AP style

“Associated Press Style is not as important as it used to be when print dominated the media landscape. But let’s also not be naive: understanding key terms and their proper spelling remains essential for all who seek to become a professional in any sports media field.” : Joe Gisondi, sportswriter and author “Covering Sports.”

“The most commonly accepted guide in the sport industry is the Associated Press Stylebook” : Sports Public Relations, 2nd edition “As such, news releases written following AP style stand a greater chance of being picked up by newspapers”: (Newsome & Carrell)

Key section is Sports Guidelines and Style Sports guidelines in back of book Numerals entry

Obviously, numbers are significant in all sports coverage even if their usage can be confusing at times. For example, the AP Stylebook recommends that all numbers below 10 be spelled out. But there are plenty of exceptions in sports coverage. For example, a golf player uses clubs that are cited with numerals – a “7-iron” and “3-wood” – while a football player might get tackled on the 6-yard-line and run 9 yards into the end zone for a touchdown.”

Some common mistakes: For clarity’s sake, lower-case terms such as “coach,” “manager” and “athletic director” as titles before names, the same way you might with the terms principal and city manager, It’s “RBIs” for multiple runs batted in and RBI for a single RBI. But, really, why even use RBI for a single run when you could better write that a player drove in one run? “Home run” and “first baseman,” which are both frequently misspelled as one word, the same way that “running back” is misspelled in football. Sports writing relies heavily on compound hyphenated words, such as “right-center field wall,” “408-foot wall,” and “18-yard run.”

Don’t forget the other uses of the StylebooK “Grammar and spelling are extremely important to a sportswriter. Poorly worded sentences show a lack of respect for your job and for the reader. They can also be confusing. Misspelled words give the same effect. Errors in grammar and spelling count against the author. It is your reputation that is injured.”: Steve Craig, sportswriter. & author