Offical titles of games?

Exactly. What about the National Collegiate Athletic Association?

 

As a former colleague once told me, it's our newspaper, we can call it whatever we want.

 

...beat the Pirates in Pittsburgh Monday, 4-2.

...beat the Astros in Houston Monday, 4-2.

...beat the Devil Rays in St. Petersburg Monday, 4-2.

It can be done. It should be done.

 

Re: Official titles of games?

If a bowl is named solely for a corporate entity, call it by that name. Later on in the lede or an early subsequent graf, you can specify the bowl's former name, such as the example for the Chick-Fil-A Bowl/Peach Bowl.

Personally, if it's called the Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl, I'd call it the Independence Bowl, at least on subsequent references. As much as I hate the whole corporate sponsorship bullshit, there is something to be said for accuracy in the lede graf. Same rule for stadia: Chevy Chase Bank Field at Byrd Stadium vs. Byrd Stadium.

At the high school level, I'd use Division IV Super Bowl.

 

It happens frequently. The local stations refer to it as 'According to published reports ..." and stuff like that.

As for me, if it has a real name, I use it, without the sponsors. If you want me to refer to it by the corporate name, pay me to do so. I only use the corporate name if that's all there is (Capital One Bowl, etc.)

For ballparks that change to a corporate name, you always can use 'The Shitheads beat the Fucktards in the stadium formerly known as Crapway Park."

 

Does anyone read a style book?
NCAA and FBI can be considered common abrreviations.

 

You are paid to do so. It is part of your job as a reporter.
The full name should be in the first reference. It's not up to you to decide.




And I would love to meet the editor who would allow you to use "the stadium formerly known as" .. in a story.

 

Yeah, some of this conversation is veering a bit from relevancy.

All of this is a style discussion. NCAA and Penn State are style calls, as is pretty much everything else we choose to do outside the dictionary.

 

I'm also paid to use my judgement in writing a story. Just because someone decides to attach dollar signs to something doesn't mean I have to obey it.

You cite accuracy in stories. What if you're writing a story in which a source flat-out lies to you? Do you write the lie, along with all the evidence against it, or do you just accept the lie?


Oh, and if you read the New York Daily News and New York Post, their columnists frequently used 'the stadium formerly known as' in their stories. I don't know if they still do, but they were doing it several years ago.

 

I'm hoping that you're being paid first and foremost for getting the facts right. I cannot fathom the circumstances that would lead me to knowingly insert a lie in my story unless it's in the context of having someone refute the lie.

 

I hope there's a better explanation somewhere if someone wants to be convincing about doing it that way, because that told me nothing about why the commas are needed.

 

Unless:

A) You're in the team's hometown/home market.

B) The venue comes into play. In the case of Minute Maid Park and Tropicana Field, it often does.