clock to stop). That speedy fourth quarter got me out of Jim Scott Stadium in time to get my stats in on time, and I wrote my story in 13 minutes. Still missed 10:30, but not by much.

High schools have had this rule for baseball and softball for years. It is usually 10 runs in baseball and 15 in softball, and can end a game after five innings (instead of the regulation seven). Reporters sometimes call it the "slaughter rule," although the official name is the "mercy rule."

I won't tell you what I called it Friday night, but I was glad the CIF had mercy on me. Whoops.

Brethren Christian redux

I finally got to see a team for a second time, and it was quite a different game. Just a few weeks after a penalty-filled, clock-stopping-for-incomplete-passes, three-hour game that then included the guy at Starbucks in Lakewood turning off the internet on me, Brethren Christian looked like a different team, running the ball most of the time and dominating Fairmont Prep. Here's a link to the story.

http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/christian-33696-fairmont-brethren.html

"Mike & Molly" & Me

On Wednesday night, Christina and I did a very "tourist-in-LA" thing, driving out to Burbank to see a taping of a sitcom.

Having already done "Jeopardy!" and "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," I was interested in how a sitcom is put together. The answer is "somewhat haphazardly, but very carefully."

We arrived at Warner Brothers as requested just after 5 p.m., and within an hour we were being seated with about 200 other people at Stage 14, which was home to "Friends" before "Mike & Molly" began to tape there in 2010.

The warmup guy was OK, although Christina and I both said we liked Chunky B from the Ferguson show better. Of course, Chunky gives everyone candy, tells a few bad jokes and then the taping begins, and both times we saw Ferguson they pretty much kept the cameras rolling and were done in little more than the time it takes to watch the show at home.

For "Mike & Molly" the warmup guy had to keep us entertained for about 3 1/2 hours. The first half hour we watched an old episode to get into the right mood for that night's show. Then came the time for the cast introduction. While they were getting ready to film live scenes, we watched two pieces of the show that had been taped earlier so they could record the audience's laughter.

The first of the live scenes took place in the restaurant that Mike and Carl always hang out in. They get a surprise visit from their captain, who was played by special guest Gerald McRaney. The scene was funny and went off flawlessly, although the warmup guy said they would do it a second time just to make sure they had a copy in case something went wrong in post-production. While it was tough to laugh as much the second time, hearing and seeing the same stuff, the audience did its best.

After they moved to the other side of the stage, they did a second scene in the kitchen of Molly's house. That created a little more difficultly. After the first take went flawlessly, the writers spent a few minutes working on new lines, which ended up being funnier, but also required several takes because Swoosie Kurtz and Katy Mixon had a little trouble with them. It was the kind of stuff you'd see on a bloopers show, and at one time Billy Gardell (Mike) even exclaimed, "We DO have rehearsal."

Eventually that scene was done and they moved on to another live scene at Mike's mother's house. After similar line-changing and several takes, the actors were able to complete the scene and the audience was fed (a slice of pizza and a bottle of water).

All the while, the warmup guy tried to keep the audience distracted with bad jokes, magic tricks and getting people to dance, or perform odd talents or talk about where they were from. He also gave out a ton of gift bags and mugs, trying to get the audience to compete for them.

Christina and I were more interested in watching the action on the set, with all of the production people going about their jobs and new lines were tried out. In a way, the rewriting helped, because when the audience thought it had heard everything, some new line caught us off-guard and actually made the scene better.

Following the pizza break, things went a little more smoothly, with a live scene, a taped piece and two more live scenes presented in their proper order so the audience could follow the story. The final bit was also taped, and after the laughter was recorded, the cast did a curtain call and we were on our way.

The total time commitment was close to five hours, so I couldn't see this being a regular thing, but I'm sure I'd go again with someone visiting from out of town, or if there is a sitcom we just HAVE to see in person.

The episode, by the way, is titled "Mike's Boss," and is scheduled to air on CBS at 9:30 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on Monday, Oct. 29. I'm sure Christina and I will watch with particular attention to see how everything is sewed together.

