Saturday night fever

Folks in the Sports Department were rightfully indignant last week when their work on the UVa-Tech football rivalry was not reflected on Pilot Online in a timely manner because of weekend staffing considerations.

"For the largest news source in the state covering the largest event in the state, this is simply unacceptable," zinged sportswriter Kyle Tucker.

Well, a little extra effort from the online coordinator and Joe Garvey of the Sports Department prevented a similar lapse with the Tech-Miami game the folowing weekend. Kyle's story on the Miami game and Todd Spencer's excellent photo of the post-game celebration was posted online early Saturday evening, replacing an AP game story that was posted immediately after the final whistle.

Pilot Online's weekend staffing is a tad thin. They're not so much "24/7" as they are "16/5.5." But most of the time, when readers are served by the extra effort, we can make sure that The Pilot breaks important news first online even on Saturday night.

Icing on the cake was a story about the high school championship game earlier in the day involving Virginia Beach's Landstown High School, which also got online early.

Thanks to the folks in Sports for caring enough to make sure we kept our promise to report important news online without delay.