"Hasn't looked back"

I hate the habit our correspondent has. "X team would score 12 straight points, and Y player would grab 13 rebounds."

Why "would?" Either he did or didn't; either the team did or didn't. So annoying.

 

I had a stringer who used "would" as a crutch. I used find-and-replace on one story and it found 13 "woulds" in his story. We would set an O/U on the number of "woulds."

 

Why "would" he? There was nothing better to do.

 

I pointed out the "would" thing to one of our stringers three weeks in a row. Don't use it. By the end of the season, it was gone from his copy. Yea!!!
First game the next season, it was back again. Boo!!!

 

Another one I don't like: Team led by "as many as" 20 points in the second half.

Me: OK, you've added three meaningless words to your story.
Writer: But that's the way people talk.
Me: That's the way ESPN people talk, not real people.
Writer: But, but ...
Me: That's the way announcers who are in love with their voices talk. Again, not real people.

 

Some good pet peeves in this thread, but I've got to quibble with this one. Maybe because I use it.
During basketball games, leads obviously fluctuate. If you say a team "led by 20 points in the second half," it's wrong. The team probably didn't lead by 20 points the whole half. The "led by as many as" statement lets the reader know that, yes, the lead got to 20 points at one time but it wasn't necessarily 20 points the whole time. It might have been 10-15 points most of the time, with that one little surge that got it to 20.

Now, if you want to say "Team A led 50-30 with 13 minutes left," I have no problem that. But I don't see the big deal with saying, "Team A led 25-14 at halftime, and by as many as 20 points in the second half."
Like anything else, there's a time and place to use it.

 

Presumably, you've mentioned the final score somewhere above this. I think the readers can figure out that if the team won, 80-70, and if it led by 20 in the second half, that it didn't lead by 20 the ENTIRE second half.
Extra, unnecessary words, but I don't edit you, so go ahead.

 

How many words would a word-chuck chuck if a word chuck could chuck would?

 

So if the final score was 80-70, it's not noteworthy to mention that it was 80-60, or 70-50 at one time?
Basically, the "as many as" statement lets the reader know Team B never closed the gap. If the final score is 80-70, and it was 65-60 at one point, it's a different story than if it was 65-55 and Team B never gets it into single digits.
If anything, you're economizing words:
"Team A led by 12 points at halftime. Its biggest lead was 20 points, 70-50, with 12 minutes left in the second half."
"Team A led by 12 points at halftime, and as many as 20 in the second half."

 

One of the biggest pet peeves is placement of the score. There is no reason why I should read five paragraphs before seeing the final score. If it's not in the first three graphs, I don't want to read any more.

 

I've always liked buildings that talk, i.e. "The White House said Tuesday..."
Really? So a reporter was standing against a wall of the building and the building started talking? Gives new meaning to the phrase "if these walls could talk."

 

My last post on this topic:
The only reason people write "as many as" is because they heard some announcer say it to add emphasis. They are unnecessary words for written stories.
You obviously need some editing help. Go ahead and write what you want, I don't care. But if you work here, that will get edited out. As will "The lead was 20 points, 70-50...." More redundancy.