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'Significant changes' coming to sports entries for AP Stylebook

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by reformedhack, Mar 23, 2015.

  1. Gomer

    Gomer Active Member

    Nice, I was wondering why axel wasn't capitalized in a story I used last night. I made it Axel.
     
  2. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    I thought Final Four was already capitalized in the context of the NCAA tournament.
     
  3. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    I'll be covering the NCAA gymnastics meet next month, so I'll be sure to lower-case yurchenko. Or my chenko.
     
  4. MNgremlin

    MNgremlin Active Member

  5. HandsomeHarley

    HandsomeHarley Well-Known Member

    That's what I'm talking about -- writers who butt two proper nouns together without the "on," but it can be alleviated if we just follow the simple TIME-DATE-PLACE concept.
     
  6. HandsomeHarley

    HandsomeHarley Well-Known Member

    So I imagine "kimura" is no longer capitalized for the submission hold in MMA (named after Masahiko Kimura).
     
  7. HandsomeHarley

    HandsomeHarley Well-Known Member

    Perhaps they're planning to revert to calling them RsBI, since that would be the literal way of writing it (I always drop the s on RBI).
     
  8. MNgremlin

    MNgremlin Active Member

    Isn't the opponent more important than the time?
     
  9. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    cliches
    A team losing a game is not a "disaster." Home runs are homers, not "dingers," "jacks" or "bombs." A player scored 10 straight points, not 10 "unanswered" points. If a football team scores two touchdowns and the opponent doesn't come back, say it "never trailed" rather than "never looked back." In short, avoid hackneyed words and phrases, redundancies and exaggerations.
     
  10. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

     
    BDC99 likes this.
  11. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    Here are the “significant” changes

    SPORTS

    cliches
    A team losing a game is not a "disaster." Home runs are homers, not "dingers," "jacks" or "bombs." A player scored 10 straight points, not 10 "unanswered" points. If a football team scores two touchdowns and the opponent doesn't come back, say it "never trailed" rather than "never looked back." In short, avoid hackneyed words and phrases, redundancies and exaggerations.

    heatstroke

    NCAA Tournament
    It is acceptable to refer to the regional semifinals as the Sweet 16, the regional finals as the Elite Eight and the national semifinals as the Final Four.

    Olympics, Olympic, Olympic Games, Olympian

    Always capitalized: Winter Olympics and Summer Olympics. Each is staged every four years, but two years apart. The next Summer Games is 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. Capitalize games when attached to the host city or year: the Rio de Janeiro Games and the 2016 Games. When standing alone, spell games lowercase: The games open Aug. 5, 2016.

    Names and acronyms:

    IOC International Olympic Committee. Either is OK on first reference, but use full title in the story. IOC President Thomas Bach; the title is capitalized.

    International sports federations. All Olympic sports are run by international federations. Avoid abbreviation IF; use international federation or governing body.

    National Olympic committee. In news stories, avoid NOC and use national Olympic committees or national bodies. Abbreviations for U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) and British Olympic Association (BOA) acceptable on second reference.

    Sports in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Aug. 5-21: archery, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, canoe/kayak, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, soccer, golf, gymnastics, handball, field hockey, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, rugby, sailing, shooting, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, track and field, triathlon, volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, wrestling.

    Sports in the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Feb. 9-25: biathlon, bobsled, curling, hockey, luge, figure skating, speedskating, short track speedskating, Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, freestyle skiing, ski jumping,skeleton, snowboarding.

    Sports in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, July 24-Aug. 9: archery, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, canoe/kayak, cycling, diving, equestrian, fencing, golf, gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, pentathlon, rowing, rugby, sailing, shooting, soccer, swimming, synchronized swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis, trampoline, triathlon, volleyball (indoor), water polo, weightlifting, wrestling.

    parking the bus
    A phrase used to describe how a team packs its defense to protect a lead or a draw.

    Tommy John surgery
    Acceptable when referring to ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction surgery in the elbow, more commonly referred to as surgery to repair a torn ligament in the elbow.
     
  12. TyWebb

    TyWebb Well-Known Member

    I've watched a lot of football, talked with a lot of football coaches, read a lot of football stories, and I have NEVER heard "parking the bus." Is that really such a common term that it belongs in the AP style guide?
     
    HandsomeHarley and Gomer like this.
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