Sports Writing and Editing

Chris Jones doesn't read Gary Smith ... and then he does

2011-07-04T12:30:00.001-04:00

First, Chris Jones writes about why he had never read Gary Smith, considered by many to be the greatest "sports writer," (consider the quote marks bold) of the era. And then he writes about how he finally DID read read him in Gary Smith and Me, the Sequel. The whole notion of one writer not reading another so as not to be influenced by him is an interesting one, and being debated at length at sj.com. Some people say they don't understand it. Some say they don't believe it. I personally both understand AND believe it. Left unsaid: The idea that one great writer simply must read another as a matter of course. I'm not sure I understand that thinking.

Writers and 'Brand'

2011-06-26T13:35:00.000-04:00

Gene Weingarten writes a great column about the whole concept of writers as brands, and this has generated a lively discussion on a sj.com thread: Weingarten: "Brand this!". Take a look, the different points of view are interesting.

The Finger and Offending

2011-06-16T13:13:00.000-04:00

I could see why this would be offensive to some readers, but some days, a photo that pushes the envelope tells the story best. So I think the Toronto Star did the right thing here: Newseum | Today's Front Pages | Toronto Star

Yep, I'm still here

2011-06-12T11:27:00.002-04:00

Visual evidence that I left back in 2009 to the contrary, I'm still around. This blog hasn't gotten the attention it deserves, and the thing is, I've been getting email interest in this blog, including one a couple of days ago. So I'm going to start trying to reactivate this page and seeing if I can make it worthwhile to read. Stay tuned to see if I can pull it off.

Farewell, Mike

2009-11-29T18:29:00.003-05:00

I got the phone call from somebody at the office who had seen it on the wire: Mike Penner had died in Southern California at age 52. The Los Angeles Times obit, written by Keith Thursby, is here.

Former Timesman Ross Newhan remembers Mike here. And Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register writes about him here.

Pretty much everybody in the business knows Mike's story, and it's literally a "I'll never forget" moment when he wrote the column heard round the world. I was on the golf course and got about 10 calls to my cell phone. Not much point in rehashing it.

I just remember Mike as one of the finest writers I have ever worked with, an extremely creative mind who came up with some of the best lines I've ever read or heard. But they were never forced in his columns; they always worked. And he was a good person.

I'll also remember Mike's annual holiday gift to some of his friends, his KPEN compilation of that year's best alternative (I'm hoping that's the right word; some of it was admittedly beyond me) music. I was kind of sad the first year I didn't get one after moving back to Florida, but I understood. I was kind of out of the circle.

I can't really even begin to imagine what he has gone through in the past few years -- well, I guess it's more a lifetime -- and to me, saying "perhaps he has finally found peace," while well-intentioned, doesn't quite fit. I wish he had found it while he was still with us instead.

Doyel on The Media and Michael Vick

2009-05-24T17:17:00.003-04:00

Gregg Doyel on CBSSports.com says the coverage of Michael Vick is proving all the bad things people believe about the media.

I love this business and always will, but his premise is hard to argue with.

What I'd do different in newspapers

2009-04-06T17:27:00.002-04:00

This is how I'd approach it. Not much to add right here.

To directly quote or to not directly quote

2009-03-22T11:26:00.003-04:00

I basically posted this same thing on sj.com. People might be out of steam on this subject, but I think this Richard Prince blog entry is an interesting one.

http://www.mije.org/richardprince/some-learned-proper-english-others

We've talked about this numerous times, but there are some other thoughts about the whole thing.

Whenever this comes up, I have to laugh a little about this from AP:

"Never alter quotations even to correct minor grammatical errors or word usage. Casual minor tongue slips may be removed by using ellipses but even that should be done with extreme caution. If there is a question about a quote, either don't use it or ask the speaker to clarify. . . . Do not use substandard spellings such as gonna or wanna in attempts to convey regional dialects or informal pronunciations, except to help a desired touch in a feature."

I positively guarantee you that AP doesn't come close to following its own rule on this. As if every athlete ever quoted in an AP story is quoted verbatim.

My career stops have uniformly cleaned up quotes except for features. But I understand the debate, and the added complication of more and more people being able to hear the direct quote, a discern it's different than the written one, because of multimedia is an interesting one.

Bernie Lincicome wastes no time writing again

2009-03-13T12:03:00.003-04:00

As promised, Bernie Lincicome has quickly transitioned from a columnist at the former Rocky Mountain News to one of the more highly talented bloggers you're going to run across.

Bernie's blog is here.

And Phil Rosenthal's Chicago Tribune story on it is here.

I consider Bernie a mentor, somebody that had a profound impact on my entire career. He's also a hell of a read and worth checking out regularly.

Note to Bernie: The death of the Rockie = bad thing. The new freedom you have to write about whatever the hell you want = good thing.

One of my favorite columns remembered ...

2009-01-19T18:16:00.002-05:00

Al Martinez wrote his (presumably last) farewell column in the L.A. Times dated today, and it reminds me of one of my all-time favorites. Al wasn't that well know to readers outside of L.A., although he should have been, but you can find this column in numerous places on the web.

Here's one version, a Christmas story.

Tribute to a copy editor

2009-01-11T11:59:00.003-05:00

This blog is called sports writing AND editing, and that's why we were glad to see this Patrick Reusse tribute to Star-Tribune copy editor Bud Armstrong, who retired last night after 43 years there.

These are the kind of people that the business is losing -- at least Bud made it to the end on his terms -- and it's going to continue to diminish the quality of the daily paper ( for however long those are around).

Interesting story about sports writing

2009-01-08T11:37:00.004-05:00

Gary Andrew Poole writes an interesting story the Columbia Journalism Review about how to save sports writing, and basically, he wants newspapers to go backward in time and stress good writing. (That's VERY basically.)

Good idea. I don't think newspaper management as it is currently running things is smart enough to buy it, though.

2009 sports calendar

2008-12-28T17:44:00.001-05:00

It's no big deal, but it might be a reasonably helpful tool for people wondering what's where and when in 2009.

AP Sports Calendar.

A provocative idea

2008-12-26T18:18:00.003-05:00

Mark Cuban writes that perhaps it's time for professional sports to subsidize beat writers at newspapers so those papers aren't forced to cut back on coverage. I'm way oversimplifying a long blog post for brevity's sake, so check it out for yourself.

Predictably, a sportsjournalists.com thread has sprung up on this topic, and there's a poster calling himself mcuban in there. From what I've read and been told, it certainly could be him.

Remembering Mike Kahn

2008-12-18T23:59:00.012-05:00

I don't have a lot more in me than to post the sj.com thread about this terribly sad news. He was a really good man, a great father and an absolute pioneer in this business, although I don't think he'll ever be given enough credit for how big of a role he played in the development of Internet sports journalism.

He didn't tell that many people how sick he was -- or, more to the point according to John McGrath (see below), the word didn't spread that far outside the Pacific Northwest -- so this was a great shock. I can only wish the best for his family, and that he gets the credit for who he was.

Here's one remembrance.

Here's another.

Several people, including John Clayton and Bart Wright, on the Seahawks site.

By John McGrath.

By Ian Browne.

Bill Conlin on sports writing

2008-12-11T10:41:00.001-05:00

This one doesn't need much comment, I don't think. Mr. Conlin is generally pretty grumpy, but there's a pleasingly wistful tone to this piece about the state of sports writing.

Robert Jelenic dies at 58

2008-12-04T14:15:00.000-05:00

There's a post on sj.com concerning his passing, and fairly enough, they have asked for respect with regard to his death from cancer. I won't comment here, either. Instead, I'll let Alan Mutter describe what the problem was with Journal Register Co. in this April blog post, which has plenty of links to other stories and an extraordinary comment thread at the end.

On the lighter side ...

