Questions

A newsroom clerk at my paper once expressed his desire to cover a prep game. So he got a tryout. But he did not know the value of arming himself with a game program to identify the players he was writing about, so his tryout came to a crashing halt after his game story attributed a crushing tackle to "Mystery Linebacker No. 58." On the other hand, the infamous clerk's story gets told every year now during prep season.

 

What if you write a feature about it? We're a weekly and I've written plenty of stories talking about games I didn't go to.

 

If the story is in the context of a feature, it's a little different, IMO. While I'm not big on anynomous quotes, if the quote is a classic that sums up the mood perfectly and adds to the story, I wouldn't object.

Even at a daily paper, it is quite common for there to be more games in the area than you have the time/space/mapower to staff on a given night. So if something noteworthy happens at one of those, it's perfectly logical to do a followup shortly thereafter. If a team is winless, I suspect they are going to be lower on the pecking order among teams in the readership, so it makes perfect sense you staff a different game. But it doesn't mean they don't have a story to tell, so kudos to the writer for telling it rather than just ignoring them and saying "eh, Podunk sunks, no one cares".

As for 3-pointer or three-pointer, it's of those style things that seems to vary from one paper to another. Not sure what the official AP gospel on that is.

 

That wasn't in the song, was it?

 

Agree 100 percent. If a reporter is willing to indulge in such dishonesty, what else in the story is to be believed. Not a question, really, but thought.

A couple of papers back, we had a reporter bylined and datelined from a carrier in the Indian Ocean. While proofing the story, I glanced over and there he was, sitting at his cubicle. And, no, he hadn't been to the Indian Ocean recently, or ever for all I know.

However, we had a veteran editor that thought such a dateline served as a locator. That editor was a pro and aided me several times, but we never did come to an agreement on the issue.

Back to the quote from the unidentified fan, my guess is the reporter heard it secondhand from the winless team's coach or a player. The team's bench is in front of the the stands.

As Mark said, it was good the paper showed interest in the story. As I indicated at the top, it was a good piece from a good writer. It appeared in a paper with a very good daily section.

 

Maybe he was quoting this guy:

 

Sorry, we already covered blowjobs (/crossthread)

 

To those offering legitimate input, thank you.

 

3-pointer.

You can't always get a name, but I'd still use a great quote from an unidentified fan.

Never a dateline if you were not there.

 

You must be new here if you think all you are going to get is "legitimate input."
Embrace the dark side young Jedi.

 

No.