Fall is in the air and that means only one thing: sports complaints are in the in-box.

Ardent sports fans turn to The Oregonian/OregonLive for the latest scores and statistics, for information to plan their weekend of television viewing, or for insights into last night’s games.

September is one of the busiest months as college football, high school sports and Trail Blazer news ramp up, while Portland Timbers and Thorns are still playing.

While sports news is abundant, space in the print editions of The Oregonian is finite. Occasionally, omissions leave readers dissatisfied with our selections. And, this weekend, we’ll see the effect of some deadline changes on the Sports section.

Newsroom veteran Joel Odom is our sports editor, and his focus is primarily on OregonLive. The website gives us the ability to quickly update readers with near real-time information, as well as regular updates from the Oregon Ducks, Beavers, Blazers and other beat reporters.

Our print desk puts together The Oregonian’s Sports section, selecting from the dozens of stories posted on OregonLive each day as well as from hundreds of wire service articles.

It’s near impossible to please the fans of every sport or team out there. One reader recently sent me an email with this subject line: The Oregonian’s aversion to reporting on Husky football.

“I’m trying to understand this aversion as once again it’s reared its head at the beginning of football season,” she wrote. “I’ve suggested to your sports people in the past that there are Husky and Duck fans on both sides of the river down here.”

She surmised that perhaps Ducks super supporter Phil Knight was a co-owner of the newspaper (he’s not).

The bottom line is news about Oregon teams will ace out teams from elsewhere when space runs out.

Another reader was convinced we were saving money by not publishing NFL previews in a recent Sunday edition.

“It is all about money in these United States,” he wrote, “so please let me know how much money your paper saves by not running NFL coverage in the sports section.”

Once again, the issue was space, not money. We pay for the NFL coverage from the wire services whether we use the material or not.

That particular weekend edition had two things that most do not: the seasonal hunting forecast and stories from the 2021 Cambia Portland Classic, a professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour. That coverage left less room for other things.

A Portland Timbers supporter recently wrote: “I couldn’t believe that there was no article about the game tonight at Providence Park in either yesterday or today’s newspaper. Crazy!!! If this is not corrected, you are going to lose a long term paid subscriber. … Not everyone is a Duck or Beaver fan!”

We know from OregonLive readership data that previews are not nearly as popular as coverage of games. So, when space is tight, previews are the first to go. Generally, games get at least a mention in the On The Air column with broadcast details.

In today editions, many readers will miss coverage from Saturday night for the Timbers soccer match and the Duck and the Beaver football games. We know readers want those stories and I wish deadlines would cooperate.

However, a change in our press requirements means the Saturday night deadline has moved up considerably. When games are scheduled to start later in the evening, combined with television commercial breaks that prolong football games, the presses must roll before the games end so carriers can get morning papers to doorsteps on time.

As always, check OregonLive for up-to-date coverage. You also can download our Ducks Football and Beavers Football apps for your phone.

We encourage sports fans to sign up for our sports newsletter at oregonlive.com/newsletters in order to receive the latest in your email in-box.

A few other notes. … The NFL fan who wrote also took issue with a change to the comics pages. “You took ‘Mutts’ out of the comics pages and left ‘Breaking Cat News’ in. Again, I’m sure the decision was economically based. ‘Mutts’ was amusing and easily understood. ‘Breaking Cat News’ makes absolutely no sense. I have four cats. I would like to like (it), but it is inscrutable even to a 30-year cat owner. Please put ‘Mutts’ back in and get rid of ‘Breaking Cats News.’”

I get a few complaints each week about missing “Mutts.” The creator of the strip is on sabbatical until Dec. 31. He is not producing new comics in the meantime, which gives us a chance to try something else. Never fear, “Breaking Cat News” devotees, I don’t anticipate any changes there for the time being.

The Husky fan, meantime, also made note of another recent change. “I do enjoy your Homes & Gardens sections but am so sad the Pecks won’t be writing from here on. … They were my favorite.”

Newsroom retiree Dennis Peck and his wife, Marcia Westcott Peck, are stepping back from their longtime and popular how-to column for Homes & Gardens of the Northwest, which appears in Saturday editions. We’ll miss them, too.

Editors’ pick: Michael Russell, our restaurant writer, picks his list of best new food carts for 2021. Subscriber Exclusive reporting is a benefit for those who subscribe. Thank you.