Judging spot (sports) news

I have, quite unexpectedly, had an AP category from another state dropped in my lap. It's spot sports.

You would recognize the names from the entries if I named them, oh yes.

A couple of them lurk on the board, which is cause for some minor discomfort.

I personally know none of them and have never worked with any of them.

Anyway, I know what I like and I have generally made up my mind, but I am curious ...

How would you judge apples-and-oranges spot sports news entries?

Let's say you had an NBA seventh game package, a high school football championship package, the hiring of an NFL coach, the death of a legendary college player-coach and a package from a NASCAR Busch race.

(None of these are in my packet, I'm just trying to mash odd things together and change the names to protect the innocent.)

How do you draw a baseline through all of those things?

The NBA package has all kinds of sidebars and columns -- all good stuff. The Busch race, not so much. The high school football coverage has a pedestrian lead but one column that's probably the best single piece of writing in the whole affair. The obit package is wonderfully nuanced and is the one thing I'll probably keep copies of for future reference.

It seems to me, and I am looking for an argument here, that in spot sports that it all begins with the mainbar. It needs to suggest something about the texture of the complete coverage ... like a musical overture, it needs to restate several of the themes that other writers will play elsewhere. Whatever else is written, the mainbar has to be the frame to support everything.

And is it worth pondering the amount of time the staff had to work? A noon NFL game, after all, would be far different in terms of time to get organized than a BCS game that ended near midnight ET.

Just asking ... I know some of you have must have been in this boat before.

 

It's really depressing to me that nobody on the board has an opinion about this.

Too busy posting about Scooter Libby, I guess.

 

Well, you pretty much covered all the intelligent points anyone could make in your last three grafs. (I mean this as a compliment.)

Plus, repeating the same tired Plamegate talking points (on both sides) is much more interesting, I'm sure.

 

Heh. Maybe I did answer my own question.

 

Absolutely. I have trouble considering anything that doesn't come in over the scanner spot, actually, but maybe that's just me.

 

Henry, if my five-part expose' on junior high water polo don't win, I'm huntin' ya down!!!!

 

Hmm. Might have missed that. Maybe forward it to the 2007 BASW.