More from the gridiron

Spent another Friday night under the lights, this time at El Segundo for a game against Laguna Hills. In Virginia, teams routinely travel 50 miles to play someone else, but around here this is pretty rare. Turned out to be a great game, which Christina also enjoyed. Here's a link:

http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/segundo-33512-second-laguna.html

Three-hour game!

The NFL has nothing on some of the high school teams here in Southern California. On a recent Friday night the game I covered took three hours, and that was with 12 minute quarters and no commercial timeouts. How did that happen? Lots of scoring and lots of incomplete passes to stop the clock. This all added up to to some serious issues making deadline, but I got a story in the Register none-the-less. Enjoy.

http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/christian-33378-anthony-brethren.html

Back To My Roots

I'm still looking for a full-time position, but in the interim I have picked up some freelance work with the Orange County Register, covering high school football. It reminds me of Fridays in Luray, when I would work until 4 or 5 p.m., grab something to eat and then meet up with John Natalie wherever it was that we were doing a game. I had to be a double-threat, radio sideline reporting while keeping play-by-play for my stories in the Page News and Courier. Sometimes I had to be a triple-threat, also filing a story for the Potomac News or Manassas Journal-Messenger on deadline that Friday. Anyway, I thought blog readers might like an easy link to this past Friday night's story.

http://www.ocvarsity.com/sports/lutheran-33208-crean-dominates.html

Delay means Olympic-size frustrations

I have sat back and watched the past two weeks as more and more Olympics viewers are figuring out something I learned 16 years ago while viewing the Atlanta games: NBC doesn’t care about sports fans. The Peacock figures it already has us in its back pocket.

Actually, I haven’t really sat back. I have been following the #nbcfail hashtag on Twitter, where what NBC says is a loud minority has been chronicling the stupid decisions and mistakes that treating the Olympics like a reality show has caused the network. I have been contributing to the discourse on occasion. For those who care, in my opinion tape-delaying anything in 2012 is stupid, but putting soccer and basketball on the former Versus and not breaking for commercials in-game (or schmaltzy features at all) is brilliant.

I thank NBC Sports Network that it is a Ryan Seacrest-free zone. When the online streaming works, such as at 1 o’clock in the morning, it is great. Other than that, I cannot think of anything good to say. Marquee events that the rest of the world -- an audience of some 2 billion -- can see live are postponed six and sometimes 12 hours in the east, and another three in the west. Friends of mine don’t want “spoilers” because they think they can avoid finding out the results for that length of time.

The breaking point for me was a poll that showed a strong majority in favor of BOTH live and tape-delay presentations. This sounds great to me. Let me watch it live on the big TV in the living room when it happens and show it to the 9-to-5ers after dinner if that is the way they want it. According to the Gallup poll conducted Aug. 4-5, 59 percent of those questioned agree while just 12 percent of respondents favored NBC's current approach. Another 17 percent of respondents favored only live coverage, so that means nearly 80 percent want access to the events as they happen.

How does NBC respond to this? Dick Ebersol, who oversaw the Peacock’s Olympic coverage through the 1990s and the first decade of the new century, told blogger Joe Posnanski two days ago that the network doesn’t see this as a sports event. Ebersol told Posnanski, a former Kansas City Star sports columnist:

“People talk about how we should treat this like sports? You know, we’re getting an 18 rating some nights. Do you know what rating we would get if this was not under the banner of the Olympics? We’d be lucky to get a 1 rating for some of these sports.”

Yes, their ratings are great. A big reason why is that the network shuts off all other options on my HDTV by 5 p.m. (since I live in California). But when the winners and losers are determined after the money is counted, people will point fingers at how wrong-headed NBC was in the grand scheme of things. The Olympics ARE sports, they ARE news. And when something smells like day-old news, it is.

Instead, the network relies on a heavy mix of swimming, gymnastics, beach volleyball, diving and athletics. Hours after the events are over, editors slice and dice the actual competition, maybe even create some fake drama,  add a healthy dose of feature stories, and you have the perfect recipe for non-sports fans. As for those who want to actually see the events without all the distractions, they’ll watch like sheep because they have no other option.

