The benefits of competition

We understand that one of our columnists, James Berry, who has covered local music events for us for several years, will start writing this week for the other newspaper here in Sonoma. We are sorry to see James go, but he has our best wishes for continued success.
The Sun’s coverage of the Sonoma Valley music scene continues uninterrupted with a new columnist, though she is hardly new to the local music world. We encourage our readers to check out the column today (page 25) and get to know Cat Smith.
We remarked only last week how fluid the media business is, and this move by a columnist is just the latest example. It’s interesting to reflect on the periodic movement of an employee or two from our side of West Napa Street to the other during the last five years. As in any industry, competitors always look for an edge, and sometimes the other’s staff seems like the answer.
It’s flattering, in fact, that our competitor appears to feel the need to adopt talent that we here at the Sun have identified and developed. As readers know, we value the role that competition has played throughout American history, and that it plays today in Sonoma. The Sun’s founding in 2004 certainly brought about changes here, as our competitor was forced to adjust and update.
And there remain significant differences between us, which is as it should be. Coke and Pepsi, we’re not. Maybe Chevy and Ford is a better comparison, with clearly different images on the outside and different interiors, too. Or how about Buick and BMW? We like that one better.
We look forward to the next five years of competition, and we know the community will be better served for it, especially as the news media continue to adopt new technologies to serve more people, more often, and in more ways than ever before, even in difficult economic times.
Competition exists in many realms, of course, most notably in athletics. We commend the Lady Dragons basketball players, who competed in a classic on Tuesday evening. Whether they won or lost in the second round on Thursday against Petaluma – at press time we don’t know the outcome of that game – their Tuesday battle against a bruising Healdsburg team was a beauty. With a terrific call by KSVY and SVTV announcer Ray Sullivan and color commentary by Bart Kemp, Sonoma’s heroines lost a fourth-quarter lead but fought back to send the game into overtime, fought back again to force double overtime, and then ran off to a 13-point victory.
It’s the come-from-behind wins that are most memorable, especially in do-or-die post-season competition, and the story of Tuesday’s win, the No. 3 seed knocking off the No. 2, will be told and retold.
Competition is good. In our view, it can bring out the best in all of us.