Wistful (At Times) for the Newsroom

Again, I apologize for waiting more than a whole month between blog posts. Since November, I've been working on a temporary basis with a D.C.-area company that does social services consulting. Unbeknownst to me prior to my landing here, states outsource stuff like Medicaid enrollment, child support enforcement and workforce services to companies like this one.

Of course, in order to win these contracts, the company needs to submit formal written proposals. I was hired to support the proposal preparation process. It's been good thus far.

On another topic, I check out the world of journalism online through a number of sites. In addition, I was surprised when a former colleague of mine at Denver's Rocky Mountain News, Gary Massaro, emailed me a few days ago. He said he and another colleague Googled my name and found my photography website.

Which got me to thinking, it's been more than 14 years since I left the Rocky and 10 since I left daily journalism. The funny thing is that some days I miss the newsroom and other days I don't.

Among the reasons I miss the work are the comraderie of my colleagues, reporting and writing stories on deadline and seeing the result under one's byline in the next day's paper.

Other days, I don't miss it due to the layoffs and buyouts, the productivity edicts (being forced to churn out dozens of mediocre stories per month as opposed to a doing a couple of solid investigative pieces). I also sometimes wonder if my reasons for even getting into the field were pure. You know, journalists are supposed to "affict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted." But heck, I wanted to be comfortable, too. Did that mean I had to affict myself?

Speaking of the Rocky, it hurts to hear that the paper has had to cut its staff through buyouts and of rumors that the paper might even be shut down. While I by no means was the world's greatest hack, the Rocky afforded me the chance to do some decent work, including that transportation column I worked on between 1989 and 1992.

Also, I came across a blog by another former Rocky colleage, Jon Talton, who outlines his view of what ails newspapers.

Would I want to get back into newspapers? It depends on the job and, of course, the salary. The more relevant question, however, is will newspapers have me back? I doubt it, after being away for so long. They'd probably see me as too old and too expensive.

So for now, I'll continue to use my writing skills to win contracts in corporate America. After all those years in newsrooms, who'da thunk I would be toiling in a marketing subspecialty for a non-media company? I certainly did not. But at least the hourly rates are better.

Sorry for the Absence/Merry Christmas

Hello,

First off, I want to apologize for the long absence. I've relcoated to the Washington, D.C. area in search of the proposal-related work I've done for the past six years. As you can imagine, that type of work is more plentiful in our nation's capital, what with all the government contractors located there.

While I've moved, the family hasn't, which has been a little tough. I'm renting a room in a townhome owned by a nice semi-retired teacher, which helps immensely.

That's it for now. And again, I wish that the peace of God be with you on this holiday observing the birth of Jesus Christ. Take care.

Phils' Recent Third Base History

I know it's taken a few days, but I'm finally getting over the sting of watching the Philadelphia Phillies tank last Saturday in the first round of the National League playoffs against the upstart Colorado Rockies.

Most Phils news in the aftermath of this debacle was dominated by the signing of manager Charlie Manuel for another two years. Now the Phils must address some needs, mainly relief pitching and third base.

I understand that Major League baseball teams will always need pitching. But it's the situation at third base that really sticks in my craw. In 2007, the Phils platooned Wes Helms (yet another in a long line of free agent busts), Abraham Nunez (all field and no hit; Phils will not exercise its option on Nunez) and Greg Dobbs (a serviceable utility man) at third with OK but not great results.

The Phils' Wes Helms, Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins look on during their 2-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies Oct. 6, which eliminated the Phils in the National League Division Series.

You see, the Phils back in 2002 had a really good third baseman named Scott Rolen. But he so disliked Philadephia (and specifically then-manager Larry Bowa) and so wanted to go home to the Midwest that he left a reported $140 million on the table.

So the Phillies traded Rolen to the St. Louis Cardinals straight up for third baseman Placido Polanco.

OK, Polanco doesn't have Rolen's power but if he were good enough to play third for St. Louis, he was good enough to play third for the Phils. Polanco hits for average and rarely strikes out.

But what do the Phils do? Instead of showing Polanco some love and signing him to a long-term deal for say, $35-40 million, about a quarter of what they were going to pay Rolen, they instead bring in free agent David Bell (another bust) to play third. Polanco ends up platooning at second base with the then-emerging star Chase Utley. In 2006, the Phils traded Bell to Milwaukee last year, and we've since heard hide nor hair of him.

In 2005, the Phils decided Utley was their second baseman and traded Polanco to the Detroit Tigers for among other players, veteran closer Ugueth Urbina, who now sits in a Venezuela prison. He was convicted of attempted murder, accused of attacking five farm workers on his property and trying to injure them both with a machete and by attempting to pour gasoline on them.

That Urbina went off like he did is not that surprising, when you consider that his mother was kidnapped late in 2004 and held for ransom for five months before being rescued. Urbina was a ballplayer with money -- and a target. So the guy had to be mentally walking on eggshells.

Back to the Phils. There is talk that the Phils should sign free agent Mike Lowell to play third.

We can only hope Lowell isn't a bust if that happens. And we also can hope they build on what they've achieved this year, by winning a pennant and even a World Series, but they've got to get pitching.

Meanwhile, it's Arizona vs. Colorado for the National League pennant. Yecch.

The Phillies -- Going Down With Little Phight

What goes around, as they say, comes around.

Nearly a week after the National League East champion Philadelphia Phillies found themselves beneficiaries of the momentous collapse of the New York Mets, the Phillies now find themselves staring baseball death in the face.