2008-12-04T11:33:00.000-05:00

Somebody mentioned Roy Blount Jr. on the sj.com message board thread concerning quotes. Here's an oldie-but-goodie that's one of my favorite pieces about sports writing, ever:

This piece appeared in the November 1976 Esquire, the first of a year or so's worth of sports columns I did for that magazine. As we used to say in Georgia, Best, Schmest; but I loved writing this piece because in it I broke out of family-magazine sportswriting into the world of available language.
Roy Blount, Jr.

MILL RIVER, MASS.

How to Sportswrite Good

Esquire • November 1976

I read with pleasure nearly every form of sportswriting, from Tug McGraw's Scroogie comic strip to Ebony Fisherman, a black angling column in the New Pittsburgh Courier. Scroogie once showed a manager sitting in his dugout reflecting: "I can't believe it! It's too good to be true!! All I do is sit on my hands for nine innings and we plaster Pittsburgh nine-one!!! [Pause] Just think what we could do if I sat on my fists."

I scour the Sporting News for great passages, like this one from a story about an Oriole bat boy who had hooks instead of fingers: "He is going to major in mathematics. I could have told him that it's hard to become good in mathematics when you don't have any fingers to count on, and I'm sure he would have gotten a sincere laugh out of it." Sportswriting is like country music: It is sometimes very good, and sometimes when it is really bad it is even better. And it can be largely silly and genuinely worth something at the same time.

But I don't want to read any tomes about sports. That is what two recent books -- Sports in America, by James Michener, and The Joy of Sport, by Michael Novak—look like to me: tomes. Well, I would read a tome about some particular aspect of sports -- The Dribble in America or The Joy of Batting Orders. I would cherish a nice snappy treatment that knocked sports, in essence, right into the creek, as old SCLC campaigner Hosea Williams did incidentally on a recent BBC-TV special, when he criticized the city of Atlanta for allotting tax money to a golf course: "Damn some grass to knock a ball on when there are people in the streets robbing for food."

But I don't want to read anything in which somebody steps back and takes a long view of Sport as Something It is High Time We Faced Up to the Big Picture and Tiny Epiphanies of, or, Why We Like to Watch People Spring Through the Air and Land in a Heap. Hasn't everybody always down through the ages liked to watch people spring through the air and land in a heap? I'd rather read The Wit and Wisdom of Herman Hickman or Among the Brownies: The Ordeal of Ned Carver.

A while back, there was even a flurry of writing -- in Esquire, More, the Los Angeles Times and probably Playgirl and Presbyterian Life -- about sportswriting. Writing about sportswriting seemed an odd exercise, like going worm fishing to catch worms, but I enjoyed it when it didn't get too abstract. Sportswriters have interesting day-to-day problems. Consider Ted Colton, then of the Mckeesport, Pennsylvania, Daily News, being chased through the Three Rivers Stadium parking lot by a whole irate Steeler fan club, led by a man in a gorilla suit, for picking Cleveland to take the AFC Central. Or Pete Axthelm of Newsweek, stepping glumly into the Pittsburgh locker room after last year's Super Bowl, surveying the jubilance and saying, "I can't stand to look at a team that hasn't beaten the spread and thinks it's won."

I don't guess anyone is going to make a movie about an intrepid pair of sportswriters. In sports novels sportswriters are always wimps or drunks or sneaks or hacks, or all four. In life they are often abject straight men. A writer asked Alex Johnson, then with the Cincinnati Reds, "Alex, you hit only two homers all last year, and this season you already have seven. What's the difference?" And Alex answered, "Five." Once Bill Bradley's sole response to a reporter who asked him why the Knicks had fined him one hundred dollars was, "You have a stupid job."

But when Henry Aaron dumped strawberries on Frank Hyland of the Atlanta Journal for something Hyland wrote, Hyland got letters of support "from every redneck in the country. One even wanted me to run for President," Hyland told me one spring training, when I found myself talking with, at the same time, him and Pat Livingston of the Pittsburgh Press, whom Mean Joe Greene once spat on. For his part, Livingston said that a guy in a Pittsburgh bar who was dying of cancer anyway offered to shoot Greene for him, but Livingston said no.

I am trying to conceive of a big movie action scene in which sportswriters would be central. I mean one where the sportswriters wouldn't have spit, or strawberries all over them. Sportswriters can be good vigorous drinking arguers. "Stop calling me an asshole!" I remember one scribe yelling to another at the height of a group debate during dinner (paid for by the team we were covering) in a fancy San Francisco restaurant. "I'm on your side and you're calling me an asshole!"

In his new book, Michael Novak proposes that "newspaper and magazine writers, regaining their faith in words, should describe the contests on the field as if no one watched television. ... The human spirit needs words, needs the irony, the subtlety, and the bite of words, and above all the capacity of words to go beneath surfaces, their power to pull aside veils and uncover unsuspected dimensions of human striving. Many regions of athletic experience have scarcely been explored."

Right. But I wonder whether Novak has any real sense of the linguistic problems sportswriters are up against. When athletes speak most naturally about what they do, they tend to use graphic, anatomical language. "I'm gonna be right up in his noseholes," said Joe Frazier. "That pitch I threw, the muscle stay back, the bone keep going," Luis Tiant said, explaining how something snapped in his arm. Athletes can even slap a quick metaphor on you. The Redskins' Larry Brown, asked which runners he has modeled himself on, said: "I've watched Kelly. He was an out-of-sight runner. I can't have the moves that Kelly has. I can't create the moves that Sayers made. I have my own style. I want to be my own man. When I was a kid I used to watch Jimmy Brown and all I can say is if you got a loaded gun, you fire it."

Now you might say that such quotes are a boon to the sportswriter. (And don't you think Norman Mailer would have loved saying what Brown said, substituting Hemingway for Jimmy Brown?) The only trouble is this: How are you going to write vividly enough in between the good quotes to keep your column from looking like a couple of pearls set in a hunk of pot metal?

More often, the problem with players' language is that, in Gertrude Stein's phrase, it is inaccrochable. I once worked for a newspaper whose World War II correspondent sent in a dispatch about a sailor who ran out onto the deck of his aircraft carrier, shook his fist at the strafing planes overhead and yelled, "You fucking Japs!" Only the correspondent knew the paper wouldn't print that, so he changed it to "You damn Japs!" Which the copydesk changed to "You darn Japs!" Sportswriters have similar translation problems. For instance, Sports Illustrated prints a great deal of lively athletic language. Its They Said It column is the best running collection of quotes in any publication of any kind that I know of. But it is also a family magazine, which once changed "crap" in a story of mine to "baloney." In a family magazine you can't print what SI's Ron Fimrite says he once heard a ballplayer in batting practice exclaim: "I couldn't hit my mother-fucking grandmother!"

Sometimes players' language is not only unquotable but sort of otherworldly. Players can make a football game, for instance, sound like a struggle between two grand corporate rumps and their crewmen: "When it comes down to it, we flat got our ass in gear and moved the ball on their ass. Chops was yelling at 'em in the line, 'Just keep on throwing all that quick-popping shit at our ass -- we're gonna bury your ass.' Once we got our ass jacked up and started corning, it was their ass. We hit our ass off out there, didn't we?"

But players' language is standard English compared to coaches'. One afternoon in the University of Tennessee football press box I realized that I could hear every word that a UT coach, in the next booth over, was saying to his colleagues on the field via headphones. Here is roughly how the fourth quarter went:

"He can't bite down too hard on the tight end till he finds out what Z is doing. You see what I mean?

"Okay now break on three watch the screen. You got tango? Watch the screen, watch the screen.

"SCREEN! All right. Holler down there and tell Carmichael. ... Aw, we missed three.

"Seven-five holes! Seven-five holes!

"Tango, tango, c'mon, Ed, watch the slip screen. Slip screen . . . power.

"Tell the comers to funnel and flow away, and watch the Y. And you watch Z now.

"Off. All right, they in man again.

