Girls' rule!

I like the write-thru better

By BETH HARRIS Ž
AP Racing Writer Ž

BALTIMORE (AP) — The bitches are back.
The best 3-year-old in the land just happens to be a filly named Rachel Alexandra.
Jockey Calvin Borel all but guaranteed victory in the Preakness Stakes and, boy, did she deliver, becoming the first filly in 85 years to win the second leg of the Triple Crown.
A rangy bay — as big as most of the horses she beat — Rachel Alexandra shot to the front Saturday and wasn’t seriously challenged until a late close by Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird.
By beating him she ended any chance that thoroughbred racing would have a Triple Crown winner this season. Affirmed was the last Triple Crown winner in 1978.

 

Tiutle IX has been wonderful for horse racing.

 

shouldn't it be 'girl rules' 'the girl rules' or 'a girl rules', since only 1 female won the race

 

I changed:
In the end, she had bigger balls.

 

Some famous writer or editor -- and if somebody reminds me, it's going to kill me that I can't remember it right now -- said after you get done writing a piece -- feature, column, whatever -- you should go back through for one more self edit -- and kill whatever your favorite line is.

A little much, but an interesting overall notion.

My local paper liked that lead so much they made it their gigantic lead headline -- and then used a Baltimore Sun story instead.

 

I'm going to differ here.
We didn't use AP, but I have zero problem with the lede.
I don't even think it missed. Given the circumstance, given the feat, given this was a 5th-lede... no problem. You start the story with the second sentence/graph, it loses pacing, tone and -- most importantly -- exclamation. It's a different, less interesting story, without the lede.

 

Much discussion in the office about this horrible lede last night. We used it, but probably shouldn't have. Deadline issues as well.

 

I know you're joking but why make fun with a derogatory term for women?

In my opinion, the lede could have stood. The AZ Republic, from what I saw, left it intact.

 

On our Web site today in the carousel, we had a photo and headline from the story. We also only had the first paragraph as the preview.

 

My paper used it.

If I'd been gettin' it out, I'd have opted for Baltimore Sun/Lexington Herald-Leader/somebody else.

 

I rolled my eyes and shook my head when I saw it in my local yesterday. That story presumably got a lot of attention in New York and it still went out like that. Amazing. Double shame if the desk wrote that lede.