High school game previews

High school sports season starts back up for us this week and with it comes the dreaded - but simple - game previews each week.

I'm looking for ideas on presenting these in print for our readers concerning three teams each week. And.... Go.

 

Set a line and an over-under, give your picks and best bet each week.

 

Start -- or continue -- drinking heavily.

 

Anecdotal lead, nut graph, opposing team info, quote, home team recent info, quote, tie-in with lead. Rinse, repeat as necessary.

 

If it's around a holiday, be sure to reference that in the lead. "Labor Day is Monday, but the Podunk Knight will be hard at work Friday night." "Halloween may be on Saturday this year, but Bumcrap High will be looking to put a scare into East Popcornville on Friday."

 

I got a good laugh at of those corny leads. I've unfortunately read too many like it. I'm also probably guilty of have written something similar in my younger days.

 

Pick a "Game of the Week." Highlight that with a feature on a player (or two players, if it's two local teams playing one another). Then capsule the rest.

 

This is what we're moving to. The in-town team is always previewed, but we'll pick one game from the other schools to preview. Usually, it's also the second game we are covering that night.

 

Back in the late 1960s, there was a game where Podunk High rallied to beat Shelbyville, which in the long-ago sports editor's mind must have scared them something fierce. He had an 80-point headline blaring, "Podunk unleashes spooks on Shelbyville."
The schools were both black high schools.

 

Be sure to use lots of "no shit" statements -- they take no time to write, and you can grind out the copy. Here are some examples:

* Rodeo's starting QB is hoping to bust out of the gate with a strong performance.

* Coach Clyde Chamberlain knows an opening win will get the monkey off his team's back.

* When Freejack High School comes into town Friday night, the Davidson Griffins will see some new faces on the other side of the ball.

And so on. These are really easy to develop with some coachspeak or some well-used cliches. Plus, as in Terminator 2, you can do combinations.

 

Holy shit, dude.

 

Left one out. Be sure to research some stupid crap, like some team scored 25 points in the game back in 1985. Then you can write: "No team has scored exactly 25 in a game since then."

Those aren't as easy to develop, but they are plentiful.