After this topic, sports journalism would go on to kill "would" in TV & print...

"They would go on to tie the game before the half."

"He would hit two more doubles by the end of the game."

"The coach would pull the quarterback in the fourth quarter."

"He would allow two more goals in the third period."

Does this grind anyone else's gears? It's all over Sportscenter and the recap shows, and I can't read a gamer without seeing it. What's the rule here? Aren't all recaps understood to be written (and spoken) in past tense, negating the need for "would" to express the future in past tense? Haven't we all had editors condense our writing while preaching less is more?

"They tied the game before the half."

"He hit two more doubles before the game ended."

"The coach pulled the quarterback in the fourth quarter."

"He allowed two more goals in the third period."

All of those say the same thing, right?

 

When reading highlights, that tense can be used to indicate momentum. It has to do with story building... a subtlety, showing something progressive. But you're right, it's probably overused.

 

Very much overused, and I find it slipping into my copy occasionally. Good lesson for all of us.

 

I rarely use it.

 

I see it all the time in print. At the end of the day, this device breaks contain at desks throughout the country.

 

Agree with you, Bob. Was always taught write everything in past tense - it happened already.

 

Lots of PR recaps from college and minor league teams do that. I kill 'would' the second I see it and re-write it. I hate that word.

 

Seconded. Going back to a moment in great detail and using "would" to explain the future is a nice storytelling technique.

 

The sports stories in the weekly competing with us are littered with "would", sometimes twice in the same sentence. On the other hand, it's made me so conscious of the word that when I begin to type it, I immediately stop so I can think of a better word.

 

That's just it. It can be a good storytelling tool, as noted above, but inexperienced writers and reflexive announcers ring that bell so often now, they've deadened it.

So, use sparingly, as in maybe one good takeout piece a year. Maybe.

 

HUGE pet peeve. I have a guy who writes the juco stuff, and sometimes it takes longer to edit his stuff than if I wrote it myself.

This is one of his biggest sins.

 

We have a stringer who uses it...I've explained to him repeatedly that it's unnecessary and almost irritating to read. He looks at me like I grew a third eye...