"Watch the option, watch the option. Sprint draw! Sprint draw! Watch out now, watch out, God dang it. Oh no! Great play.

"Tell that backside end to crank up. Tell them backers to crank it now! Crank it!

"Watta ya got? Bluff the side coverage, Mo. Bluff the side coverage, Mo.

"Tell that Watts to get in there on that guy! God dog. Ahrrghlk.

"Pow'r one! Pow'r one! Gonna be the Pitt sweep. Gonna be the Pitt sweep, Guarantee you!

"Nope.

"You got to really come out there and collision that tight end coming down there. . . . Number two, tell Jerry four coverage, get them people cranked up.

"Let's go defense. Forty-four tango! All right, what they got? Forty-four tango?

"All right, let's go. Power.

"Watch the pass, now, watch the pass. Holler at 'em, 'Pass!' Pass! Holler, 'Pass!!'

"Either pass or Pitt sweep ... pow'r. ...
"Let's go, offense. Stick it in 'em! Give 'em hell! Aw.

"Let's go, defense. Loosen off. Loosen off. Tell the tango end to loosen off some. Loosen off the tango end! Loosen off, Art! Tell Poole to get the curl!

"Oskie.

"Tell Wheeler to walk off a little bit, as the tango end.

"Allright! [Great rumble arises, partition shakes.] Give 'em hell!

"Aw. Well, hell, I don't care—we got the damn ball I don't care if they put it back to the damn four, now. Give 'em hell, Carruthers. Woooooeee."\

So there it was. I had the whole inside story. But what was my lead going to say? "Outlined against a gray November sky, the Vols edged the Commodores yesterday as Mo bluffed the side coverage, the tango loosened off and the comers funneled and flowed away?"

Oh, I could go on and on about the word problems of a sportswriter. For instance, when players adopt coaches' language, you get remarks like, "That revenge factor is sweet" (Glenn Doughty, Baltimore Colts) and, "Then that injury factor happened" (Norm Snead, passim). It is little wonder that sportswriters tend to lose perspective themselves and blurt out expressions like "doffed his erstwhile nonentity" to mean "became famous."

But maybe coaches are right, and it is best to look at problems positively, to regard them as opportunities. Sometimes I look at a piece of sportswriting and think. ...

Well, one afternoon I looked at these two paragraphs:

"'I know I've got two games tomorrow and milestones aren't going to be much help,' Willie Stargell of the Pittsburgh Pirates said.

"'When you're playing you just have to grind it out,'" he added.

And I thought, "You can't grind it out with milestones," and for a moment a whole world opened up, of worn-out sports imagery recast: a graduating receiver hauling in the sheepskin, down linemen made of duck feathers, a New York Knick condemned by a witch doctor's curse to a lifetime of moving within the ball ...

Well, I don't know. But the sports pages and the comic sections are the only places in a newspaper where you can still fool around verbally. Maybe someone will take advantage of this freedom and transform sportswriting into a wild macaronic poetry, in which different frames of mind entangle across metaphysical lines of scrimmage. On the other hand, maybe sports headline writers will straighten up just a bit and stop writing headlines like LEUKEMIA THROWS DUSTER AT TWINS' THOMPSON.

People shouldn't sell sportswriters short, anyway. "Regaining their faith in words," indeed! We do have a certain pride, a sense of calling. There is the story about a scribe who showed up in the press box after a game too drunk to write even if he had seen anything that had happened. Firmly within the tradition of old-time sportswriting, he appealed to another scribe to let him copy the story he had just filed.

"Well, I don't know," the sober scribe said.

"Come on," pleaded the drunk scribe.

"But I hate to ..."

"Come on, please."

The sober scribe said oh, okay, and handed over a carbon of his story. The drunk scribe cranked paper into his typewriter and started copying. He got through three paragraphs before he stopped and looked off into the distance.

"To think," he sighed, "that I would be reduced ... to copying shit like this."

Cutting deeply

2008-12-04T08:49:00.000-05:00

It's been another three weeks since my last post, which isn't exactly in keeping with my stated goal of posting more regularly. It remains my intention, but I need to make good on it.

I still care a lot about this business, and while I'm online, that certainly includes print. I'm proud that I've been able to adapt to new ideas and technology at my age, but in my heart, I'll remain an ink-stained wretch until I'm gone.

Anybody who loves what we do is horrified over what's going on right now, and you have to wonder: As the talented veterans are being axed nationwide pretty much simply because they're that -- talented veterans -- what about the next generation? Two issues, and I know this is eight-miles-through-snowdrifts-to-school stuff: 1) Are they going to care as much about diligent, accurate and thorough reporting, well-crafted writing and the stylebook as those before them and 2) giving them the benefit of the doubt, if they do, who's going to be around to teach them?

I can't help but think that a lot of the people who got me started in the right directions when I was coming up wouldn't even be around for me if the current conditions had existed in the late '70s and early '80s.

And the other question that must be asked, although it makes me cringe: With language shortcuts increasing as people e-mail and text more, does some of this really matter? As long as the factual accuracy is there and the message gets across to a new generation of readers/users, is being anal about language and style a thing of the past?

I don't think so personally. But just asking.

My thoughts and wishes are with all of those going through these terrible times.

A good person to listen to

2008-11-12T17:41:00.000-05:00

It's not sports-centric, but Sara Quinn of Poynter interviews veteran Baltimore Sun editor John McIntyre, longtime director of the copy desk there, and publishes it here. What's cool about that link is that it has a lot of links to other writing and editing resources.

And McIntyre himself blogs here, and he has some valuable advice to the copy editors still remaining at America's newspapers (and, presumably, websites).

Death of a story theme

2008-11-06T19:23:00.000-05:00

I like my local paper a lot. Despite all they've been through in these terribly difficult times, they still put out the best paper they can under the circumstances, and that's pretty damn good.

But -- and I was going to write this even before a TV themed thread on the sj.com board concerning the same thing -- writers and editors, and not just at this paper but everywhere, really need to start being more circumspect about writing stories about team members who recently lost loved ones but are somehow muddling through.

Since summer, the local paper has sent an avalanche of college and pro football stories with this basic theme my way. And frankly, they're simply tiresome at this point, and I'm not sure who's served.

It's not that the losses aren't tragic, or that they don't affect the story subject. If a college football player loses his mother or a deeply loved childhood friend in August, it's going to have a profound effect on his life through the fall.

But every story is the same:

Player is having (or expecting to have) a good season, but things just aren't quite the same without (fill in loved one) here.

The player either used to call her before and after every game, or the relative isn't sitting in the same old seat in Section A.

Player has a tattoo with the person's name, or has the name written on his shoes or wristbands, or says a prayer about the person in the locker room before every kickoff.

Then background, how the player is doing or hopes to do, the appropriate quotes. All grinding to one of several typical endings, with a tag something like:

"But he'll never forget."

If you haven't read that story a few times this fall, feel free to comment below.

These have always been a staple of our business, but lately there seems to be a spike even beyond the norm.

So writers and editors, next time a "good story" about somebody losing a loved one but somehow going on with life comes in a phone call or from an SID or a reporter proposes it, think twice: Is this story really going to be something that can be told any differently than ever other one of it its kind. And if not, but if you think it's worth mentioning, how about a notebook item?

Looking for discussion points

2008-11-05T19:20:00.002-05:00

OK, first of all, I know I've been terrible about putting anything worth returning to on this site for, oh, about 10 months, until Tuesday.

My intention is to start posting regularly here. I'm going to have to get my feet settled to decide how much criticism of actual writing I'm going to do here. I'm certainly not going to pick on young writers at small papers or anything like that. But I think I have gained some notions about sportswriting (and editing sportswriting) over 31-plus years in the business. So I'm going to write about what I know and see where it leads me.

