I love quotes

[sirvaliantbrown]

They have a magical ability to take up space in stories on ridiculous topics on which I myself have nothing interesting or informative to say.

 

[spud]

And their mystical powers sink promising stories with overuse.

Oh how I wish I was a quote.

 

[fishwrapper]

Mary Pettibone Poole:
"The next best thing to being clever is being able to quote someone who is."

Then, her best:
"To repeat what others have said, requires education; to challenge it, requires brains."

 

[joe_schmoe]

Sometimes, I hate quotes. Mainly because our SE is a guy who feels that every thing we cover should have a quote....I have no problem with this. But last Friday's HS FB game with the rain delay makes this almost impossible. I still got in about 600 words, quoteless, with boring play-by play to beat deadline and fill the inch count they had for me. Still need a quote, so I topped it with WONDERFUL WORDS OF WISDOM BY COACH A: "We were glad to get the win."

WOW. Insightful! Provoking! But our damn SE wants a %&$)* quote, wants to make deadline and still wants 600 words, that's the damn quote.

My point being, quotes are great, they can tell a story better than I can, but if I'm not going to be able to add anything useful, why waste everyone's time? To prove I was there?

 

[Precious Roy]

Yeah, but there are some people at smaller papers that don't think they need to have quotes at all in a story. Joe, I agree with you that with the circumstances that you had, you didn't need a quote. But there are some out there that cover an event, have hours before deadline and still write a story without quotes... And that is just plain lazy.

 

[write then drink]

the best story isn't always the one you have the best quotes for

this is an important lesson that took me too long time to learn

 

[amraeder]

the best story isn't always the one you have the best quotes for

this is an important lesson that took me too long time to learn

Here, here. Sometimes I find myself relying on quotes as a crutch and I have to kick myself to not be so mentally lazy.

 

[Tom Petty]

Sometimes, I hate quotes. Mainly because our SE is a guy who feels that every thing we cover should have a quote....I have no problem with this. But last Friday's HS FB game with the rain delay makes this almost impossible. I still got in about 600 words, quoteless, with boring play-by play to beat deadline and fill the inch count they had for me. Still need a quote, so I topped it with WONDERFUL WORDS OF WISDOM BY COACH A: "We were glad to get the win."

you mean a quoteless story vs. a game story that's called in?

 

[BertoltBrecht]

Sometimes, I hate quotes. Mainly because our SE is a guy who feels that every thing we cover should have a quote....I have no problem with this. But last Friday's HS FB game with the rain delay makes this almost impossible. I still got in about 600 words, quoteless, with boring play-by play to beat deadline and fill the inch count they had for me. Still need a quote, so I topped it with WONDERFUL WORDS OF WISDOM BY COACH A: "We were glad to get the win."

WOW. Insightful! Provoking! But our damn SE wants a %&$)* quote, wants to make deadline and still wants 600 words, that's the damn quote.

My point being, quotes are great, they can tell a story better than I can, but if I'm not going to be able to add anything useful, why waste everyone's time? To prove I was there?

Six-hundred words of mostly play-by-play. Ugh.
I hate deadline writes too, but I don't think I could get a good sense of a story without talking to coaches/players. I don't necessarily use their quotes, but it helps to fill 600 words with some kind of story instead of what happened on 3rd-and-6 early in the second quarter.

God, do you even have interest in reading what you wrote after it's filed?

 

[mike311gd]

Quotes, in my opinion, are necessary to any game story or feature. Anyone can write what they see, but bridging the gap between the coaches/players and the readers is what makes a story interesting -- with solid writing, of course. Quotes aren't supposed to be a crutch on which to lean, they're the reactions, the feeling and the legs to a good story.

 

[Eagleboy]

I couldn't even imagine submitting a story without quotes. Hell, in almost every story I write, I get quotes from at least three different people, and only in extenuating circumstances (a.k.a. 12-inch counts, or the like) do I ever dip into two.

But zero? Yikes. I imagine if it couldn't offer anything interesting, but if it's a rainout, we just run a paragraph and move on. At that time, even with a 7 p.m. game called at 9 p.m., we've usually been able to adapt.

 

[amraeder]

I couldn't even imagine submitting a story without quotes. Hell, in almost every story I write, I get quotes from at least three different people, and only in extenuating circumstances (a.k.a. 12-inch counts, or the like) do I ever dip into two.

But zero? Yikes. I imagine if it couldn't offer anything interesting, but if it's a rainout, we just run a paragraph and move on. At that time, even with a 7 p.m. game called at 9 p.m., we've usually been able to adapt.

Every now and then, you don't have time to get quotes. Like, the game ends past deadline.