This is because the Colorado Rockies, themselves winners of a one-game playoff over the San Diego Padres for the NL's wild card berth, have smoked the Phillies like a smelly blunt in Games 1 and 2 of the Division Series at Philly's Citizens Bank Park. The Philles face a 0-2 deficit as the series shifts this weekend to Denver's Coors Field.

To stave off elimination, the Phillies need to win three games in a row in this best-of-five series to advance to the playoff's next round.

One more loss, and the Phillies are out, leaving baseball purists shuddering over the now-strong possibility that the 2007 National League Championship Series could feature the Rockies against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who lead the Chicago Cubs two games to nothing in the other division series.

Now, I don't need to tell you that the TV executives showing the NLCS would much rather see a Cubs-Phillies series, a compelling matchup of two historically sad-sack franchises that also coincidentally play in the country's Number 2 and Number 5 TV markets, respectively. Few will watch an NLCS involving Arizona and Colorado, two smaller-market 1990s expansion teams with lame nicknames most of the nation cares little about.

At least the Phillies can take heart. They've learned the same lesson as the Mets. Baseball is like life -- it's a game that will humble you fast.

Those Phabulous Phillies

I stand corrected. Philadelphia Phillies' shortstop Jimmy Rollins is a bona fide superstar.

I sit here now basking in the glow of having watched my Phillies win their first National League East division championship since 1993 on the final day of the 2007 season Sunday. Final score: Phils 6, Washington Nationals 1.

Two years ago in a post on the Phillies' racial history, I posited that Rollins was good, but not great. Well, this guy from the Bay Area has since proven me wrong and that he is worth every bit of that $40 million contact extension he signed in 2005.

During Sunday's win, he knocked in a critical fifth run in the sixth inning with his 20th triple of the year. That triple made Rollins only the fourth player in major league history with at least 20 stolen bases, 20 homers, 20 triples and 20 doubles. For perspective, consider that the great Willie Mays was among the other three players who achieved that feat.

The Phillies couldn't have won the division without help from the rival New York Mets, who on Sunday completed a collapse of historic proportions. The Mets on Sept. 12 led the division by seven games with 17 to play, but went into a major tailspin. No Major League team has ever owned a lead of seven games or more with 17 left to play and failed to finish in first place.

The Phils started the Mets on their slide by sweeping New York in a three-game series from Sept. 14-16. The Mets, suffering inadequate starting pitching and a tired bullpen, never recovered. By contrast, the Phils surged, matching only the 1934 St. Louis Cardinals and the 1938 Chicago Cubs in overcoming a seven-game deficit.

The Phils and the Mets entered Sunday tied for the division lead, but it was obvious the Mets were the ones gasping for air.

The Florida Marlins disconnected the Mets' life support on Sunday with an 8-1 win at Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows, a game that featured Florida scoring seven runs in the first inning, knocking out the great Mets starter Tom Glavine. Glavine threw 37 pitches but got only one out.

What makes Rollins' achievements that much sweeter was his preseason proclamation that the Phils were the "team to beat." Of course, Mets fans took exception to those comments, booing Rollins every chance they got. Rollins is in line for Most Valuable Player honors.

Congratulations to the Phillies. The playoffs start this Wednesday against a yet-to-be determined opponent as of this writing.

Nearing the End of the Retraining Road

After a few days and some long hours, I've finally got a redesigned website up and running. It showcases some of the photos I took at the Aug. 25 Giants-Jets preseason game. The few people who've reviewed it have provided positive feedback.

Kyash Images is a work in progress. I'm going to get with my web development advisor next week to go over improvements. I used Adobe (formerly Macromedia) Dreamweaver to construct the site.

I'm almost finished with the web design course, and marketing management is next. Probably the hardest module to understand was the one covering Adobe Flash.

It's one thing to be told with a series of slides in a web-based course about how an application works, but it's another thing entirely to get lots of hands-on experience. Only the HTML unit provided some hands-on work. The only way to really learn is by doing, but the challenge will be climbing a steep learning curve while a paying client is breathing down my neck.

This is why I've spent so much time not only reworking my site, but on putting together video for a Christian non-profit's web site. I'm also supposed to be building a web site for our church, but stopped (for now) after I couldn't find a background color I liked.

Once I finish the courses, my state employment counselor is to line me up with an appointment with a "job developer." It's about time, because the unemployment benefits and what savings I was able to tap are starting to dwindle. As I've said before, I'll do my best to leave this situation in God's hands.

My First Chance to Photograph an NFL Game

The New York Giants and New York Jets played a National Football League preseason game on Saturday, Aug. 25. They resumed a relatively longstanding interconference and intracity rivalry.

Matter of fact, this rivalry reaches the point of being an intra-stadium competition. Both the Giants and the Jets play their home games at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This was considered a Giants' home game, although there were a fair number of Jets fans in attendance.

It was one of those not-so-well-played preseason games, complete with second and third stringers, that won't mean a thing in the actual standings once the regular season gets under way in September. The Jets won 20-12 with one sportswriter curiously labeling the Jets' offense as "inept."

For me, however, it was meaningful. I had the chance to photograph the game from the sidelines.

How did I pull this off? Long story made short: To paraphrase the Bible, "Ask and ye shall receive." I inquired of an acquaintance working for the Giants as to the chance to photograph from the sidelines. He passed it on to someone in the communications department, and a sideline photo credential was waiting for me at the Will Call window.

I must make a confession: I suffered from a little lens envy. I brought an 80-200 mm lens, which is adequate for shooting sports at night. But I felt a tad intimidated by all that 400 to 600 mm glass pointed at the field.

I will post the game photos to my website, Kyash-Images.com, in a few days. I'd like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the Giants' Bill Squires and Avis Roper for providing me this opportunity.