As I note on my new signature on my sj.com profile (sf_express), feel free to PM me there with a writing or editing issue you'd like to talk about. Or comment here, or e-mail me at the link to your right.

Do I have any more wisdom than a lot of people in my position? Nope. But I like talking about writing, so let's start doing some of that here.

Please scroll down for a few posts I've done in the past few days. Obviously, four in two days will move everything down quickly. And comment away.

Really nice column, chance to make an elementary point

2008-11-05T18:27:00.002-05:00

Joe Posnanski writes a really nice piece connecting the election of Barack Obama to Posnanski's relationship with Negro league player Buck O'Neil. It's posted on the sj.com message board, and one of the posters rightfully praises the last paragraph. Here are the last three:

He could not get enough. He spoke in classrooms and chatted with people at ballgames and went up to complete strangers in restaurants and at airports, and he believed in this America. It isn't perfect, of course, nothing close to perfect, and there's always a lot to do. Buck said that plenty. But, more, much more, he said: "Look how far we've come. Look how much we've grown. Look how much closer we are."

"How old are you?" he asked me once along the road. I told him.

"Just think," he said. "You will live long enough to see a black president."

OK, this should be an elementary point, but it's all too often missed by writers, particularly younger ones. Forgive me if it's elementary to you.

The last paragraph is great. But would it be as great if written like this?

"Just think. You will live long enough to see a black president," he said.

The answer, of course, is no. Ending a story or column on attribution just leaves it flat. Kills the mood.

I rarely deal in absolutes when it comes to writing, but this is close for me. Never end a story on attribution. Even something as short as this:

"And that," he said, "is that."

Follow CBSSports.com stories on Twitter

2008-11-05T12:55:00.001-05:00

It's a work in progress, but CBSSports.com is putting some of its stories up in a Twitter feed. Not institutional yet, just kind of experimenting. But you can f0llow some updates here.

Oldie but goodie expanded ... respectively yours

2008-11-04T07:19:00.000-05:00

OK, I've railed against the continued, to me extraneous, use of the word "respectively" in sports stories before:

"Jones and Smith finished with 17 and 15 points, respectively."

My argument is that readers aren't dumb, and from that construction, it's clear who scored what without the word. Every now and then you run across a case where it's needed; not in 99.9 percent of them.

Now there's another one that's driving me more nuts, in a sports writing sense.

"Jones and Smith led their respective teams to bowl games in 2007."

This is a 100 percent deal: What possible use does the word "respective" have in that construction. Answer: None.

Who else's team would they have led to bowl games?

But I'm seeing it all the time. I'd give another example, but that one says it all. And we should look to eradicate that completely unnecessary construction in 2009.

Time for change, and all that.

Speaking of change, I truly intend to start writing regularly here again after a number of false starts. So if you happen by here and see this, give me a look every now and then.

Happy election day.

Style resources for journalists

2008-01-11T18:48:00.000-05:00

Here are some style resources for journalists, online or otherwise.

Hyperlinks

The classic writing stylebook: Elements of Style

Associated Press: Ask the Editor

The Slot: Bill Walsh, Copy Chief, Washington Post national desk
The Slot Blog
The Slot: Sharp Points

Bob Baker's News Thinking

SportsJournalists.com (a couple of examples of style discussions):
One posted just today is here
Hyphen madness
Capitalization crisis

Wikipedia on:
Style
Style guides

Also:
An example of a Website style guide

A(nother) thought on Roger Clemens

2008-01-07T13:22:00.000-05:00

I just sent (basically) this e-mail to our baseball writer. I'm having a bit of a hard time with this, although right now it's a hypothetical hard time, because as noted below, a lot might still happen:

Here's my thought on Clemens, but I don't know how much more can be said. Although the boss and I just had a spirited discussion about it, so I guess ...

Let's say that he retires, and five years from now, the only person who has ever connected Roger Clemens to steroids is McNamee. No paper, no checks, no admissions (obviously), nobody else says, "Yeah, he did that." Nothing. Just one guy saying it, and a lot of others saying, "Well, look at him. It's obvious."

Clemens goes before Congress and through several civil suits, and every time he testifies, he categorically denies that he did steroids. Not even a hint of a crack in his story. And not another shred of proof.

How can people justify not voting him into the Hall on the first ballot?

Some say, "Well, why would McNamee lie?" I don't know. Why are there serial killers, or why do people streak across football fields or indulge in any other sociopathic behavior? Maybe he wanted 15 minutes of fame, and fingering the most famous guy he was connected with was the way he did it.

Bottom line: People would keep the greatest pitcher of his generation out of the Hall of Fame based on ONE PERSON saying something and a feeling. And that seems wrong to me.

Now, as (my boss) correctly notes, there's five years between now and then, and a lot of time to sort things out. And yes, I believe Clemens did steroids. And just so we're clear, I'm not a Clemens fan, have never been a fan of a single team he has been connected with. So it's not about that.

But if we're sitting here five years from now with exactly the same amount of proof we have today, then that's going to be a hell of a dilemma. Or, more to the point, should be.

Happy Holidays, and a blogger's resolution

2007-12-24T18:39:00.000-05:00

It has been quite a hectic year in SWE_Blogger's life, both good things and bad. As a result, this site hasn't been taken care of properly and has therefore been mostly irrelevant.

We're hoping to change that in 2008, so if you happen by here and see this note, check by again soon.

While we'll comment on sports issues, I also want to make this a place where we talk about the things that can make the business fun and interesting -- words and style, photos, display, trends.

So stop by soon, and have a good holiday.

Coming back

2007-10-28T13:02:00.000-04:00

Well, I've obviously been away for a long time. It's my intention to get this thing up and running again and start regular posting. We'll see if I actually follow through.

Posting today about the amazing story of Colleen Bellotti, wife of Oregon football coach Mike, angrily confronting Portland Oregonian columnist John Canzano over a column he wrote about their son. Canzano writes about the whole thing in his blog, and the New York Times chronicles it, too.

Adande officially to ESPN.com

2007-08-16T18:20:00.000-04:00

Wasn't a well-kept secret, rumored when he took the buyout at the L.A. Times, but J.J. Adande has started writing a column for ESPN. com. David Davis writes about it on SoCalSportsObserved.

Blogging here and me

2007-06-17T13:40:00.000-04:00

Going to be brief today, a busy day.

Actually, brief is better than what I've been doing. This blog has often been neglected, as you can see.

June is a travel/vacation month for me, so I've been looking here even less than usual. But I really intend to use this forum more regularly starting in late June/early July, and not just for passing news.

So keep checking back; hopefully, the links are helpful (and more are always welcome), and we'll start doing something interesting here soon.

Christine Daniels interview in Newsweek

2007-05-14T12:53:00.000-04:00

Lorraine Ali does an interview/Q&A with L.A. Times reporter Christine Daniels, and it's published here online in Newsweek.

I worked with Christine when she was Mike Penner back at the Times back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A great colleague and friend -- although like many of us, we lose touch when there are thousands of miles between -- and I wish her nothing but the best.

Dave Nightingale dies

2007-04-13T12:20:00.000-04:00

Dave Nightingale, an old-school baseball beat writer for the Chicago Daily News and then the Tribune has died at 72, the Tribune reports. Dave's son, Van, is also in the newspaper business. Condolences to the family.

Washingtonpost.com sports editor dies

2007-03-16T12:35:00.000-04:00

William C. Grant, sports editor of washingtonpost.com, dies at 53 from melanoma. He was known as an extremely hard worker who loved his job, the obituary says.

Courant's Alan Greenberg dies

2007-03-07T16:10:00.000-05:00

Alan Greenberg, a highly respected -- and beloved in the business -- writer for the Hartford Courant has died at 55 of an apparent heart attack.

There's a thread with a lot of shocked posters here on sj.com.

