By Paul Honda
paul@hondareport.com
Wednesday, Mar. 7, 2007

Say what you will about the redesign of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, which began on Monday. The difference is not on the website at all.

Only when you see and touch the print version can you get the change. The effort has given the paper a trimmed-down feel, quicker, bouncier steps (fewer jumps). A lot of it is cosmetic, but I don't mind change if the entire team will benefit. Better to try than be stagnant, even if it means losing 25 percent of the space we've become used to on the High School Sports page each Wednesday.

Papers 100 years ago look thoroughly different than they do now. Not saying that papers now are necessarily better. Different can be good. I just hope that further redesigns don't futher dilute our preps coverage on Wednesdays. The change this week took me back in time. I grew up delivering the SB in Moiliili, right on Date and Kamoku Streets. I loved reading about my Hawaii Islanders, absolutely hypnotized by the daily PCL Standings (Times-Roman 12-point font with the Islanders in bold). I always tripped out on the All-OIA and All-ILH layouts, seeing all those faces of high-school greats. (Former Waipahu hoops star Vernon Tailele still sticks out in my mind.)

The late Terry Luke, a longtime Star-Bulletin photographer, once told me that the paper's decline in the 1980s began with major redesign. New owner and corporate giant Gannett swooped in and cut major space for prep coverage. No more did the SB publish photos of every kid who made the All-OIA and All-ILH all-star teams. Terry was adamant about this mistake, which led advertisers to depart. Foodland, one of the key revenue streams, went directly to a new upstart called MidWeek, Terry lamented.

I can't say I disagree with Terry.

My space allotment for feature stories is far smaller now, which is both good and bad. A lot of folks liked my stories partly because there was room for more details, more intricacies about a student-athlete's life on and off the fields and courts.

Today, my feature stories are 50 percent (or more) shorter. They don't have quite the same room for details and elements, relationships and emotions. Life can't truly be condensed, and that's how it is with redesigns. You roll with the punches for the betterment of the team.

Tomorrow? Stay tuned.

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