Using pop culture in ledes

what does that mean?

a 3-0 start makes a team chic?

 

Maybe he's pushing for a career as a celebrity blogger.

 

I understood what he was getting at. It's been like 10 years since the Cowboys were 3-0. They're back in style.

His gamer lead was horrible, granted, but now you're just nitpicking.

 

I wrote one headline I was actually kind of proud of...our best local field hockey team made it to states and lost to a team nicknamed the Commodores. The final was 3-0 (I know math doesn't exactly check out here, but give me a break) and the headline was "Three times the ladies."

 

I have to agree with you. I didn't find anything wrong with the "chic" reference. The lead in the gamer was pretty bad.

 

Clearly the writer was trying to catch the reader's attention, but I don't think this was the way to go. I did use one for a cheerleading story that I did (before you all rip me apart, cheerleading is considered an official sport in my neck of the woods). It was actually received well.

Writers have to be careful with using pop culture leads in stories. In this case, it was a bad one. Spud, I agree that the audiences for MTV and football are not always the same.

If you are going to use pop culture, the key thing is to make sure it is relatable to everyone, or at least to the readership you are trying to target.

 

I vomit a little every time I read a pop-culture lede. It works for some people, but not me -- ever.

 

Pop culture ledes are like fingernails on a blackboard.

Excruciatingly bad writing.

Not clever, not cute, not cool.

 

JR,

Your post was dead on, but angrier than Joaquin Phoenix being quizzed about PETA on the red carpet.

 

This isn't in a lead, but while I was reading I stopped and thought about this thread and how the pop culture reference could have been left out. I don't think it added much to a great story.

From BASW 2005, The Pride of Peabody from SI story is about local effin stud pitcher Jeff Allison and a lot of other kids in the town are OxyContin addicts:

It was the first time the author used "OC" as an abbreviation OxyContin and it took me a second to realize he was talking about "The OC"...Besides that, a great story about how addiction can mess up many kids in a small town.

 

I just read this one from a newspaper in Pennsylvania:

And wide receiver Kevin Curtis getting behind the defense faster than PETA came down on Michael Vick last month, en route to a career day.

And, to boot, it's not even a complete sentence.

 

yeah, that is just waaaaaaaay too forced.