Take a number

"I don't want to become a statistic."
Ever used that line? Used to be a little more common than it is now.
In today's digital society just about everybody is a statistic. Not necessarily the way that phrase used to be intended -- a death, an injury, something bad. But statistics are kept on each and every one of us.
Your choice of car or truck. Your faith. Your political views. What you eat or drink. What you watch on the TV and what web sites you visit. Whether or not you read a newspaper.
Now, I'm becoming a statistic-- in that old meaning.
The odds are overwhelming that I'll join the ranks of the unemployed some time next summer.
Won't exactly be an exclusive group I'm joining. One in 10 Americans who want a job can't get one. In some areas, it's a lot worse.
But it's not exactly a case of misery loves company either.
We all make choices in life.
Way back in my teens I chose newspapers as a way to make a living. Loved sports, but stank at playing them. So I wrote about them. And I could turn the occasional phrase.
While it's never paid all that well, it's been a good life. The only one I ever really wanted. All I know.
But newspapers are dying.
There are many more ways -- faster ways -- to get information. Television and radio put a dent into newspapers, but it's the Internet and smartphones that are driving papers into the ground.
Why wait for the morning paper to get the scores when you can crank up the laptop and get them right now?
The corporations that own most newspapers in the United States are trying to stay above water by cutting as many corners as they can. And that usually means cutting payroll.
The company that owns the paper where I work has laid off thousands over the past few years. Having survived those layoffs -- which tend to come around the holidays, thanks very little -- it's unlikely I'll survive the streamlining project that will eliminate my job the middle of next year.
Don't know yet what I'll do. Having played with ball games as a job my entire adult life, odds are I'm not qualified for much.
Maybe more schooling in my mid-50s.
Maybe whatever work I can find. There's a wife, children and mortgage to look after.
Being a part of this business has been a gamble for a while. Guess I was betting I could hang on another 15 years and make it to retirement before the newspaper business fell apart.
Looks like it was a bad bet.
But, hey, thanks for playing.