 

[Eagleboy]

Every now and then, you don't have time to get quotes. Like, the game ends past deadline.

Yeah, but in the scenario given - that the event wrapped up several hours before deadline - that wasn't an issue. Only once have I had to submit play-by-play for a first edition, and that's only because a player once threw four wild pitches in the top of the ninth to blow the five-run lead. Otherwise, I had a feature all set on the side to throw in when the deadline came and went, but the running gamer was a better option at the time, especially because I called in six minutes later and dictated the score and the result.

 

[joe_schmoe]

Sometimes, I hate quotes. Mainly because our SE is a guy who feels that every thing we cover should have a quote....I have no problem with this. But last Friday's HS FB game with the rain delay makes this almost impossible. I still got in about 600 words, quoteless, with boring play-by play to beat deadline and fill the inch count they had for me. Still need a quote, so I topped it with WONDERFUL WORDS OF WISDOM BY COACH A: "We were glad to get the win."

WOW. Insightful! Provoking! But our damn SE wants a %&$)* quote, wants to make deadline and still wants 600 words, that's the damn quote.

My point being, quotes are great, they can tell a story better than I can, but if I'm not going to be able to add anything useful, why waste everyone's time? To prove I was there?

Six-hundred words of mostly play-by-play. Ugh.
I hate deadline writes too, but I don't think I could get a good sense of a story without talking to coaches/players. I don't necessarily use their quotes, but it helps to fill 600 words with some kind of story instead of what happened on 3rd-and-6 early in the second quarter.

God, do you even have interest in reading what you wrote after it's filed?

To clarify, it wasn't 600 words of play-by-play. There was some yes. Mainly highlights of scoring plays. But, since this was the opener, I had enough to work with based on last season as well: Team A was semi-cinderella that made a go at a state title, so I could put some of so and so replaced so and so type crap too.

But in answer to your question? No. I didn't want to read it either. But I was there.


And like most everyone else here, I try to quote at minimum both coaches, but usually a key player or two and a coach.
If I have decent time before deadline, and I don't get quotes, then I would expect to get reprimanded.

But some people seem to take the quote thing to the opposite extreme...using quotes as a crutch. We still have to be able to tell the story. One thing I hate is AP optionals that come in telling me about Joe Blow's career, his day, what he had for breakfast and why he is on fire, and fails to tell me what the hell happened in the game. Not all of our readers are there. I believe in a good balance between play-by-play (not overkill) and quotes, often to set up or elaborate on the play-by-play.
Too many quotes is just as, if not more lazy than no quotes.

 

[BertoltBrecht]

One thing I hate is AP optionals that come in telling me about Joe Blow's career, his day, what he had for breakfast and why he is on fire...

Agreed. But what if he told you, "I eat pieces of **** like you for breakfast."

 

[gandhithegreat]

Sometimes, I hate quotes. Mainly because our SE is a guy who feels that every thing we cover should have a quote....I have no problem with this. But last Friday's HS FB game with the rain delay makes this almost impossible. I still got in about 600 words, quoteless, with boring play-by play to beat deadline and fill the inch count they had for me. Still need a quote, so I topped it with WONDERFUL WORDS OF WISDOM BY COACH A: "We were glad to get the win."

WOW. Insightful! Provoking! But our damn SE wants a %&$)* quote, wants to make deadline and still wants 600 words, that's the damn quote.

My point being, quotes are great, they can tell a story better than I can, but if I'm not going to be able to add anything useful, why waste everyone's time? To prove I was there?

Try getting quotes from someon before the game...it can help.

 

[Tom Petty]

i'd rather read what a player had to say after a game than a coach.

 

[amraeder]

i'd rather read what a player had to say after a game than a coach.

Very true. Sometimes my coworkers will only quote coaches after a game and it makes me cringe. They're very good to talk to, because they can help you get a perspective on things, but damn, I want to hear from someone actually on the field.

 

[Tom Petty]

i'd rather read what a player had to say after a game than a coach.

Very true. Sometimes my coworkers will only quote coaches after a game and it makes me cringe. They're very good to talk to, because they can help you get a perspective on things, but damn, I want to hear from someone actually on the field.

seems as though some in our business are afraid of players, though, if it's not a controlled environment. and that's kinda sad.

 

[amraeder]

i'd rather read what a player had to say after a game than a coach.

Very true. Sometimes my coworkers will only quote coaches after a game and it makes me cringe. They're very good to talk to, because they can help you get a perspective on things, but damn, I want to hear from someone actually on the field.

seems as though some in our business are afraid of players, though, if it's not a controlled environment. and that's kinda sad.

Maybe. I haven't been around long enough to figure out what the problem is, only that it's a problem.