Got would?

[Bob Smith]

Have been seeing sentences lately that read like this ... Jones would score 10 first-quarter points en route to a game-high 32 and Wilson High would beat Lincoln 45-43.

When did people start putting "would" in every sentence?

Excuse me if this has been covered before.

 

[Batman]

Have been seeing sentences lately that read like this ... Jones would score 10 first-quarter points en route to a game-high 32 and Wilson High would beat Lincoln 45-43.

When did people start putting "would" in every sentence?

Excuse me if this has been covered before.

Been around as long as I have in this business, so at least 15-20 years. Always hear TV people say it, and I had a crusty old editor beat it out of me early on by saying, "Don't write that ****. That's TV-speak."

 

[SoloFlyer]

Seems to be particularly rampant in college sports info departments.

 

[tonygunk]

It's the dumbest writing habit anyone could have, in my opinion.

 

[HanSenSE]

Won't anyone think of the sj.com legend that is RSW?

 

[expendable]

It's the dumbest writing habit anyone could have, in my opinion.

I developed it for a brief moment when I was starting out, but I was straightened out by a reader. Best reader phone call I ever received.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

First thing I do when I receive stringer copy is go to find-and-replace and remove all the “woulds.”

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Active voice.

 

[Liut]

Good opines. What continues to drive me batty is the continued and over-used use of "fall" or "falls" to describe a loss.

I rarely usually use profanity on sj.com but there are ****ing clumsy teams all over this ****ing country, I guess!

You win, lose or, possibly, tie. You don't ****ing fall!

How much damn time in practice would it take up to get every member of the team coordinated enough that the entire group would, on cue, ****ing fall!

Sorry. Carry on.

 

[swingline]

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

That's what I think about "would" in damn near any sports coverage. He "would" go on to drive in three runs? How about he drove in three runs and you stick the would up your ass?

 

[micropolitan guy]

My pet peeve: Stories that say "and City High was able to defeat Country High" or "City High went on to defeat Country High."

City High defeated Country High. Save some words.

 

[Batman]

Good opines. What continues to drive me batty is the continued and over-used use of "fall" or "falls" to describe a loss.

I rarely usually use profanity on sj.com but there are ****ing clumsy teams all over this ****ing country, I guess!

You win, lose or, possibly, tie. You don't ****ing fall!

How much damn time in practice would it take up to get every member of the team coordinated enough that the entire group would, on cue, ****ing fall!

Sorry. Carry on.

Counterpoint: Those three skinny characters are pure gold when trying to write a one-column headline.

 

[Regan MacNeil]

Counterpoint: Those three skinny characters are pure gold when trying to write a one-column headline.

**** you, Jeff Samardzija!

 

[Batman]

**** you, Jeff Samardzija!

Lately my nemesis has been LSU running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire.

 

[Liut]

**** you, Jeff Samardzija!

LOL!

 

[Driftwood]

I've got radio and SID friends I've tried to beat it out of 25 years. I've pointed it out. I've explained why it's bad. I get nowhere.

 

[apeman33]

For the brief time we had weekly competitor, I'd take a red pen and circle all the "would"s in the sports stories. It's amazing how that word can become a crutch to an inexperienced writer who doesn't have anyone with enough experience working with him to tell him just how awfully it reads.

One week, there were 30 uses of it just on the front page of the section. It looked like I'd cut my finger and bled on the page.

 

[Batman]

I've got radio and SID friends I've tried to beat it out of 25 years. I've pointed it out. I've explained why it's bad. I get nowhere.

And yet you persist. Clearly, you would not be denied.

 

[Slacker]

**** you, Jeff Samardzija!

 

[Bronco77]

Always thought "would" was wordy and used by mediocre writers trying to make themselves look better than they really were.

Agree with every point about "fall" -- generally not a good substitute for "lose," but it's a safety valve for those tight headline specs.

A phrase that bugs me is "Smith went down with an injury." Why not say he "left the game with an injury" or something similar? I recall many years telling and retelling a writer not to use the expression. Years later, after he'd moved on to another paper, I read one of his stories online and he was still using it.

In my final years on a sports desk, the headline name I probably dreaded most was "Antetokounmpo."