Borges suspended for two months

2007-03-07T13:11:00.000-05:00

The Boston Globe has suspended veteran writer Ron Borges for two months without pay after passages from a Tacoma writer's story appeared almost identically in a football notes column by Borges. It's the natural progression in the always slippery practice of notes exchanges. Dan Shanoff says that practice should be ended, and me makes a good point; in the print-only days, there might have been some value to readers in such exchanges, but these days, when anybody can read anything on the Internet, what's the point? And here's Deadspin on the whole mess.

The Chronicle/Balco case

2007-02-19T15:08:00.000-05:00

The first post of a message board thread on sj.com, called 'How do we feel about the Chron guys now?'

sfgate

L.A. Times

These two opinions aren't so positive.

Are we, as a group, having any second thoughts about the support these guys got? Obviously, it was based on the information we had.

Thoughts? Seems like a worthy topic for here, given the "sticky" thread back in those early days.

End post.

The thread itself is slow; somebody asked me about that. I think some people are simply confused about what to think after all the support Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams were given within the industry. Given all we know now, are a lot of people having second thoughts?

Or maybe it's just the holiday.

More on Van

2007-01-29T14:20:00.000-05:00

The passing of Van McKenzie has created one of the most inspiring threads in the history of sportsjournalists.com. I'm sure it will stay near the top for quite a while, but you can get it here as well.

Meanwhile, this was taken out and made a sticky, the getting-more-famous-by the-minute "Vanifesto" that Van wrote when he was hired to return to the Orlando Sentinel.

A legend leaves us

2007-01-26T11:56:00.000-05:00

Van McKenzie, one of the most important sports editors of the past 50 years and an equally large character, has died of cancer at 61. His obituary in the Orlando Sentinel -- his last stop in a 'nomadic' career (to say the least) -- describes the man who influenced the business for four decades and whose stamp will remain on the way sports sections are produced and how they look and read long after he's gone.

I never worked with Van, but I knew him through APSE, played poker with him a few times, ate dinner or drank with him a few times. And I certainly worked with others whose careers were profoundly influenced by him. And I don't think I ever heard anybody say a negative word about the man -- quite a feat in this business.

Wilbon: More ESPN, less Post

2007-01-25T17:59:00.000-05:00

After signing a big new deal with ESPN, Michael Wilbon tells Harry Jaffe of the Washingtonian that he won't be leaving the Post altogether but won't be writing two or three columns a week for it anymore, either. "I might write columns for the Web. I might have a blog. I might do something with Tony [Kornheiser] on the Web. I’ll do whatever Don Graham and Len Downie want me to do. ESPN did not create the Wilbon-and-Kornheiser brand. The Post did."

Berkow to retire

2007-01-15T13:47:00.000-05:00

Highly decorated and respected writer Ira Berkow is retiring from the New York Times' sports department. He intends to continue writing, though. The memo announcing his departure is posted on Romenesko.

End of the year

2006-12-29T14:47:00.000-05:00

First of all, a Happy New Year to everybody.

My resolution as it pertains to this page is to keep it more up to date and relevant in 2007. I now have all the tools needed at home to do so, and I'm going to make the effort. I promise. Hopefully, even when we're between new posts, the links are helpful. And keep those coming; I haven't said no to anybody yet.

Anyway, Carl Bialik and Jason Fry of the blog The Daily Fix at the Wall Street Journal give their Top 10 columns of 2006. It's an eclectic mix.

Tribune's Adee leaving sports

2006-12-07T20:01:00.000-05:00

Bill Adee, who has a long career in sports at both the Chicago Sun-Times and then the Tribune is going to become the new "associated managing editor for innovation" there.

Don't know Bill well, but have always heard good things about him. Should be a pretty interesting job as newspapers continue to try to catch up on the Internet.

To vote or not to vote

2006-11-27T14:38:00.000-05:00

In Friday's Chicago Sun-Times, Jay Mariotti says it's time sportswriters stopped voting for awards of any kind -- MVP, Hall of Fame, anything. In Newsday on Sunday, Jim Baumbach writes about writers and editors on both sides of the debate.

Jemele Hill debuts

2006-11-16T17:05:00.000-05:00

Old and bitter vs. young and open-minded lightning rod Jemele Hill has written her debut column for ESPN.com.

Predictably, a thread was been started on sportsjournalists.com, and it's expanding with record-breaking speed. And predictably, it not only addresses the merits of her first column but takes more shots at her personally.

UPDATE: Subsequently, it was not even locked with record-breaking speed. It was taken down altogether. So the link I had above is gone.

I think we need more Jemele Hills stirring things up in this business, but of course that's not going to fly with with the increasingly grumpy sportswriting establishment, many of whom are simply jealous over the opportunity she has gotten and the money she's making but who, of course, would never admit that.

Their denial doesn't make it less so.

More fun in Chicago

2006-10-27T13:55:00.000-04:00

Some people don't like it when columnists and rival papers -- or, God forbid, columnists at the same paper -- take shots at each other.

Me, I love it.

Latest out of Chicago, where the Sun-Times' Jay Mariotti and Rick Telander have been known to go at it, is a print dustup between the Tribune's Rick Morrissey and Telander.

Morrissey doesn't like the fact that the Sun-Times has replaced the 'o' in Chicago in its nameplate with a Bears helmet and palm tree (the unbeaten Bears are trying to get to Miami for the Super Bowl, get it?)

Telander doesn't like the fact that Morrissey doesn't like the fact.

Some pretty good sniping. Of course, Tribune Co.'s ownership of the Cubs doesn't come up at all.

Oregonian hires somebody to investigate -- itself

2006-10-26T19:25:00.000-04:00

The Oregonian has hired former Mercury News sports editor Craig Lancaster to investigate its relationship with the Trail Blazers. He's going to report it independently, and it will be edited by somebody outside of sports (maybe the paper), and they'll print it and let the chips fall where they may. Read all about it here at truehoop.com.

Paper protests UT ban of reporter

2006-10-13T18:39:00.000-04:00

The Dave Hooker saga continues. Tennessee banned the Knoxville News-Sentinel reporter until Oct. 23 for doing an unauthorized interview with a player. Today, the paper formally protested. As you might expect, there's quite a lively thread about this on SJ.com.

Baseball and steroids, again

2006-10-04T12:30:00.000-04:00

And now the self-flagellation has begun. In this piece by Joe Strupp of Editor & Publisher, a number of baseball writers and sports editors said they should have explored and presumably uncovered the use of steroids in baseball much sooner.

OK. But I'm going to continue to be of the opinion that unless they physically saw steroids being used or, as in the BALCO/Bonds case, got ahold of some kind of legal document (like grand jury testimony) or got people on the record saying that they knew of steroid use (or had used themselves) or ran the risk (ethical and otherwise) of using unnamed sources, that it wasn't going to be that easy of a story to write.

Yeah, they could have tried harder, I suppose. But I think it's possible all it would have meant is that they'd feel better about the effort in hindsight, not that things would have come to light sooner.

Slate on Albom

2006-09-29T13:11:00.000-04:00

Bryan Curtis of Slate writes about the Freep's Mitch Albom here. It's really more about his novel writing, but it does touch on his sports writing, too -- actually, this article connects the two.

T.O a day later

2006-09-28T13:23:00.000-04:00

Lots of looking back at the T.O.-Story-That-Apparently-Wasn't yesterday. Jay Hart in the Allentown Morning Call basically says it was mostly the media's fault. Gregg Doyel on CBS SportsLine says there's no way that was the case, that you had a famous athlete and a police report saying a suicide attempt was involved.

In the Miami Herald, Dan Le Batard leans in the "blame the media" direction, but he says he's "explaining" not "condemning." I read the column twice, and Dan never mentions from what I can see that he does a radio show with T.O.

In the Boston Globe, Dan Shaughnessy is in the "media made it a circus" camp as well.

And this is Jason Whitlock in the Kansas City Star, saying that when you've been a look-at-me guy for as long as T.O. has been, you've got to expect this sort of thing.

