Sports Team

Columnists are reporters with an opinion. The best columnists are also keen observers, precise writers, and excellent storytellers. Frequently, we forget that readers love stories. But that is difficult to do in 13 inches or 400 words. We need to expand columns on days when a writer finds a terrific story. Columnists frequently write opinion pieces, offer notes, or playfully address an issue, but how frequently do columnists tell stories to get their points across? Not enough. That's why reading pieces by a great writer like Bill Plaschke is a treat. Plaschke's piece -- "Floored" -- is among the best column I've read in some time. "Floored" is an amazing story, a column that might have fallen through the cracks had Plaschke not also been a curious observer and a diligent reporter. Ultimately, the column succeeds because Plaschke is an excellent storyteller. Readers love a good mystery, something he clearly understands. Consider the opening: The nam...

Part of my mission is to try and educate. Part of my job is to model activity -- in this case writing a column with a strong opinion. Perhaps, I failed in that mission. At least that's how it appears if you read the comments to my previous blog (below). Nearly every single writer said they did not get the satire, which either means that readers failed to understand it, or that I failed to present it properly. Since no one is defending the post, I can only assume I struck out. I had thought the reasons I offered in the column would clearly shine through as ridiculous. But I guess there are many ridiculous notions presented on the Internet. I had assumed everybody thought like me -- that binge drinking in college is stupid, that missing class is a losing proposition, that athletes should be held accountable, and that drinking and driving is as deadly and stupid as it gets. That's why, for example, I made the statement below. Who else but the student would be to blame? After all...

John Canzano is a selfish journalist, a man who is more concerned about good copy than in doing what is right. He’d rather publicly embarrass a young kid in order to get a great column than let the University of Oregon deal with the situation. Canzano also rips into this poor player’s mother for running to his defense. Is that how a columnist is supposed to act, betraying a school he is charged to cover and, subsequently, causing intense scrutiny for a family? After all, it wasn ’t the player’s fault that he had inadvertently been arrested twice for driving under the influence of intoxicants . It happens. It’s college. Kids drink. They drive. They miss classes with hangovers. Remember? Good times. Plus, universities know how to deal with this. A month ago, Oregon suspended a receiver indefinitely for what it called a ‘violation of team rules.’ The university has also suspended two basketball players over the past two seasons. Even the mascot, a duck, could not escape punishment afte...

Listeners hate it when announcers fail to offer the score during radio broadcasts. They also hate when announcers predict plays, act like homers, and forget to offer the time left in a game. That's what veteran broadcaster Warren Kozireski told college students at a national college journalism conference in Washington, D.C., on Saturday. That was clear to me this afternoon as I listened to a Bears-Lions game. The Bears announcers told me the game was a shut out (but not who was being shut out) and that the Lions were trying to get three points before the end of the half. Five minutes passed before I heard a score - and a full minute after Jason Hanson kicked a field goal to put the Lions ahead 13-0. I thought I would have to sit in a car at the Arthur Pumpkin Patch while my daughters trampled fields filled with gourds. Fortunately, that catastrophe was averted when the Bears announcers finally ceded that the Lions were winning. As a print journalist, I have rarely given sports bro...

No matter where you're working or taking classes, I hope you're working on some online skills as well. There continues to be great debate whether print publications are doomed. A former writer for the New York Times argues that print publications will fade away like parchment, typewriters and, perhaps, CDs. Digital is the future, this writer claims. Even books and magazines will die off in time, Adam Penenberg writes , eventually turning into artifacts that are either sold on eBay or tossed into land fills. I'm not so sure that newspapers will suffer such a swift burial, but print publications are definitely hurting so much that online readership will be counted in the next Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) reports, which should be announced in the next few weeks. The Audit Bureau, which is the primary circulation audit group in the United States, will not just publish paid print circulation in its biannual reports. Instead, the ABC will combine print and online numbers,...

Last night someone told me, "I'm sick of the Yankees and Red Sox. They're always on TV." He then pulled out the East Coast bias card, saying the Midwest and West Coast do not get their proper respect. We talked primarily about baseball, this being playoffs season and he being a disgruntled Cubs fan. He said all he sees are Yankees and Red Sox games. I said that's because ESPN is more worried about ratings than judiciously spreading its Sunday Night Baseball Games among all 30 teams. "That's not fair," he said. But that's just smart business for a company trying to make money. Newspapers make these decisions all the time, which is why regional newspapers cover their local teams more than national teams. That sells papers. Don't mistake entertainment for journalism. Like other networks, ESPN wants to make money. Networks spend a great deal of money to get broadcast rights, so they want to earn that money back. That's why you did not see th...