But for those paying attention, what NBC is doing is not day-old news, it’s decades-old. In 1996, the network used what it called a “plausibly live” broadcast to delay swimming events by a couple of hours (you could still see daylight around the outdoor swimming venue at 10 p.m. Really?) and that famous Kerri Strug vault that may or may not have lifted the U.S. women to gymnastics gold had taken place earlier in the afternoon, not at 11:30 p.m. And this was for an Olympics that was in a time zone where live coverage was not only possible, but plausible.

So for those who think things will be different when NBC broadcasts the Olympics from Brazil (which shares a time zone with New York and Atlanta) in 2016, who think that #nbcfail will ultimately change things, I offer the example of Atlanta and every other Summer Games since then when I say NBC doesn’t care about sports fans' opinions in this matter.

DN-R: The Big Picture

I wanted to add another writing sample to the blog. This was a great opportunity to spend  couple of days on a bus tour of Civil War battlefield sites in the Shenandoah Valley when the commission designing a new national historic park was added to my beat. And we are nearing the anniversary date of its first publishing.

Daily News-Record (Harrisonburg, VA) - Monday, June 22, 1998

The Big Picture

Battlefield Commission Tours Sites To Be Preserved

By CHARLES PANNUNZIO News-Record Staff Writer The federally-appointed group charged with creating a plan to protect Civil War battlefields in the Shenandoah Valley got a close- up look at the size of its task over the weekend.

The Shenandoah Valley National Battlefield Commission toured sites in four counties and the city of Winchester Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

It was an effort to give commission members, many who own land on battlefields or have extensive knowledge of the war, a feel for the vastness of the district and its value as an educational and cultural resource, said Dennis Frye, president of the Association for the Protection of Civil War Sites.

"No book can ever replicate a battlefield , no matter how graphic the description or how well- written," he said. "No prose can duplicate the ground where these men fought. When you stand upon the ground, many of your senses are stimulated. . . . The battlefield is the theater, it is the stage where the act occurred. No actor or player can get his point across without the stage."

Frye made a similar plea to commission members and guests on the Field of Lost Shoes at the New Market Battlefield Saturday morning. During a walk across the Field of Lost Shoes, he noted that Confederate soldiers were able to close in on Union troops on a hill by disappearing from sight of cannons.

A day earlier, commissioners got a look at what has the potential to be preserved and what is already lost. They spent Friday morning looking battlefields south of Winchester, including an extensive tour of land owned by the Glass- Glen Burnie Foundation at Rose Hill. Portions of a stone wall from the March 1862 Battle of Kernstown remain, although they are hidden by brush most of the year. The battlefield from First Winchester, meanwhile, is hidden by a maze of hotels and restaurants on a hill where Interstate 81 now intersects U.S. 17, U.S. 50 and U.S. 522.

In the afternoon, the tour stopped at unmarked battlefield sites from Second Winchester and Third Winchester.

Following New Market, the tour stopped Saturday at APCWS- owned property at Fishers Hill. It, as well as part of the Cedar Creek battlefield owned by the Belle Grove Foundation and Cedar Creek Foundation, are maintained to a certain extent by farmers who lease the land to graze cattle. The commissioners met a group of cyclists visiting battlefields throughout Virginia and Maryland when they stopped at Cedar Creek Saturday afternoon, and wrapped up the day at Toms Brook, where Shenandoah County already owns much of the battlefield .

Sunday's stops included McDowell in Highland County and Cross Keys and Port Republic in Rockingham County.

Historian Joseph W.A. Whitehorne, vice-chairman of the battlefield commission, said much of the battlefield land still survives, but its future could be of concern.

"Some other things are surviving, in part because they are not near, let's call it the economic cutting edge yet," said Whitehorne, who teaches Civil War history at Lord Fairfax Community College and has written a number of books and tours of the Valley. "One of the reasons why so much more of the real estate in the northern part of the Valley seems to be coming under threat is that it's near the metro area, it's more desirable land. So, as a consequence, it is under a great deal more pressure.

