Repetitive, repetitious problems of repetition

I saw a piece of copy a few weeks ago that had three em dashes in one sentence.

 

Yes, I too have a problem with em dashes -- which all too often could just be replaced with commas -- throughout my copy.

 

It's another form of formula, which I see all the time: angling the story so severely toward the "home" team that you lose sight of the actual story.

 

Wow, remember those things? God, did they smell awful.

 

Yeah, but the case had room for a bottle of Jack.

 

Seriously. Who gives a fuck about "first pitch?"
How about "start."
Your writer's a moran....

 

And back then, nobody would have batted an eye if you had one.

 

I have trouble with the plural also.

 

Thank you for the correction, Mr. Feinboom.

 

I don't know that I usually see a problem with this. I cover Podunk High, my story should reflect what the readers of Podunk are interested in. I suppose there are some times (otherworldly upset, insane performance on the "other" team) that I go against that. But generally if I'm covering local vs. non-local, I think my story should reflect the experience of the local team.

 

Ahem.

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/82937/

 

That would fall under, "insane performance on the 'other' team." Plus the experience of the local team is being on the wrong end of a magnificent performance. I'd write about that. The difference is that story was aimed at blowing sunshine up the ass of the losing team, as compared to just writing about the team that lost.

If the writer in that case led by pointing out how 27 GW players came to the plate and none got on base, he or she would focus on the local and hit the central theme of the game.