Beat Downs and how to cover them

Why are you covering that game in the first place? You knew coming in that the game was going to be so lopsided. If you can't write a feature about the team, go to the other game the team has scheduled that week.

 

I had one recently where a team lost its 11th consecutive game, this one by 40+. The other team scored the first 12 points and that was about as close as it got. It was a 50-point margin going to the fourth quarter.

The losing coach, who has all but benched the seniors and given extensive playing time to freshmen and sophomores in the past few weeks, comes up to me and asks "How can we say the same thing a different way this time?"

 

My finest:

Team A drove through Team B's press like a Mac truck in a Yugo dealership.

 

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/sports/highschool/stories/2008/01/10/hscross_0111.html

 

Those are the fun blowouts to write about. When the losing team knows they suck, and has an obvious mismatch where they know they're going to get the shit beat out of them, they might loosen up a bit and you can have some fun with the story. They might even give you some good quotes about what it was like to be outplayed so badly.
Few years ago, we had a private school reach the football playoffs. Hadn't given up an offensive touchdown all year, so naturally my preview story touched on how the opponent was going to have a hell of a time doing anything against this great defense. Well, the other school had read that and rolled into town with bedsheet signs saying things like "We're not worthy." Made it a little easier to talk to them after the local school beat them 39-0.
I've also had plenty of bad teams (and good ones, for that matter) where the coach said, only half joking, that they didn't care if we showed up or not because everybody knew it would be a slaughter.

Of course, if their sense of humor isn't as keen, just avoid the game altogether or write a straight gamer without being creative. Or, if your state is like mine, they play boys and girls games as a doubleheader. Write about the other game and do the blowout as a brief. Was the six points unusually low even for them? If they'd been in the teens all year it might not be much of a difference.

 

I covered a 15-0, baseball blowout a couple years ago in which the "home" team was struck out 13 times in a five-inning no-hitter. It was probably the worst baseball game I'll ever see. I covered the game from the "away" team's point of view, with some quotes from the local coach saying, "We were just outmatched today. ..."

There was absolutely nothing positive to take from the losing team. What was I going to right: "They were 0-for-the century against Smith, but had several foul tips"?

 

(Michelle Hiskey may have covered this in her post/link, which I can't get to come up.)


But here's what I would do: Go to the team's next practice. The coach probably will have some sort of let's-hang-in-there speech. Record it, write down every word. Notice the players' reactions, if they're paying attention. That's your opening scene. Later ask the coach about the speech, how long he thought about what he wanted to say. Specifically ask him what he wants the team to learn about such a terrible loss. Talk to the players. Ask them if they're embarrassed. Do they think about quitting. WHY aren't they quitting. Nobody wants to lose that badly. What keeps them going back? Go to their next game. Ask the coach if you can be in the locker room before the game. See if the girls are enthusiastic and fired up to try again. Capture that moment. End the story as they take the court, ready to try, try again.

 

Back in my day in the weekly and bi-weekly game I almost never covered games except during football season. I'd go get a few shots of every team I had over the course of the week and go by the coaches' office and get the books. I'd usually just give each school it's own little "roundup" package and that would be that.

but, if you are going to write a gamer, I've found the best way to go about those types of blowouts is to simply write what happened, provide a couple of quotes and be done with it. no cute ledes, no spiced-up transition grafs.

 

Yeah, get in and out. Just stay objective and you should be fine.

 

http://asp.usatoday.com/community/tags/topic.aspx?req=tag&tag=Rodney+King+beating

They seemed to do a pretty good job in retrospect.

 

This is, sadly, not the first piece I've seen the AJC do on, I believe, this same team. They are always bad. But I don't think the last time I saw one that they'd played any games where they were shut out. I think there was a game or two when they managed 1.