worst leads you have seen

[JackInTheBox]

"What a difference a year makes."

"It was cold outside, but the action was hot inside Yada Yada Arena on Tuesday."

You know the drill....What are the worst leads you have seen? Discuss.

 

[Tom Petty]

"what a difference a year makes."

 

[Steak Snabler]

First of all, it's "lede."

But to answer your question, anything that starts with a word, and then follows it up with "Webster's defines it as ..."

Extra points if they go to the trouble to put in the phonetic pronunciation ...

We once had a prep guy who wrote a football game story, with a one-word lede:

"Momentum."

I wish I was kidding.

Here's another hackneyed technique you see a lot, especially with young writers:

"Coach John Smith said his team would have to establish the run early to beat Crosstown Rival. They did exactly that on Friday night."

Oy.

 

[friend of the friendless]

Sirs, Madames,

"How do the Senators spell relief? T-U-G-N-U-T-T."

And, as I've told the story:

"For 60 minutes Senators fans thought they were getting screwed. It just took a little four-on-four play to loosen things up, said Bard."

Don't know it word for word, but we always joked about, and I paraphrase, "outside the Pittsburgh Civic Arena the skies cried for Mario ..."

YD&OHS, etc

 

[MacDaddy]

"It was a tale of two halves..."

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

"If you're as big a fan of the Spanish Civil War as I am..."
And this from a brilliant woman who later won a Pulitzer.
We're all young once, folks.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

"It was a tale of two halves..."

I've lost track of how many times I've seen that one... I'd say it's probably the most cliched lede that most desks will let through...

 

[Lucas Wiseman]

"The game started with the opening kickoff..."

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/31194/

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/34049/

 

[kingcreole]

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

"Everyone knows (fill in blank)"

If everyone knows, why the **** is that your lede?

 

[kingcreole]

Saw this lede last week. It deals with a baskeball game in which a team lost by 11 and missed 18 free throws.

"Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. 18 misses."

 

[doctor x]

"Speed kills."

 

[Small Town Guy]

Saw this lede last week. It deals with a baskeball game in which a team lost by 11 and missed 18 free throws.

"Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. Miss. 18 misses."

Didn't realize Tom Wolfe was writing prep gamers these days.

 

[chazp]

"The game started with the opening kickoff..."

[blue] Damn. Who would have thought a football game begins with a kickoff. I never knew![/blue]

 

[Pencil Dick]

1) Any lede that references Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, yada yada yada ...

2) "Poor (insert name of conference cellar dweller)." Unfortunately, I wrote it when I was a newbie.

3) Paraphrasing Lewis Grizzard from a story submitted to the AJC by a stringer: "Chamblee's thrilling victory on the game's final play was somewhat marred by the death of its coach." The coach had died of a heart attack during the final play.

 

[Writer33]

Hometown won the toss and chose to receive.

 

[FootballScribe]

I saw this once:

"All (college team) had to do was play well enough to win."

Yikes.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

(Just) Call him/her __________. I think everyone's used a variation of that one.

 

[mustangj17]

The weather is getting chilly, (hopefully), but there will be plenty of chili at the Stupid City Chili Cookoff this weekend- so I hope your have your spoon handy.


WTF!!!!

I know this is non sports but my editor wrote this one day. Who uses parenthesis in a lede? Who says they hope it gets cold? I for one don't.

I can think about 100 diff ledes that would be better involving warm chili and chilly weather.

 

[JackInTheBox]

First of all, it's "lede."

But to answer your question, anything that starts with a word, and then follows it up with "Webster's defines it as ..."

Extra points if they go to the trouble to put in the phonetic pronunciation ...

We once had a prep guy who wrote a football game story, with a one-word lede:

"Momentum."

I wish I was kidding.

Here's another hackneyed technique you see a lot, especially with young writers:

"Coach John Smith said his team would have to establish the run early to beat Crosstown Rival. They did exactly that on Friday night."

Oy.

Actually, it's commonly used as both "lead" or "lede," whichever you prefer. But whatever.

"It was a tale of two halves."......That's funny. I forgot about that one. I probably used that one at some point the past.