Rules To Report By

memo to sonner: you're out of the biz. spend your time doing better things than hanging out with a bunch of malcontents like slappy on this board. drink beer. enjoy sports on TV. read a book for god's sake.

 

2) For a gamer, one active voice from the losing team

Seriously? Your paper must be devoting a lot more space to game stories than mine. Are you still writing 15-inch gamers? 12 even? Unless the opposing coach is someone prominent, there just isn't room. If the lead quote isn't from the coach of the team I cover, it's hard not to make him or her the second (and last) quote in the story.

By all means, talk to the other coach and players, get their perspective and make sure it's conveyed in the tone of the story, but there just isn't room for a direct quote from the other team in all game stories. Good in theory, unpractical in practice ...

 

I always like it when everything is spelled right, too. But that's just me.

 

True. But it's about one in 100.

 

This is a hard one.

Because they have a right to think the same way.

"Hey, Jeter, don't think for a moment that this writer is your friend. He'll burn you in a minute."

It's a two-way street.
And it's best when it works that way.

 

If the opposing high school team is from outside my circulation area, fuck 'em. This scrapbook content provider only caters to those in his home turf.

 

memo to 2underpar: Now that I'm out of the biz, I have all this free time. I drink plenty of beer, enjoy more sports on TV than ever, and you know damn well I hate to read. All of which gives me plenty of time to come on here get my journo on, old-school style. These four-day work weeks just might improve my golf game, too. You should try it.

Back on topic....don't play poker at the coach's house, no matter how many times he asks.

 

Rule 1 is to proof read your material. (On a side note, I've been having some keyboard problems and I apologize for the errors).
Memo to Frank Ridgeway, sometimes coming up from behind can be beneficial. LOL.

 

If you're visiting media and you've never met a coach before, just do the interview (it's high school, you circulate in a different area). Don't stand slightly off to the side while the everyday media is interviewing the coach and then say 'hey coach, save a quote for me.'

Just sayin'

 

Unless these are just "rules of thumb" ... I disagree with all of them.

1) I tend to try to get three sources into a story. Emphasis on the word "try." Sometimes, it just doesn't work out.

2) I used to consider this a hard and fast rule, but in this era of shrinking newshole, some things have to go. I have to make hard choices about what to cut, so a quote has to be killer to make it in. If an opposing player or coach says something killer, it's in. If not, it's out.

3) again, a good idea. Used to be a hard and fast rule. But I'm not bending over backward to get the score super high anymore. My rule: Just don't ramble. I've been doing this gig long enough to know when I'm rambling and when I'm not. In retrospect, and not to sound arrogant, but maybe this is a good rule to keep hard and fast for younger writers.

4) Don't start a sentence with "the?" What the hell? Seems silly and arbitrary.

 

Screw it. Let the desk kern the shit out of it.

 

Neither would Ernest Hemingway, who was a reporter early in his life