"I have great sympathy for the guy who owns land and it's the equivalent of his stock portfolio," Whitehorne added. "You just can't go waltzing in there and say you're going to preserve this viewshed for historical reasons. You have to come up with a balance that works for the mutual benefit of both."

Whitehorne pointed at the Fishers Hill and Cedar Creek arrangements.

"That's, really when you think of it, one of the natural uses of the land," he said. "Another thing is quality of life. People come out here, retire here . . . because it's pretty, and it's nice. They sure aren't going to come here if it transforms too radically. It's the equivalent of say Ocean City paving its beach for more parking. You just wouldn't do that, because your natural resources are your greatest assets."

The commission's management plan is to be submitted to the Department of Interior by November 2000.

"The biggest enemy of the commission and of Civil War history is time," said Frye. "Every day that passes represents a lost opportunity to save hallowed ground. So time is difficult to concur. It requires time to develop a plan, but each day you plan could represent the loss of what you're trying to preserve. It presents a difficult dilemma."

"It is a challenging prospect," Whitehorne said. "You're talking multiple jurisdiction, many non- profits that have a vested interest that want it done right, but at the same time they don't want their positions undercut. . . . It's a very large task, and most of it is getting to be known and, I hope, being seen as part of the solution, and not part of the problem."

The Zen of a Saturday morning at Dulles Airport

It might be because I still insist on using the walkway whenever there is enough time, or the fact that Gate A28 appears to be out of use, but whatever the reason, it's pretty darn quiet at Washington Dulles International Airport this morning. CNN is on the TVs, the donuts are fresh and the pace unhurried. In fact, there was no line at security. A quiet start might even mean the ability to get a little sleep on the plane. Right now, I just like the quiet. And my chocolate frosted donut.

No more Nunzsense

As the word began to get out last week that Ogden Newspapers decided not to retain me at The Northern Virginia Daily, one of the regulars at Buffalo Wild Wings stopped by and said, "I guess that means no more Nunzsense." It's hard for me to believe that the column I was reticent to start got much readership, at least based on the number on comments I got on non-siren-related editions. But I'm sure there were some folks out there who read the column through its 20 or so weeks.

One of the best things the column did was provide some fodder to fill this blog. I started the blog at least in part to see if I could come up with enough ideas to make a run at becoming a columnist. I guess I did, since with the help of Christina I was able to meet my obligation each week between early October and the end of Feburary. But now, where does this leave us?

I don't know about the rest of you, but I am headed west, to California, where I will try my hand at finding a job and nurturing a relationship. So that is what I'll be writing about over the coming weeks, the preparations for moving and life on the other coast. I'll try to keep it light, and try to write it tight. And I'll also try to actually post something once in a while. Cheers!

Nunzsense: Goodbye, and thanks for the ride

I do hope I end up back in newspapers someday, but it looks like the masses have spoken. There are other media I can compete well in, including radio and news or sports websites, but the latter seem to have trouble making enough money to employ good reporters and editors. Maybe I can make a living shooting photos at minor league baseball games.


http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/02/charles-pannunzio-goodbye-and-thanks-for-the-ride.php

Nunzsense: Time to leap into the past

My tribute to the Shenandoah Valley, Winchester in particular, this column was written when it began to appear I would be leaving the Daily at the end of February.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/02/time-to-leap-into-the-past.php

Nunzsense: Taxing to figure this tax

This was something that I needed to confirm and was able to in this column. The state of Virginia wants $3 for that $60 pair of shoes you bought in Hershey. Note, I didn't say I bought them. I don't know what you are talking about.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/02/charles-pannunzio-taxing-to-figure-this-tax/

Nunzsense: Not all capitols are busy

I wrote this column while I was in California visiting Christina at what turned out to be an interesting time in Strasburg, with the announcement that the paper was being sold. Glad I could enjoy some R&R with her, and not have to deal with angst in the newsroom, as well as pick up two more capitols. But were we surprised to hear there was no legislative session in Carson City this year.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/02/charles-pannunzio-not-all-capitols-are-busy/

