Steve Bisheff, who has covered sports for 42 years, took the Orange County Register’s buyout and announced his retirement today.

Bisheff joins 30 to 40 other Register newsroom folks who took the buyout, and according to columnist Frank Mickadeit it’s a strange, sad day around there.

Mickadeit also reveals that the Register, in order to better compete with, um, bloggers, will enhance its online publication, doing “something called ‘reverse publishing.’ Local reporters’ work will appear on our Web site first and then be sent to the presses. The very architecture of the site will be upgraded — we’re investing a lot of money there for the long haul.’”