Sports reporting

Sports writing Sports writers work long, grueling, mostly weekend hours They face tighter deadlines than other reporters and often travel, eating a Whopper while filing their stories after big games in remote, exotic places such as Manhattan, Kan., and Athens, Ohio To make it more difficult, with television coverage, it's likely many readers already saw the big game

Key to sports writing The key to sports writing is good reporting, hard work and vivid writing Do your homework Find out about both teams Look for themes Each game has a turning point. Write about it because that’s the most important info in a game story Tell who won early Avoid writing chronologically If you don't know a sport, ask Get both sides of the issue Check your sources

Assignments The game story is most common assignment Some sportswriters - especially when covering night games - must write feature stories for the paper's first edition, then write a running play by play for later editions - often writing as the game progresses

Mistakes Biggest mistake beginning journalists make is to root for home team Instead of objectively reporting what happened, beginning reporter will cheer for favorite college or pro team For example, a beginning reporter might end a story about the upcoming game with: "Come on out and watch Doane College dismantle Concordia on the football field Saturday." Avoid promoting a team Tell story of what happened during game or match Don't be a booster. Don't cheer for the team

More mistakes Get rid of jargons and cliches Don't quote someone as saying: "We gave 110 percent out there." If you've heard it said before, it's a cliché Write tightly

Cliches to avoid Took his/her game to another level... Never looked back... En route to... Give (insert name) credit... What a difference a day/year makes... They’re in a must-win situation... Take it one day at a time...

More cliches Team effort... Tiger pitcher. Tiger fan or Tiger anything... (It’s Tigers with an “s”!) Here at Doane On the season... Records as an adjective (As in “The 6-7 Yankees”) Bombard and other war terms Many cliches are “coach-speak.” Edit them

Working with stats Failing to put figures in proper context means your story will fail to properly communicate Example: Barry Bonds. A few years ago, before the steroid scandal, he so intimidated pitchers that they avoided pitching to him and he walked 177 times. Amazingly, he still slugged 73 home runs. Later, Bonds focused on a lofty batting average. His.370 mark made him, at 38, the oldest player in history to win a batting title for first time. Healso slammed 46 home runs and breezed past his record for walks with198, an astounding figure

Figures continued One summer, regarding his pursuit of Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record, Bonds made this swing-and-miss comment: “The only number I care about is Babe Ruth’s. Because as a left- handed hitter, I wiped him out. That’s it. And in the baseball world, Babe Ruth’s everything, right? I got his slugging percentage and I’ll take his home runs and that’s it. Don’t talk about him no more.” But … Put Ruth’s and Bond’s careers in context In Ruth’s career, he hit a home run every 12 at bats. Depending on the season, his peers, on average, hit a home run every 100 at bats, meaning Ruth outpaced them eight- or 10-fold in typical season

Numbers in context In 1920, Ruth’s 54 home runs were more than all but one of 15 Major League teams As impressive as he is, Bonds has never been half as dominant as Ruth. He has never out homered an entire opposing team Bottom line: Ruth posted huge numbers when nobody came close to putting up similar numbers – and without steroids Bonds played when home runs were common. Bonds hasn’t quadrupled the pace of his peers

More stupidity with stats Look at it another way: One national radio announcer gave this stat: Nomar Garciaparra, then a Boston Red Sox, who was stepping to the plate to face a right-handed pitcher, had hit 18 of his 23 home runs against right-handed pitchers In other words, 78 percent of his homers were off right-handers! A little research, though, revealed that 75 percent of his at bats came against righties In addition, the announcer failed to note that Garciaparra’s batting average against lefties,.381, was much better than his.304 mark against right handers

Top tips Identify the sport in the lead of a game story “Win” is not a noun; “victory” is “Claim” is appropriate for championships won at polls, but not on field or court Do not use “state;” use “said” Attribute quotes quickly, then resume quote. No need to identify source a second time Enclose scores with commas “The Tigers won, 21-7, …” Use “their” for nicknames – Grizzlies, Bobcats. Use “its” for singular nouns such as Montana, Doane

More top tips Avoid statistical stories, pedestrian accounts Concentrate on the characters of the games, individuals Shorten sentences Eliminate trite terms Pigskin Cage Gridders Thinclads Don’t talk in technical style coaches use. Does reader know what “60 jitterbug defense” or “wide tackle six” is?