How bad is this Boston Globe lede?

I think this lede is incredibly horrible -- yet possibly worse than that -- but I'd like to see what others think.


c. 2007 The Boston Globe

After the Celtics passed the ball around the horn to
four players, Ray Allen nailed a 3-pointer to give them a
51-36 lead in the second quarter. Seconds later, the
concerned Bulls called time out.

Soon after, new Celtics guard Sam Cassell showed his
appreciation for the beautiful basketball by jumping to his
feet in street clothes with a big smile on his face. And as
the timeout ended, Cassell smiled brightly again when he was
introduced to the TD Banknorth Garden crowd and received a
standing ovation.

With a happy and talkative Cassell looking comfortable on
the bench, the Celtics led by as many as 28 points while
pounding the Bulls, 116-93 last night.


Typical Boston Globe stuff. Game score is buried, and, besides how bad the lede is anyway, the writer did the no-no of injecting a partial score into the lede. The first sentence, in fact. A score from the second quarter.

Incredibly bad lede, in my book, just to set up the fact that Sam Cassell, the Newest New Savior, was on hand to be smiling brightly -- probably because he knew some Globe nutjob up in the press box would write a game-story lede nobody could comprehend.

Globe makes a habit of writing shit ledes like this, at least from what I've seen.

Anyone agree? Disagree? Somebody tell me why they do this shit.

I don't know many first-year college students who would fuck up a game lede like this writer did.

Thank you, Boston Globe.

I guess you people are more smarter up there...... or something.

 

Welcome to the board, Bill Simmons.

 

Partial score ledes are the ultimate sin. I learned that in college.

But I won't nitpick on other people's work. I have had plenty of awful shit in my time.

 

It's been a long while since I saw a gamer fucked up so badly at the top of the story. This one sure does qualify.

 

Good God, how can a paper of the Globe's stature run that shit?

I've come close to killing my high school writers for less.

 

I have few rules, one of which is to never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

Only slightly less well-known is this: The first score that appears in your story better damned well be the final score.

 

End. Of. Thread!

 

It gets worse.

Then he did the write-thru:

Kevin Garnett missed the newest Celtic, Sam Cassell, so much that he sang a lyric in appreciation last night that Peaches & Herb would have been proud of.

"It was good to see him over there. I hit him with, 'Reunited and it feels so good.' Other than that, it was good to see him," said Garnett, who played with Cassell in Minnesota from 2003-05.

Sitting next to Garnett was teammate Paul Pierce, who asked: "Are you all right, big guy?"

Garnett and the Celtics were definitely all right on this night, as they led by as many as 28 points while defeating the Chicago Bulls, 116-93.


How bad does it suck if you live in Boston and wanna read a newspaper sometime?

 

Wow. I don't know if this is depressing or really encouraging.

 

How bad is it to work at the Herald with three other people, dude?

 

Yeah, OK, so maybe it wasn't a great lede, but that writer does excellent work. There isn't one of us who doesn't throw together a piece of crap every now and then. Do you think the average reader gives a crap whether it's a good lede or not? I don't know if you're familiar with this writer, but he's a terrific reporter, very solid, so I don't think it's fair to dump on him because he had one bad day.