Trib Sorgi story: "What the heck?!?" or "At least he's trying!"

I've never met Brian Hamilton, though I think he's a writer who's at least willing to take risks.

But in this feature on Jim Sorgi, it seems like he's just trying too hard to be writerly and force a metaphor into his lede and ending.

Thoughts?:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-0702020314feb02,1,498663.story

 

I know he was trying to have fun with it, but that lede makes no sense.

 

Yeah, it's confusing at first. but the more I read the lede, I actually started to like it. Might not work here, but people willing to take shots like this should be applauded.

 

Is it laudable that people take shots and end up writing something incoherent?
I have no clue what his was getting at in the first 3 graphs..after that, not a bad piece.

 

It's obvious...an editor screwed it up.

 

the lead gets a big ol' "meh."

The "send-us-your-photos" picture of someone's pepperoni pizza (with the pepp conveniently placed in a giant "C") on the other hand is good stuff.

 

Part of why it doesn't hold up is that Sorgi has not played that horribly in his extremely limited opportunities. Last year, in the two games at the end of the year where Dungy basically pulled the plug, Sorgi went 22-31 for 237 and a td (Seahawks were still playing for homefield) and 21-31, 207, 2 td, 1 int vs. Arizona. The sky didn't turn red either time. So why exactly does he warrant such pablum ?

 

A little too cute in spots; metaphor for the sake of metaphor. But not the worst thing I've seen today.