Summer is already a distant memory. Days are shorter. Scraps of corn and soy are scattered across harvested fields. And baseball season has just ended. For most of us, baseball really ended decades ago when we learned we were not talented enough to play at the college or professional levels. That’s tough to accept after so much time spent tossing wicked curves to our friends, ripping mammoth homers, and diving for line drives Brooks Robinson would have been envious to catch. Sure, we knew better, but we loved the game — the smell of worn, leather gloves pressed against our faces, the sweet smell of newly mown outfield grass, and the rough feel of a wooden bat, knowing it possessed all kinds of magical possibilities. More than 30 accomplished writers explore their own relationship with the sport in “Scoring from Second: Writers on Baseball,” a book edited by Phil Deaver , a man who once shagged balls and snared line drives as a kid in Tuscola. These writers reveal that baseball does n...

I'm always embarrassed when I read stories like this : Along with the groundswell of support from his players and opponents alike, attention paid to Torre has seemed suffocating. Newspaper photographers and TV camera people have been a persistent presence on Torre's front lawn and driveway this week. "In the postgame Monday, Joe said there's always a vigil on his front lawn every year and he asked this year if they could respect his privacy," Jason Zillo, the Yankees' director of media relations, said. The media are camped outside yet another person's home in order to get the 'big story.' And that is? Joe Torre , or someone else, walking to their car? The family dog relieving himself on the lawn? Perhaps, these reporters expect to get Torre to reveal secrets to the people pestering him. Reporters need to be persistent, enterprising and thorough. This is neither. Instead, these 'journalists' are being rude, cliche and superficial. If report...

I am putting together a list of sports phrases, words and terms that need to be deleted in sports reporting and could use your help, especially if you are an editor, writer or teacher. So far, I have a slew of cliches (giving it their all), unnecessary phrases (The Wildcats found the end zone again), and unnecessary repetitions (a 23-0 shutout). Send me the words, phrases and terms you typically cross out, delete or that cause you to scream. You can post them below or email them to me at jgisondi@gmail.com. Thanks. -30-

People are complex. So writing about their lives should not be easy. Too often, sports reporters go out, speak with a coach or player for 20-30 minutes (perhaps an hour), return to the office and write. Sometimes, the story also includes a quote or two from another player or coach. Maybe some stats are tossed in. Sports profiles take much more effort than that. They are not easy to write, but you can get better over time if you consider some of the points below. Hope they help. Conflict – In all good stories, a main character wants something but someone or some thing, stands in the way. Unlike fiction, in these sports profiles the conflict does not always need to be resolved. Check out the story on Jake Scott , an award-winning story by Dave Hyde. Conflicts are usually resolved in stories that deal with events that took place in the past. There is nothing wrong with addressing an ongoing challenge; however, you do need to find the main conflict for most profile pieces. (Do not elevate...

I’m always looking for fine examples of college writing. And I found one in our own publication, a game-day follow by Matt Daniels . Matt, who worked as a sports intern at Springfield's State-Journal Register , has continued to improve each semester. This story is as good as any you’ll find in a professional daily. (Yes, I may be biased but this is an excellent story worth emulating. I’ll break it down below.) As I’ve mentioned before, writing a sports feature is like writing a short story – except we do not make up any of the facts. Story, not news, drives these features. That means you need to grab readers quickly in a lead that tells a compelling story or introduces an interesting character. Matt does that here, introducing a player who has far exceeded expectations in a football game. We get to see the player recuperating after a rugged afternoon on the gridrion. We also get a brief physical description. Sweat trickled down Ademola Adeniji's face 30 minutes after Saturday...

The sports editor for the Providence Journal says his newspaper has reduced agate by 20 percent. The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle no longer runs boxscores for NBA , NHL , college football and college basketball -- and only linescores are used for major league baseball games. The Arizona Republic no longer publishes expanded NHL and NBA standings each day. The Newark Star-Ledger dropped NBA and NHL agate the last month of the 2006 season with very few complaints, even though the Devils and Nets play nearby. "We may be using a little bit more as several youth sports organizations have sent results into us," writes Robert Gagliardi, sports editor of the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle in a recent AP Managing Editors survey. "Instead of eating up 20-plus inches of copy we have put their results in agate format to be more consistent across the board. Our paper is a daily, but we still have a small-town mentality so we get junior high and elementary school results and standings. Nearly ...

Game stories can be difficult at first, especially when they have to be filed on deadline late at night. But you'll need to keep practicing if you are going to get better. Taking scores from coaches for nightly prep roundups is one of the best ways you can improve. You might have to write 10-20 leads in a single night, which will force you to find ways to briefly offer the key plays, key stat, or the significance of the game. To learn more, critique stories from the Associated Press, where experienced writers file solid gamers against all kinds of pressing deadlines. But also analyze game stories that offer an angle that is not connected to a key stat. These stories may focus on a key play, an unusual circumstance, or some other key angle in the lead before citing the result of the game. Editors want tight, bright stories that include quotes from key players and that touch on key facts and emotions without omitting major factors. Says Jim Ruppert, sports editor for the Springfield ...