Super Bowl Preview Help

I have to write a Super Bowl preview (500-600 words) for my school paper. Obviously a million of these will be written over the next week or so, all by people with more access to players, coaches, etc. Am I better off just going with the generic preview -- going through the match-ups and all that -- or should I try to do something a little more creative? Any advice on how I should try to attack this would be great.

 

A lead for you to consider...

"The mighty Colts of Indianapolis will test their mettle against the sensational Saints of New Orleans in next week's Super Bowl XIV clash atop the pro football world."

lol...feel free to steal it if you like

 

You are faced with the same dilemma of every sportswriter in Miami covering the Super Bowl. Come up with an original story. Anyone can write a generic preview. The good writers seek out the good stories. I know you are probably not in Miami, but still look for an original story. Look outside the sport too. Miami has been a refuge for earthquake survivors in Haiti. I would be looking for stories on players doing anything to help the quake victims. The point is don't get too wrapped up in the Super Bowl and concentrate on the people playing in the Super Bowl.

 

are you writing for your college or high school paper? are any of the players from your area? is there a tie from you school to the game or the teams or the cities? maybe talk to someone who is from you school to scout the game. your high school/college coach to give tips on how to defend the teams.

the trap you are falling into is writing what everyone is writing.

you need to connect that story to your own story.

 

Since you're from Massachusetts, just lede with "A Super Bowl will be played despite the Patriots losing their Wild Card game against the Ravens. Sox are wicked good."

 

You might try contrasting the two cities whose teams are involved. From my perspective, it would be hard to find two American cities that are more different than New Orleans and Indianapolis.

 

Get the story behind the story. Game previews are vanilla and boring. Do some research on the teams and look for similarities and quirks among players. You can do this, but you're not going to get something good by barely scratching the surface.

 

Hahaha I go to school in Massachusetts but I'm not from there, thank god. I'm from New York, so that's the last thing I'd want to write. I appreciate all of the advice so far.

 

Since it's just for the school paper, something like this might work:

<i>By Cappaman

Quarterback Peyton Manning guaranteed victory for the Indianapolis Colts in Sunday's Super Bowl, while admitting his New Orleans Saints counterpart, Drew Brees, is surprisingly good for a gay athlete.</i>

 

I know this should go in the Writers Workshop, but I figured it would fit better within this thread. This is my complete first draft, before any revisions. Tear it up, please:

Sometimes clichés are apt.

Opposites do really attract.

When the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints take the field for Super Bowl XLIV, it will be a meeting between two cities and two franchises with almost nothing in common.

The Indianapolis Colts are one of the most storied NFL franchises. They have won five championships: three NFL titles (pre-Super Bowl) and two Super Bowls. And they are lead by Peyton Manning, former number-one pick, and four-time league MVP.

The Saints, on the other hand, have lost 98 more games than they’ve won. This Super Bowl will be their first ever appearance. Their quarterback, Drew Brees, was a second-round pick, was jettisoned by the Chargers after a Pro-Bowl season, and ended up in New Orleans partially because no one else wanted to take a chance on his injured shoulder.

The Colts fans boo when the team decides to go 14-2 instead of 16-0.

Saints fans wear paper bags on their heads, poking fun at their team calling them the “Aints.”

New Orleans: 180 square miles. Indianapolis: 361 square miles. Even the home cities don’t match up.

Indianapolis was deemed such a promising area by early founders of the country, that they named it the Indiana’s capital before even building it.

The Battle of New Orleans, where Andrew Jackson came to fame and a crucial moment in the city’s development, was fought after the war it was a part of – the War or 1812 – had ended, unbeknownst only to the people of the area.

Indianapolis gained the nickname, “The Crossroads of America,” because of it’s location within only a day’s drive for half of the country’s population.

New Orleans, as Hurricane Katrina showed, is anything but a center point of the United States.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a National Historic Landmark, is home to the world-renowned Indianapolis 500. The cars that race on this track are paragons of technological advancement, reaching speeds of up to 225 miles per hour during the race

New Orleans has its own fully mobile landmark, although it’s only a Louisiana state landmark: the St. Charles Avenue cable cars. These cars are old-fashioned relics from years past that slide up and down the city’s streets, traveling no faster than 45 miles per hour.

The thing about sports, though, is that it can pit seemingly unequal entities like New Orleans and Indianapolis, like the Saints and the Colts against each other.

All of these histories, football or not, come down to one season and from one season to one game.

History would suggest an Indianapolis victory. From the tortured history of the Saints franchise and the fallible history of the city to the success of the Colts, Manning’s experience, and the measured and consistent nature of the city, it all points toward the Colts.

But New Orleans has a history of unkindness towards the Mannings.

The one thing that the two cities share is that they were both stages for Manning quarterbacks to star on. Peyton’s father, Archie, was taken by the Saints with the number-two pick in the 1971 draft. He went on to play ten seasons for New Orleans, none of which were winning seasons.

Many believe that had Archie been on a better team, his standing within NFL history would be higher. The Saints blemished the career of Manning.

And on Sunday they have a chance to do it again. For all of the history, they have a chance to put New Orleans back in the spotlight. This time in a good way.

 

The preview doesn't offer much. I'd stay away from writing about the Super Bowl from a college newspaper standpoint unless you have a good hook.

As for the cities, they seems to be similar from the perspective of small NFL markets that are one or two-sport major sport cities.