Interesting new site

2006-09-18T16:45:00.000-04:00

Steve Marantz sent me a link to an interesting new site, which is called Sports Media Guide. From home page intro: "SMG is a website for fans, media professionals and media students. SMG's mission is to humanize sports media while exploring the art and craft of sports coverage. SMG is a teaching resource for high school, college and graduate school curricula."

It's a series of interviews with people in the business, and the firstwas Aug. 17. Helene Elliott was the latest.

Important note on press freedom

2006-09-18T14:56:00.000-04:00

Something extremely important to all of us in the business is happening Thursday in San Francisco. Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams will find out of they will be doing jail time for refusing to name their source(s) in the BALCO grand jury testimony case.

I'm going to cheat and let sj.com do the compilation for me, but want to cross-link it. There's a growing thread on the whole thing here. A show of solidarity is scheduled for those who can make it at 1:30 p.m. PT on Thurday. All the details are on the thread.

Whitlock on Kornheiser

2006-09-08T12:22:00.000-04:00

Jason Whitlock writes column about Tony Kornheiser in today's Kansas City Star. It's a nice read and I have no problems with it -- but I note nonjudgmentally how much this business has changed in 20 years. It might have happened after a death or a retirement, but can you imagine, in the regular course of things, Jimmy Cannon writing a column about Red Smith, for example?

Simers on Simers

2006-08-30T15:12:00.000-04:00

T.J. Simers does a Q&A with a blogger on this, The Big Lead.

Not surprisingly, given the reactions he usually provokes, this led to not one but two threads on sj.com.

On the second, Simers himself speaks, through Jason Whitlock.

Visser to the Hall

2006-08-03T12:57:00.000-04:00

In yesterday's Sun-Sentinel, Patrick Dorsey did a really nice story on CBS' Leslie Visser, who's entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend. Visser comes across in the feature as exactly as she has always been thought of -- a class act.

Whitlock on diversity

2006-07-20T18:12:00.000-04:00

Jason Whitlock writes an interesting column on who's responsible for the lack of diversity in newspaper sports sections in today's Kansas City Star. He says that would-be minority sports writers have to shoulder part of the blame.

As you'd expect, this prompted a thread and debate on the sj.com board, and a good point was made: Just because a prominent black sportswriter says that the lack of diversity isn't all newspapers' fault, that doesn't mean they should assume they can be comfortable with their makeup. There has to be a strong commitment to diversity from all sides.

L.A. Times scales back hockey coverage

2006-07-17T17:49:00.000-04:00

Randy Harvey confirms for LA Observed that the Los Angeles Times will cease to travel with the Kings and Ducks for the most part, and that Hockey Hall of Famer Helene Elliott will no longer write a weekly NHL column, becoming a general columnist who sometimes writes about hockey.

I know times (lowercase) are tough, and Harvey is obviously facing tough decisions. But when the major metro of record in a city like Los Angeles isn't granted the resources that allow it to travel with all of its pro sports franchises -- at least early in the season when they remain in contention -- something is really wrong.

We've seen it coming in increments, but this news, coupled with the expected vast cutbacks at the Dallas Morning News, is extremely depressing for anybody who saw how good sports sections were not that long ago.

A golden age is ending, if it hasn't ended already.

Chad on diversity

2006-07-05T12:25:00.000-04:00

Norman Chad weighs in, predictably irreverently, on the lack of diversity in the leadership of newspaper sports departments.

Wilstein and steroids

2006-06-30T12:19:00.000-04:00

Steve Wilstein, the AP reporter who found the bottle of andro in Mark McGwire's locker and subsequently ended up writing "hundreds" of steroid stories as they became an integral part of the sports scene, discusses his retirement at 57 with Joe Strupp of E&P. Wilstein says one reason for his retirement was his father's ongoing fight with cancer, but he says the fact that he simply tired of writing about the abuse of performance enhancing drugs was a major factor, too.

'To hell with them'

2006-06-29T17:12:00.000-04:00

I'm running out of energy/interest on the Mariotti front, but he talks about all the heat and criticism he's taking, so I pass the Chicago Reader story on to you with little comment beyond that.

More on ... you guessed it ...

2006-06-26T13:14:00.000-04:00

Well, this Guillen/Mariotti thing isn't going away anytime soon, obviously.

Rick Telander weighs in on his Sun-Times colleague in this column, which Jason Whitlock describes on sj.com as "Telander knocks out Mariotti." As you'd expect, a lively debate is ensuing on several threads on that site.

Meanwhile, Mariotti's father rather eloquently comes to his defense in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review -- whether you agree or not is another matter, particularly since he never addresses the key point about whether Jay should at least show up at the ballpark now and then.

After vacation and then not generally having much to post about for most of June, things have certainly livened up.

By the way, with DSL/cable finally going to go into my condo sometime soon, I'm hoping to keep this site more relevant on a daily basis. We shall see, of course.

Morrissey on Mariotti/Guillen

2006-06-25T12:31:00.000-04:00

Rick Morrissey writes in the Chicago Tribune about the Jay Mariotti-Ozzie Guillen business. He correctly notes that if you're going to rip somebody, you have a professional obligation to show up in that clubhouse or locker room now and then, preferably sooner than later.

One man's view

2006-06-22T12:38:00.000-04:00

'Sports journalism critic' and Ball State journalism professor Scott Reinardy discusses the state of the business in this Minneapolis Star-Tribune Q&A. Not a lot new, really -- not enough reporting, sports writers should be good news reporters first, those in our business 'ignored' the steroids-in-baseball issue for a long time. I've said enough about the latter.

Ozzie vs. Mariotti

2006-06-22T12:34:00.000-04:00

Ozzie Guillen apologizes, kind of, for calling columnist Jay Mariotti a "fag," in this Sun-Times story. This is Mariotti's take on the whole thing. Neither Guillen nor Mariotti is backing down -- and Mariotti shouldn't, although I'm not sure I agree completely with his stance on not having to visit the locker rooms of those you criticize (but he makes the point that he's subject to excess abuse when he does).

Simers profile

2006-06-01T13:54:00.000-04:00

L.A. Magazine's RJ Smith writes about T.J. Simers in a profile that's finally online here. Not a great deal of groundbreaking for those who know him/about him, but an interesting profile of where he is in his career right now.

More Monday morning quarterbacking

2006-05-31T13:58:00.000-04:00

In Jon Friedman's MarketWatch column, Robert Lipsyte is the latest to say sports writers and editors should have dug deeper into Barry Bonds/steroids when the signals were so obvious.

For the 1,000th time, the same question: Absent the leaked grand jury testimony -- or Bonds talking on the record -- just how was this story to be reported? A paper trail? Probably not. Sources (like a wronged girlfriend)? How can we be sure about the credibility there. Observing? Observing what?

I obviously respect Lipsyte, but nobody has given me a good answer as to what reporters were supposed to be doing on this front until illegally leaked grand jury testimony dropped in somebody's lap.

Talese on sports writing

2006-05-31T12:50:00.000-04:00

Writer Gay Talese, who once was a sports writer for the New York Times talks about the business with Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch.

Moran goes to college

2006-05-12T12:36:00.000-04:00

In today's Chicago Tribune, Teddy Greenstein writes about USA Today's Malcolm Moran leaving his writing job to take over as director of the Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State. Moran, who once worked for the Tribune, has covered countless big events in his 52 years and will bring a non-textbook wealth of experience to his new position.

Rapoport's farewell

2006-05-05T14:19:00.000-04:00

Ron Rapoport, who I believe I met a couple of times and whose geographic path around the country I (very loosely) followed for a bit, writes his farewell column in today's Chicago Sun-Times. A very solid writer and newspaper professional who covered a lot of things over the years.

Assault on the Internet?

