Why is most sportswriting so bad?

This.

 

Can't speak for anyone else but I see a lot of good sports writers doing medicore writing nowadays.

At some papers around southern Ohio, one guy is the sports department. When one guy lays out the section, does all the calender stuff and has to try and write all the local stories, it is rough to keep the quality up.

 

Maybe it's because I'm completely a consumer now and no longer a reporter, but I really don't give a tinker's dam about the quality of the writing. Inverted pyramid + stellar reporting > pretty words + much ado about nothing. I got what I needed out of that gamer; why should I be concerned because it wasn't Four Horsemen 2.0?

I wonder that we don't overthink this some. We presume, because we're tired of cliches, our readers are equally as tired, forgetting that we're going to read more and write a lot more of them. We see "It was a tale of two halves" as the equivalent of setting fire to a box of special education kittens, but I'd be willing to wager that most of our readers don't give it another thought, while a few probably go "I remember that book! It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Damn good writer, that Shakespeare."

In the grand scheme, it's not that big a deal. Tell me who won, tell me who lost, tell me how it happened, tell me what it means, and let the participants tell us too. And if you can make it work within a higher literary context, bully to you.

 

I think a lot of the problem can be traced to the infusion of wanting to be ESPN SportsCenter. It's a habit that can be broken, I believe, with some tough love or just an old fashioned trip to the woodshed with a switch (man ... am I am old-fashioned).
I think a lot of younger writers want to try to turn each gamer or advance or feature into a Pulitzer winner. There's nothing wrong with that at all — I'd want them to make each piece as strong as possible. But it also means they force transitions and phrases and analogies that, well, seem forced.

 

Burn the heretic!

 

Verity.

 

Ready to help, sir!

 

Don't presume to know the answer to your question, but for myself last night, I removed the overused and abused "What a difference a year makes" lede from our intern's copy.

Waiting to see if it gets noticed. My guess -- the intern won't even read the finished product in print.

 

Who won: Spain beat Germany 1-0 in a World Cup semifinal.
Why: Carles Puyol scored a goal off a header on a corner kick with 15 minutes left in regulation.
Quote: “This is one of the greatest moments for Spain, for us to be in the final of the World Cup, it’s history,” said Spain's David Villa.
Did You Know?: The 1-0 victory was the same score as the European Championship final two years ago, which Spain won to end a 44-year major title drought.
What's Next: Spain faces The Netherlands Sunday in the World Cup final, the first appearance for both teams. Germany plays Uruguay in the third place game.