style questions

These vary from paper to paper

Coach or head coach?
Do you capitalize Coach as in Dallas Coach Jason Garrett? The DMN used to do this.
a 2-yard gain and the same for any number below 10?

 

Coach unless you mention assistants. Don't capitalize. Correct.

 

2-yard gain. Same for any number below 10.

 

I regard coach and head coach as interchangeable. We tend to use the former.

We do not cap the C in coach. No need.

2-yard gain.

 

why the move to exclusive numerals even below 10? like he had six first-half points.

 

Yardage in football is ALWAYS a numeral, regardless of the circumstance. Well, I guess if someone started a sentence, "Six yards away from the goal line..." or something like that, it would be an exception. Other than that, yardage is never spelled out -- 2-yard gain, 5-yard line, ran for 6 yards on the play, etc.

 

coach instead of head coach.
Only cap coach if it's used as a sub for his name. "I do whatever Coach tells me to do," Joey Linebacker said.
2-yard gain, 2-yard line, but he ran for two yards.

 

It's AP style.

Use figures for yardages, scores, statistics, clock time, schedules:
1-yard line,
fourth-and-1 situation
4 seconds before halftime
8 for 18 for 200 yards and a touchdown.
gained 3 yards, not three yards
third-and-4, second-and-10, etc.
Week 4, Week 11, Game 12.
2-point conversion
8½ sacks, not 8.5 sacks

 

Sports is numbers.

He carried the ball 3 times for 7 yards.

She scored 7 points and grabbed 4 rebounds.

He allowed 4 runs on 3 hits.

 

It may be numbers, but most of that is incorrect, AP style-wise.

 

Stick to AP style when it comes to grammar or punctuation or whatnot.

AP needs to change its sports style yesterday. (Yes, its rules are its rules as we know them. Just sayin'.)

 

True, and as long as I know my paper's style, I don't care beyond that.

I wrote a stylebook the first time I was a slot 31 years ago, and what i didn't know could have filled a book. I try to remember that every time I have to read someone else's stylebook. The best one I've had to use said in the preface something like, "We understand that some of these decisions leave room for disagreement, but the purpose of this book is not to cause arguments but to settle them." They understood style is often arbitrary.

Personal preference, though, is "coach" for the same reason that I wouldn't capitalize gym teacher. I like my paper's style on saying "John Doe, a physician," rather than Dr. John Doe. They're just people, not a higher life form.