2006-05-05T12:46:00.000-04:00

The "First Amendment of the Internet" -- Net Neutrality -- is apparently in jeopardy in legislation being considered by Congress. The issues are a bit beyond my range to weigh in heavily on, but here is an (admittedly partisan) huffingtonpost.com explanation of the issues involved by Adam Green. My understanding is that big internet providers are seeking the ability to set up a system in which the more you pay, the more accessible and faster your Website will be for the general public. From one wired.com article explaining this: "Broadband providers such as AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon Communications want to expand from flat pricing and also sell tiers of service based on the speed, reliability and security of the bandwidth used. While those providers have said they would not block access to the open internet, companies that sell products or services online want Congress to adopt stricter safeguards to ensure they are not pushed into a slower lane of the internet if they do not pay more for dedicated network service." Green's post has all sorts of links of interest, to petitions and other things.

'Sports as Soap Opera'

2006-05-01T14:34:00.000-04:00

Mark Galli, in Christianity Today, of all places, laments the fact that in many papers, the game story is no longer about the game. It's an interesting take, since "conventional wisdom" in 2006 is that readers already know about the game when they get to their morning papers, so we need to go beyond the on-field action to give them something new. Galli argues the opposite.

LA Weekly on Simers

2006-04-20T12:17:00.000-04:00

Bruce Bauman writes about L.A. Times Page 2 columnist T.J. Simers in an LA People 2006 feature. Captures him pretty well, although I'm trying to figure out why all these stories are dated Wednesday, December 31, 1969.

Updated: The fixed the date problem mentioned above.

Blogger wants baseball credentials

2006-04-14T15:07:00.000-04:00

Gabe Stein of DenverSportsZone.com has started a movement called MLB Fair Press saying that baseball should open its credentialing process to 'legitimate blogging.' As blogs gain stature, it will be interesting to see how MLB handles this can of worms; press boxes have fixed seating, so where do you cut off which blogs can get access and which can't? I have a feeling they'll keep the door closed for now, petitions and letters and e-mails not withstanding.

And, of course, sj.com has weighed in.

Uh-oh ...

2006-04-14T12:31:00.000-04:00

The Sports Journalism Summit, which I'm really now regretting not attending, is producing a running blog, and this is one of the entries, by Poynter's Meg Martin:

"I ran into this blog as I searched for old-school sports stories yesterday. I don't know who the blogger is -- he or she is identified only as "SWE_Blogger," but it's called Sports Writing and Editing, and looks to be a great resource for -- yes -- sports writers and editors."

With a link, of course.

This is a good "uh-oh," actually. I'm not nearly as diligent about updating this blog as I probably should be; when something hits me over the head, I'll take five minutes during a break at work to link to it, but that's about it. I hope those postings are helpful, as well as the links down the right side (speaking of which, feel free to use the e-mail address on the right if you have a sports journalism, or simply sports, site you'd like me to link to).

But when I get through with an expected technological upgrade at home, I intend to be a little more involved on a daily basis, and this notice will help to jumpstart me.

I'll also start checking the swe_blogger@yahoo.com address a little more regularly -- daily? -- to see thoughtful responses like the one I got concerning the Krieger item just below this one.

So keep items coming, and I'll be a little more responsive as well. And thanks for the interest.

And Meg, for the record, I'm a "he" and have been in the news business in one form or another since 1977.

Wheatley new Sun AME/sports

2006-04-12T14:00:00.000-04:00

Tim Wheatley, who I had the pleasure of working with at one of my many tour stops, is the new AME/sports at the Baltimore Sun. Memo is courtesy of Romenesko.

Tim replaces Randy Harvey, who recently took over for Bill Dwyre at the Los Angeles Times. Lots of big moves in sports section management this year.

RMN's Dave Krieger on sports writing

2006-04-12T13:48:00.000-04:00

Apparently, even though he's a four-times-a-week sports columnist, he doesn't think much of it.

Look, the point a lot of people continue to miss is this: No other section of the paper has to approach daily coverage from so many different directions.

Sure, perhaps interested in steroid use should have been ratcheted up a few notches a lot earlier. (I still maintain that little that was reportable was "uncovered" until a grand jury got involved.)

But let's say we unleashed armies of investigative reporters uncovering scandal and impropriety all over the sports world. Would sports sections' readers be better served?

Business sections report news with some features sprinkled in. Same with local/metro sections.

The sports section is one that that includes what amounts to entertainment news, plus features, "reviews" (game coverage, if you will) and, yes, hard news.

Abandoning the sports section's core readers to focus on "uncovering" scandal isn't the answer. Most come to sports sections to be entertained, and to escape.

Some find this as apologism for maintaining the "toy department" philosphy; I don't see how it can be denied.

There's room for hard news in the sports section, obviously; and Dave's right, it's not the sports media's job to help cover up scandal.

But there are a lot of things that need to be done to put out a good sports section. "Sports journalism" is not an oxymoron. It's just a different kind of journalism.

Deford on sports journalism

2006-04-07T12:17:00.000-04:00

Frank Deford talks about the state of sports journalism in a speech at DeSales University, and some of his thoughts are recounted by the Morning Call's Gordie Jones in this piece published April 6. Paul Sokoloski of the Express-Times also writes about Deford's appearance.

'Where is the journalism?'

2006-04-05T18:12:00.000-04:00

In the Phoenix, Mark Jurkowitz takes sports writers and editors to task for not doing more groundbreaking reporting that would unearth stories like the use of steroids in baseball. It's a good read; as usual, kind of left unsaid -- amid the usual talk that sports writers simply aren't interested in serious stories and are more fans than reporters -- is what "journalists trained and skilled in collecting information from numerous sources" would or could have learned about steroid use without the existence of grand jury testimony, as in the Bonds case. Simply noting "quick and massive muscle growth, pimple-strewn backs" isn't going to cut it for publication.

Sports writing has issues -- but assembling investigate teams that are going to go out and break a lot of huge stories isn't as simple as this story makes it sound.

Bonds and ESPN

2006-03-31T12:21:00.000-05:00

Many ESPN staffers are upset with the network's decision to run a reality series on Barry Bonds (Bonds on Bonds) with Bonds sharing in the marketing revenue. Phil Mushnick and Richard Sandomir weigh in on what Mushnick says is "the closest thing to a palace revolt ever conducted against ESPN."

On baseball writers and Bonds

2006-03-10T19:54:00.000-05:00

Jon Friedman takes the media to task for not investigating Barry Bonds sooner than the two Chronicle reporters whose book is about to come out. And in a letter to Romensko, author Evan Weiner says "baseball writers are baseball apologists first, baseball lovers second and journalists third." I'm sure there's some validity in both opinions, but my same question remains: Without the grand jury testimony, what were newspapers and other media going to do about Barry Bonds -- say he looked like he was on steroids? Rely on the word of other -- disgruntled exes, friends and hangers-on -- that he was doing them? With everybody looking at themselves these days -- and others like Friedman and Weiner doing it for us -- I still wonder where the Chronicle investigation (wonderful work, no doubt) would be if BALCO and the grand jury hadn't come along. What reportable information would have led us to connect Barry Bonds and steroids sooner? Nobody seems to have a good answer to that.

RPC on sportswriting

2006-03-02T12:36:00.000-05:00

In advance of Poynter's Sports Journalism Summit, senior scholar Roy Peter Clark writes about sportswriting in Passing the Torch: Don't Let Great Sportswriting Flame Out, which was posted on the site yesterday. Good stuff.

A day in Turin

2006-02-27T16:16:00.000-05:00

Frank Fitzpatrick of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes about the life of a scribe at the Winter Olympics. For outsiders and up-and-comers who think sports writers ought to simply shut up and be grateful for having a wonderful job, it might be an eye-opener. Certainly didn't strike me as an appealing 17 days.

