Some opportunities are too good to pass up.
In May, I was working in The Times-Dispatch office when I noticed one of our sports designers, Chris Wilbers, working on a file called something like "VT_NFL." I previewed the file in our editing system and realized it was a feature, written by Andy Bitter, formerly of The Roanoke Times, in which he made an all-time NFL team comprised of players who went to Virginia Tech. Naturally, I asked our sports editor, Michael Phillips, when a story for a team based on UVa alumni was getting published.
I found out we had no plans for such a team. Sometimes, we make fun of readers who call in and claim we are biased against Tech or UVa. They usually have no basis for their judgments. Well, in this case, they would've had a case. So I expressed with some dismay the idea that UVa would not have an NFL team when I knew it could definitely field one. To his credit, Michael then gave me the opportunity to write UVa's feature. So I took him up on the offer.
I used the Pro Football Reference website for a lot of the research and compiled what I thought should be the team. Then, Michael asked me to write up a blurb about how the team would stack up against the Hokies' team in an imaginary game. I did that, our columnist, Paul Woody, did the same, and Chris did an awesome job designing the front page, which pitted the two teams against each other (with a big photo of "Bullet Bill" Dudley on one side and Bruce Smith on the other), and came up with a fantastic layout on two inside pages where the UVa team was presented in full. The Tech team ran in full June 3, but readers got a refresher this weekend. All of it ran in this past Sunday's paper. It was definitely a fun project of which to be a part. Below, you can check out the articles on The Times-Dispatch's website:
Links:
Introduction, the teams side by side, our predictions
The Virginia all-time NFL team, picked by me
The Virginia Tech all-time NFL team, picked by Andy Bitter
In May, I was working in The Times-Dispatch office when I noticed one of our sports designers, Chris Wilbers, working on a file called something like "VT_NFL." I previewed the file in our editing system and realized it was a feature, written by Andy Bitter, formerly of The Roanoke Times, in which he made an all-time NFL team comprised of players who went to Virginia Tech. Naturally, I asked our sports editor, Michael Phillips, when a story for a team based on UVa alumni was getting published.
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| "Bullet Bill" Dudley is not only a College Football Hall of Famer, but also a Pro Football Hall of Famer. |
I used the Pro Football Reference website for a lot of the research and compiled what I thought should be the team. Then, Michael asked me to write up a blurb about how the team would stack up against the Hokies' team in an imaginary game. I did that, our columnist, Paul Woody, did the same, and Chris did an awesome job designing the front page, which pitted the two teams against each other (with a big photo of "Bullet Bill" Dudley on one side and Bruce Smith on the other), and came up with a fantastic layout on two inside pages where the UVa team was presented in full. The Tech team ran in full June 3, but readers got a refresher this weekend. All of it ran in this past Sunday's paper. It was definitely a fun project of which to be a part. Below, you can check out the articles on The Times-Dispatch's website:
Links:
Introduction, the teams side by side, our predictions
The Virginia all-time NFL team, picked by me
The Virginia Tech all-time NFL team, picked by Andy Bitter
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