Christian Zavisca

A tale of two coaches

Lane Kiffin.

Joe Paterno.

Catching up with Notre Dame's Harrison Smith

Last week I filed a story for my former employer, the Knoxville News Sentinel, on Knoxville's Harrison Smith, a football player for the University of Notre Dame. He's a junior starting on the defensive side of the ball for the Fighting Irish.

The parallels are many. Smith, the subject of a recruiting battle between Notre Dame and the University of Tennessee, picked ND and moved three years ago to South Bend, Ind., my hometown. I lived in Knoxville for nearly five years, and in mid-September moved to Valparaiso, Ind., an hour east of South Bend. And I'm freelancing for notredame.scout.com covering football, so it was a natural to write a story for the News Sentinel on Harrison, who was a good sport.

I agree with him 100 percent on one subject.

Smith does admit that he's struggled a bit to adjust to one aspect of life in the Midwest: the much colder weather.

So in his third year in South Bend, 100-some miles east of Chicago, has he gotten used to the bone-chilling winters?

"No," he replied. "That was one thing I kind of worried about when I was getting recruited, and then I thought, 'It's not a big deal.' But actually, it's kind of worse than I thought.

"And it lasts until summer pretty much. You're in April and it's snowing."

Paying for the news — or not

Hey news consumer, can you spare a dime?

That's what newspaper editors quoted in this Editor and Publisher story are asking.

As newspapers scramble to decide how best to increase revenue online, editors are desperately trying to figure out what content to charge for, while still keeping print viable and their Web numbers up.

Most newsroom leaders who spoke with E&P said no decisions have been made but admit they welcome a paid approach to online, noting that readers seem to be willing to pay for Web content that is useful, exclusive and/or in-depth. In each region, however, the definition of marketable content varies. Some editors believe everything is chargeable. Others point at sports, or find blogs and analysis the most sellable.

It's an interesting story, and explores difficult questions.

I am, of course, without answers, but I'm watching the debate with interest.

As a career newspaperperson until very recently, I've been pondering my role as a news consumer. I was surfing the Web site of my former employer, the Knoxville News Sentinel, via my phone while having lunch at Valparaiso University's Harre Union just today.

Would I pay a small amount of money to gain access to currently free knoxnews.com content if it was entirely behind a paywall? I'm pretty sure I would, both to support the good folks at the KNS and because I'm genuinely interested in Knoxville news, though I no longer live there and don't have family or deep roots in the Southeast.

But would I pay more than a little? And how much would be the dealbreaking point? And what if the pay process was unwieldy or annoying? Would I just bail?

And there are more questions on the flip side. OK, so newspapers keep content free. How would the News Sentinel target advertising to me? Does it need to? Am I a valuable piece of the online readership puzzle in terms of my utility to advertisers?

In the Editor and Publisher story, several news execs seem to favor a tiered approach: some stuff free, more specialized or unusual or useful content behind a paywall. But where's the right balance? What should be free? And, most importantly, will consumers pay?

My News Sentinel sendoff

On my last day as a copy editor at the Knoxville News Sentinel, my fine colleagues sprung a surprise pizza-and-cake fest on me, complete with a bag of KNS swag: highlighters, notepad, water bottle. Not too shabby!

The stellar Karen Knotts baked us a cake. The squiggly mark after "good" represents an editing mark. A nice touch. Plus, my boss, the also stellar Cathy Shepherd, let me go early, which was a great help, since I had to leave the next morning.

It was a crazy couple of days. Pick up U-Haul Friday, load said truck that day, go to work Friday night, drive nine hours north on Saturday, and here we are today.

So many of my colleagues had kind words and well-wishes for me over the last few days. It's such a talented group, and a super-nice bunch as well.

And it meant a lot that my friends and colleagues cared enough to give me a nice, low-key sendoff, which fit perfectly.

Thanks, y'all.

More photos via Flickr.

Downtown Knoxville in pictures

It was one of those beautiful September days in East Tennessee. I had lunch downtown with some friends/colleagues and strolled around Market Square and environs a bit.

Full set via Flickr here.