Avoid the obvious

[Doc Holliday]

The idea is to encourage creativity, not discourage it.

Second, it is in no way "creative" to make a made-up holiday with no greater significance whatsoever an integral part of a story you're writing about high school sports. I've seen hundreds of holiday ledes, and lots of weather ledes, and can count on one hand how many of them were "creative."

And that's my point. The person among the few that can master a creative lead tonight has likely got serious talent. I will never discourage someone to pursue that talent and creativity.

 

[Doc Holliday]

I'll buy a six-pack for any poster who covers a game tonight where the local team loses 62-0 and ledes "To celebrate Halloween, Bum**** dressed up as a football team last night."

I love it.

 

[goalmouth]

No one among the readers knows or cares how the candy corn is made.

 

[Bradley Guire]

I don't think anyone at the game I covered last night even realized it was Halloween. But it was a Christian school, so maybe they think Halloween is the devil's holiday.

In short, no mention of any holiday in my story.

 

[Steak Snabler]

I don't think anyone at the game I covered last night even realized it was Halloween. But it was a Christian school, so maybe they think Halloween is the devil's holiday.

In short, no mention of any holiday in my story.

I remember at one of my old shops, a local Christian school dance team built its halftime show around "I Love the Apostle Paul," sung to the tune of "I Love Rock N' Roll."

 

[Michael_ Gee]

I'dve paid cash money to see that.

 

[BDC99]

This is one of those things that only we'd care about. Your average reader doesn't know or care how often you made a holiday reference in a lede unless you did it every day or they were keeping meticulous stats, in which case there's another problem.

I get not wanting to encourage lazy writing, but I don't think anyone who picks up the paper is going to be upset if they see a Halloween-themed lede on the story about the football game that took place on Halloween.

Problem is, if you don't warn the writers off this stuff in advance, you're gonna get five or 10 or 20 different Halloween ledes throughout the paper.

And that **** gets old fast.

Yes, this. Readers won't notice until they read four prep stories with some hackneyed Hallowen (or Christmas or Thanksgiving) lead. If it's one gamer by the college or major beat writer, no problem with it in most cases. As long as it's done fairly well.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Don't use Halloween ledes. And NOW get off my ****ing lawn.

-30-

 

[albert77]

The idea is to encourage creativity, not discourage it.

Firstly, the idea is to encourage clear and concise reporting of newsworthy information, not "creativity."

Second, it is in no way "creative" to make a made-up holiday with no greater significance whatsoever an integral part of a story you're writing about high school sports. I've seen hundreds of holiday ledes, and lots of weather ledes, and can count on one hand how many of them were "creative."

Third, I'll bet good money the percentage of kids who actually care that they're playing a high school football game on HALLOWEEN!!!! tops out at 5 percent.

This X 1,000.

Just another Friday night in my world.

 

[Doc Holliday]

So does this mean No mention of turkeys for those of us covering games Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving weekend? You guys take all the fun out of sports writing. I think I'll just put a bullet in my head and end it all.

 

[Riptide]

So does this mean No mention of turkeys for those of us covering games Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving weekend? You guys take all the fun out of sports writing. I think I'll just put a bullet in my head and end it all.

You need to find a new line of work.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

This debate makes me happy I haven't given a whisker of a thought to prep sports in a long time.
That said, it's a fkin gamer- the woolly mammoth of sports writing- that is often loaded down with non-seasonal cliches.
My old rule of thumb was that if I've heard anything close to it on the telly, it doesn't go in my final copy.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Everybody at the Herald covered a Thanksgiving Day game every year, as every school in Mass. plays in one. I was there for 20 years, not only did I never use Thanksgiving in the lede, but to the best of my recollection neither did anyone else. Holiday ledes, unless you are a super writer, are not fun, they are lazy. You wouldn't use church in a lede on an NFL game just because it's Sunday.

 

[jr/shotglass]

So does this mean No mention of turkeys for those of us covering games Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving weekend? You guys take all the fun out of sports writing. I think I'll just put a bullet in my head and end it all.

Doc, I shudder to think of what your lede might be on Martin Luther King Day.

 

[MisterCreosote]

So does this mean No mention of turkeys for those of us covering games Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving weekend?

Yes. That's one of the worst offenders.

You guys take all the fun out of sports writing.

Turning in ****ty copy is the fun part?

Here's a pretty good summation of ****ty ledes one should always avoid:

http://www2.copydesk.org/hold/words/clicheleads.htm

 

[jr/shotglass]

I do have to say, MC, if every one of those rules is followed, a lot of writers will have nothing left in the toolbox.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

I'll be damned if I'm ever subservient to the rules of a site that calls itself "CopyDesk.org."

 

[Dick Whitman]

The larger issue here is with the focus on ledes, generally. It's been a few years since I've written a gamer, but even when I did, I put very little thought or effort - by design - into breaking off a snappy lede. You're telling the story of what happened. When you internalize that task, lede writing is a breeze. It's by far the easiest part of the process for me. It's sustaining through the middle that's difficult.

I don't mind mentioning holidays in a gamer, whether in a lede or elsewhere, because it's almost inevitably part of the story of that day. But I think that's different than what people are warning against here.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I do have to say, MC, if every one of those rules is followed, a lot of writers will have nothing left in the toolbox.

Except straightforward, concise news reporting.

That's kind of the point.

 

[PaperDoll]

No Halloween references in our freelancer football copy, as far as I saw. But we did have an Election Day lede. It sorta worked, but with terms like "trending," it could just as easily been about social media.