Writer's guide for stringers

[sweetbreads bailey]

The shop I work for (non-daily, where I'm pretty much the whole sports department), recently approved a stringer budget for me. Yippee! Much rejoicing as I don't have to cover six high schools all by myself for a change.

I'd like to put together a 2-3 page sports writing/sports reporting guide for our freelance help since most of the guys helping me are just out of high school or college. For those of you who have had stringers to deal with for years, what's the best advice I can pass along them as far as questions to ask, stuff to focus on in their stories, etc.

What comes to mind immediately is to get the teams who played and the final score into the story early, include first and last names of everyone you write about, talk to at least both head coaches after the game, don't cheer for any team or yell at the refs, don't just make the story a rehash of every play (like the one I just got from a guy last night), etc. What else?

Sweetbreads says thanks mucho...

SB

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

What comes to mind immediately is to get the teams who played and the final score into the story early, include first and last names of everyone you write about, talk to at least both head coaches after the game, don't cheer for any team or yell at the refs, don't just make the story a rehash of every play (like the one I just got from a guy last night), etc. What else?

This paragraph would apply to many of the current full-time sportswriters here.
When I was sent out to cover my first game, the SE jotted down a story formula for me to follow.

I wish I had saved it because I thought it was a great piece of starter advice.
If I could - or can - remember it I'll edit this and post it.
You might consider doing something similar for stringers so you don't get play-by-play gamers that start with a 0-0 score and Bumble**** High's first possession.

 

[farmerjerome]

Ugh. Don't use any phrases you hear on sportscenter.

Double-check all names.

Don't be afraid to ask stupid questions.

Use the inverted pyramid system -- most important things first.

Don't hire FarmerJ, I hear she's mouthy.

 

[SixToe]

A quick diversion if possible.

Congrats on the stringer budget. Did you lobby for it and how did you convince them? Or did they decide it was time to do something and you got a big surprise?

 

[Stitch]

Is talking to both coaches reasonable in most areas? Where I string, the losing coach usually does a beeline for the bus or the locker room and I have time to get the winning team's coach and his players. Chasing down the other team would mean not making deadline for most games.

 

[Barsuk]

Is talking to both coaches reasonable in most areas? Where I string, the losing coach usually does a beeline for the bus or the locker room and I have time to get the winning team's coach and his players. Chasing down the other team would mean not making deadline for most games.

Depends on your deadline situation. If possible, I try to grab the visiting team's coach before he splits, if only to get a few words from him. I don't necessarily use any quotes from him, but it's good to talk to him at least so he can tell you if something crazy happened, like half the starting defense was suspended from school and didn't play. Something you might not know if you don't cover the team regularly.

 

[Chi City 81]

No score before the final score. Final score within four or five grafs. Source before said, except in cases of "said West Bumble**** coach Jack Mehoff," or when followed by a conjunctive.

 

[Cadet]

I advise my newbies to start with the basics: Determine the who, what, where, when, why and how of the story, then fill in with details (mostly 'how' details) around that.

Make sure that you also advise them with the tone you're looking for. At a small paper your job description may include being rah-rah for Podunk High. Or there may be an unwritten rule that you shouldn't second-guess Coach Beesknees. Or you may cover local high schools with the objectivity you would show a Top 25 college program. Only you know your paper and your readers, and you have to convey that to a stringer.

 

[chazp]

I advise my newbies to start with the basics: Determine the who, what, where, when, why and how of the story, then fill in with details (mostly 'how' details) around that.

Make sure that you also advise them with the tone you're looking for. At a small paper your job description may include being rah-rah for Podunk High. Or there may be an unwritten rule that you shouldn't second-guess Coach Beesknees. Or you may cover local high schools with the objectivity you would show a Top 25 college program. Only you know your paper and your readers, and you have to convey that to a stringer.

What she said. Also let them know how to find something positive to put in there if Podunk gets their heads handed to them. (example -Podunk's so-and-so was the game's leading tackler with 12...)

 

[TheMethod]

If you're going to use "****" in your copy, fine. But be judicious about it.

Seriously, I think Dan Jenkins said that every game had a turning point, and that you should identify it and pound it into the ground. This probably works better for college and pro sports, but it's something to think about.

 

[playthrough]

I'd encourage newbies to ask coaches if there are any changes to the roster, significant injuries, etc., well before the game if possible. Always assume there is something wrong! Sometimes the roster in a prep football program is already outdated by Week 1, much less Week 8, but a newcomer won't know. If he/she politely says "I'm new to your team and want to know of if this is completely up-to-date", most coaches should be accommodating. That has saved my ass a lot when finding out some kid is #55 at home but #58 on the road or some other oddity.

 

[Dan Hickling]

Make sure they know which are YOUR coverage schools....that way they gather and write from the angle you need...and if both schools are yours, focus on the winning team, but get a little something from the other side....

 

[sweetbreads bailey]

good stuff, folks ... thanks ... as for the stringer budget, it came as a nice little surprise to me ... believe it or not, it came after our chain changed hands earlier this year ... the outgoing folks spent all this time telling us all this negative stuff about the new company, but we're finding that in some ways, they ain't so bad... at least in my department... at least for now... of course, they're also threatening to make us do video for our Web site... but that's another story...

SB

 

[Steak Snabler]

Just to reiterate what others have said --- drill the "no score before the final score" rule into their heads. I work with some full-timers who don't understand that.

Oh yeah --- SAID, SAID, SAID ... not "says," "commented," "noted," etc.

Also, I don't know what the quality of your stringers are, but tell them to limit paragraphs to two or three sentences at the most. I can't tell you the number of times I've gotten copy that is one solid block of text.

They also may not know that, for high school games, they should keep their own stats. Don't depend on the team's guy --- though some of them are quite good, many of them are incompetent and/or have an agenda.

We also try to provide our guys with a list that includes team mascot name, head coach's name and the team's classification/region designation. Saves a lot of questions/editing work.

Good luck.

 

[wickedwritah]

This is a prime example of how not to write a story -- the comments section contains more "news" than the article:
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2007/sep/29/eagles-outscore-raiders/

 

[Steak Snabler]

This is a prime example of how not to write a story -- the comments section contains more "news" than the article:
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2007/sep/29/eagles-outscore-raiders/

Wow! And that was from a staff writer.

On the other hand, he did serve his north central Texas readers by writing a column for today's paper about the Mets:

http://www.reporternews.com/news/2007/oct/01/for-amazins-a-choke-job-for-the-ages/