Greetings Columbus —
Did you hear that gnashing of the teeth early Tuesday afternoon? It was from our offices on National Road.
Reporter Frank Bonner and photographer Mike Wolanin were planning a short road trip — to Edinburgh to cover Columbus East softball. Sports editor Ted Schultz was slated to man the desk last night and complete our prep roundup with results from other area baseball and softball games.
Two spots on our sports section front were slated to have stories and photos from East and Hauser softball games.
Frankly, Mama Nature didn’t care about all our careful planning. WWe had to call an audible.
The high school spring sports season has barely sprung, and the skies are springing a leak, dumping on the best diagrammed plans of our sports department.
Yes, the last-minute and unexpected switches to plans, lives and layouts are expected. It’s what we signed up for.
Reporters know their lives are not their own, always subject to the whims of the weather and news events. We have reams of notebooks filled with the times we’ve had to cancel trips, date nights and all kinds of other family gatherings.
But here’s a little window into how what we do changes in just a few short minutes. (Thanks Columbus East Baseball, you at least delivered the bad news with Charlie Brown, and that made us smile.)
East opener versus Charleston CANCELLED pic.twitter.com/M7vdZObMgF
— CE Baseball (@CEBaseball) March 27, 2018
Canceled: Softball (Varsity) @ Jennings County 3/27/2018 5:00 PM
— Jeff Hester, CMAA (@highschoolad) March 27, 2018
Canceled: Baseball (Boys V) @ Avon 3/27/2018 5:30 PM
— Jeff Hester, CMAA (@highschoolad) March 27, 2018
So what happened to those two holes we were left with on our sports section front where we had planned to have Hauser and East softball stories and photos?
Instead, you got to catch up with former Columbus North basketball player and Indiana University hoops manager Gabe Hilt who is playing in an NCAA Tournament for managers this weekend in San Antonio, site of the Final Four. Story here.
And we ran a story about Andrew Luck, who according to The Associated Press, is throwing footballs again after missing the entire 2017 season.
The moral of this story? Always, always have a backup plan.
Jim Irsay, are you listening?
Here’s what else you need to know today —
How much does Cummins leader make?
Reuters reports that Cummins chairman and CEO Tom Linebarger total 2017 compensation was $16.4 million vs. $13.4 million in fiscal year 2016.
Columbus to become regional center for first-responder training.
That 12,000-square-foot building going up on the Columbus Municipal Airport Airpark campus is all about practice makes perfect. Thursday’s Republic.
The Republic Gymnast of the Year is…
You’ll read about her in Thursday’s Republic, but here’s what her coach said: “To get up on the podium was a credit to her perseverance.”
Poetry and comics: Two events we are writing about.
1) University Library of Columbus ComicCon is packing a bigger superhero punch this year. Escape from reality at the April 5 event at Columbus Learning Center.
2) Indiana’s Poet Laureate Adrian Matejka told reporter Brian Blair: “We need poetry to remind us of the beauty that still surrounds us despite all of the seemingly unending anger and strife.” Indeed. Matejka is in Columbus on Monday.
Richardmccoy Instapic: Magnolia blooms days away at Miller House. (Please!)
Have a great day. Send your story ideas to [email protected].