Nunzsense: Baseball could be a good fit

It's not often that I get to write about minor league baseball, and I know more than a few folks are probably happy that's the case. But here is my favorite recent column on the subject of baseball potentially coming to Winchester.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/01/baseball-could-be-a-nice-fit.php

Nunzsense: Not just a trivial pursuit

Well, got just 29 on the "Jeopardy!" test so I'll be sitting on the couch for another year wondering why none of their esteemed contestants had heard of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. But it provided fodder for my tribute to game shows.

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/01/charles-pannunzio-not-just-a-trivial-pursuit.php

Nunzsense: Holiday shuffle calendar

State employees just got a four-day weekend in Virginia. Why, you ask? Here's the answer.
http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2012/01/charles-pannunzio-holiday-shuffles-calendar.php

Uh oh, the Daily messed that link up. So here's my cached version (gotta be prepared, you know).

Posted at 11:24 AM Jan. 15, 2012 | Updated: 5:28 PM Jan. 16, 2012 0 0

Charles Pannunzio: Holiday shuffles calendar

How did you celebrate the four-day holiday weekend?

If you were anything like me, you worked on Friday and, unless something unexpected happens before this afternoon, I'll be back at the office.

But today is a holiday for most government workers and bankers, and some state employees have actually been out since leaving work on Thursday.

Today is the day that Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday is recognized, although his actual birth date was Sunday. As the most recent addition to the federal calendar, observance of the King holiday remains hit-or-miss. For instance, I could pay a water bill in Winchester today since city offices are open, but I'd have to wait until Tuesday if I need to check on anything at the courthouse, since it has been closed since 5 p.m. Thursday.

That's right, Thursday. That's because Friday was Lee-Jackson Day, which honors Robert E. Lee and Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, and is observed on various dates in a number of states in the South. In Virginia, Lee-Jackson Day was celebrated on Jan. 19 for a number of years before it was moved to the nearest Monday, giving many state employees a three-day weekend.

I still remember the first time I heard of Lee-Jackson Day. My mother dropped me off at the Medical College of Virginia Hospital in Richmond one morning -- I am guessing now that it was Jan. 24, 1983 -- for a doctor's appointment. She told me to kill some time afterward and she would pick me up at noon.

Having visited the state Capitol a few times, I knew the lay of the land down there and figured the perfect place on a cool, drizzly morning would be the state library. As I went to open the door, I was surprised to find it locked. A little sticker on the door indicated that the library was closed for "Lee-Jackson Day." I guess if I was of age, I would have realized the ABC stores were closed too.

When discussion of a national holiday to honor King began, his Jan. 15 birth date seemed like a logical time, but it got wrapped up in the 1971 federal act that moved many observances to Mondays so federal workers could get a three-day weekend. That's the same act that gave us Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day and Columbus Day on Mondays, rather than Feb. 22, May 30 and Oct. 12.

In Virginia, there was resistance to adding a third holiday to the month of January, so the General Assembly eventually decided to combine the King observance and Lee-Jackson Day into "Lee-Jackson-King Day," which was first observed in 1985.

Obviously some of the resistance was not because of the when, but the who. I'll leave it to the more scholarly, and more opinionated, folks to discuss this juxtaposition, but pretty much nobody was happy with the compromise.

After a decade and a half of the shared observance, Gov. Jim Gilmore proposed the current split in 2000, with Lee-Jackson Day marked on the Friday prior to the King holiday. The General Assembly agreed to the change, which created even more of a patch-work observance, as anyone who tried to visit a government office on Friday could attest.

Lost in this entire discussion is the reason for the holiday. Hopefully those folks who have the day off will pay King tribute, either by attending one of the local celebrations of his life or by participating in a service project.

That's a nice way to honor a legacy.

• Charles Pannunzio is assistant managing editor of the Northern Virginia Daily.