AP-LPGA dispute resolved

2006-02-24T14:24:00.000-05:00

You figured it wouldn't go on for very long; the LPGA had too much to lose. Here's the statement:

LPGA/AP joint statement regarding revisions to photo media credential regulations and coverage of this week’s Fields Open in Hawaii Feb. 24, 2006

The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and The Associated Press (AP) have resolved today the most significant issues arising from revised media credential regulations for coverage of the LPGA Fields Open tournament in Kapolei, Hawaii. Beginning today, AP will provide normal coverage of the event.

The LPGA has always intended for its credentials to provide media companies with the same rights to use news and information obtained at LPGA events that are available from other mainstream sports leagues and governing bodies. AP is satisfied with assurances from the LPGA that its regulations were never intended to and don’t limit access or editorial use of information and photos obtained at their events.

The LPGA confirmed today that the following language applies to its events and will be included in future editions of its credential regulations:

Notwithstanding any other provisions of the LPGA Photographer and Journalist Media Credential Regulations, media outlets may make unrestricted editorial use of any images or articles they create pursuant to their access to any LPGA event.

AP also confirmed on Thursday that it had no objections to limits on commercial use of its coverage in the LPGA media credentials, which is a standard provision of most major event credentialing policies.

Rosenbush leaving SI

2006-02-24T14:22:00.000-05:00

Veteran newspaper and magazine editor Sandy Rosenbush is leaving her job at Sports Illustrated, her managing editor has announced. In Sandy's immediate future is devoting even more time to her great work with the Sports Journalism Institute. There also might be some additional teaching in her future. Those who have worked with her consider one of the best in the biz.

Stupidity, thou art spelled 'L-P-G-A'

2006-02-22T17:40:00.000-05:00

This just in from the AP through an advisory e-mail:

"The Ladies Professional Golf Association has introduced new media regulations to which news organizations must agree before being admitted to cover LPGA events. AP considers some of the changes to be unacceptable. They impose unusually strict limits on permitted use of stories and photos produced by journalists, and give the LPGA broad rights to use those stories and photos for their own purposes at no charge.AP journalists have been denied admission to the Fields Open unless they sign these terms without modification.

"AP is in discussion with the LPGA, but until our differences are resolved we are unable to cover LPGA events."

Just what the LPGA, with a lot of young stars just arriving and a chance for a huge spike in interest, wants to do: Alienate the people who cover them.

Without specifics, pretty dumb on its face. But I don't know that it's going to look any less dumb WITH specifics.

AP on ESPN's Solomon

2006-02-20T12:33:00.000-05:00

David Bauder, AP's TV writer, checks out ESPN's experiment with ombudsman George Solomon after six months on the job. Vimce Doria, ESPN's news director, says Solomon's observations haven't reversed any decisions or changed policies. I suppose at that juncture, I kind of wonder: What's the point then?

Got it wrong, but all right

2006-02-09T19:52:00.000-05:00

Veteran, admired baseball write Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News says he was wrong about Jim Beattie being the next GM of the Reds ("I was misled by a couple of outside sources, who believed Beattie was the choice. They were wrong and I was submarined.") but says he's happy with choice Wayne Krivsky. I think Hal will probably survive this career misstep.

More award mania

2006-02-06T12:30:00.000-05:00

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel becomes the latest paper to announce it will no longer vote for sports awards. This is a news story by Charles Bricker. In the print edition, a column was written by relatively new sports editor Brian White.

Janet Weaver on Lee

2006-02-06T12:24:00.000-05:00

The Tampa Tribune editor writes about her decision last week to fire high school reporter Rozel Lee for tweaking her vote for an award, rating one player lower than she would have so another won.

The spin on Deadspin

2006-01-30T15:01:00.000-05:00

The New York Times has a story today talking about the increasing relevance of deadspin.com. Will Leitch, who started the site, once covered the Cardinals for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "My hope is that every single person who visits the site comes away with something that no one else is telling them," he told the Times.

Kornheiser vs. Wise?

2006-01-27T17:48:00.000-05:00

Harry Jaffe writes about the supposed feud between Washington Post sports columnists Tony Kornheiser, the beloved veteran, and relative newcomer Mike Wise. But it comes off as being more show biz than showdown.

And the NFL wanted to go back?

2006-01-27T14:22:00.000-05:00

Joe Strupp of Editor and Publisher talks with sports writers to chronicle the horror of covering the 1982 Super Bowl, the last one played in Detroit. Among the problems: bad weather, late or broken down transportation and an ill-timed arrival and departure by Vice President Bush. They're hoping for better this time around.

Also rans

2006-01-26T17:47:00.000-05:00

The Washington City Paper writes about the Washington Post's decision to drop charts and entries from Laurel Park and Pimlico. Writer Dave McKenna wonders how long they'll be able to get away with it; the Baltimore Sun did something similar a while back but wound up putting them back in after reader complaints. Certainly, this wouldn't have worked 25 years ago, but with the Internet, horse players now have plenty of places to find results. I'm guessing they're gone for good. Also, veteran turf writer Joe Kelly notes that the Sun used to have a rule against giving results over the phone and said most papers probably did. He's right; every place I ever worked, we told callers it was illegal to give them over the phone -- whether it was really true or not.

Hard to imagine

2006-01-23T16:17:00.000-05:00

The Palm Beach Daily News writes about sports editor Mike Strauss, and with good reason -- he's been working in newspapers for 75 years. And at 93, he's not ready to retire yet.

Slate on the Redskins, others

2006-01-23T13:59:00.000-05:00

Jack Shafer at Slate weighs in on the efforts of Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder (and others) to control the information disseminated about their teams by purchasing or running media outlets like radio stations and fan sites. His take on the modern sports writer is, in most cases, about 30 years out of date. I do, however (and always have) agree that entertaining readers is an extremely important part of sports writing and separates it from the work of reporters in other sections.

East Coast bias?

2006-01-20T18:33:00.000-05:00

Dave Doyle of foxsports.com looks into whether this is fact or myth in this story posted today. The case is made by those on both sides of the debate. I tend to agree with the notion that it might have been the case somewhat when the only way to get information was in East Coast dailies that couldn't get West Coast scores into the paper, but that the situation has changed drastically with 24-hour sports news on TV and radio and, of course, the Internet.

Where I work, our writers get accused of it all the time -- we get a lot of "biased New Yorkers," too. Of course, that ignores the fact that those writers are based in Ohio, Kansas, Florida, California and yes, one in New York -- and that they come from completely disparate backgrounds.

Um, never mind

2006-01-19T13:49:00.000-05:00

Good sports sections have good planning and preparation, and the Indianapolis Star was certainly ready for the Colts winning the Super Bowl. The downside, of course, is when the thing you planned for fails to materialize. Editor & Publisher writes about the Star's best-laid plans -- including special sections, victory editions, 20 staffers at the Big Game and a book -- that went down the tubes when the Colts lost in the divisional playoffs to the Steelers. "It is a big letdown," said Tim Wheatley, the paper's assistant managing editor/sports. "But we are on to the next thing. At least now we've got a great plan for next year."

Campaigns against writers

2006-01-13T19:46:00.000-05:00

Part of me doesn't even want to dignify it by noting, but it is being discussed in the sports media, and I'm certainly not worried about the Globe listening, so what the heck. A site called bostonsportsmedia.com is trying to drum up a campaign to get veteran scribe Ron Borges fired. It will fail, of course. When those things start actually being taken seriously, this business has devolved into a place I don't particularly want to be.

Saying goodbye to Shav

2005-12-28T12:41:00.000-05:00

T.J. Simers writes his Christmas Day column about retiring L.A. Times auto racing writer Shav Glick. A very nice piece about an old-school newspaper guy -- but also a bit sad on one front. When asked what he'd tell an aspring young journalist, he replied: "Get out of the newspaper business." And this from a guy, Simers notes, who wouldn't be retiring if his health would allow him to continue.