.... and the horse you rode in on

I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't get the whole horse ref.

 

A couple meanings:

From the Bible:
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns [diadems]. He has a name written on him that no one but he himself knows. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS
(and I have NO CLUE what it all means, other than it was the fourth horse in the Four Horsemen of the Apocolyps):

From mideival times and fairytales:
In stories and legend a prince would arrive on a white horse to save the day.

 

Thank you. I cannot believe nobody here has ever heard of a hero riding in on a white horse to save the day. Isn't that one of the oldest cliches in the book?

 

The special thing about the lede is it is bad in so many ways: confusing, cliche, does it reference a vulgar slur or a gallant charger? And, of course, what's up with the horse?

 

Maybe he was listening to that song "Big Black Horse and a Cherry Tree" earlier in the day and became inspired by it to write this lede.

 

If you wanna ride ... don't ride the white horse. Doesn't ANYONE take the advice of early 80's songs to heart?

 

I don't ride it anymore. Went broke riding that fantastic goddamn horse.

 

AP Sports Writer
SEATTLE (AP) — The Seahawks were struggling, so Shaun Alexander slapped on the snow chains and ran over the Packers like a Mack truck that found its traction.
Alexander’s 201-yard performance on a career-high 40 carries across the snow-covered turf Monday night did far more than rescue Seattle from a 21-12 deficit in the second half to beat the Green Bay Packers. It returned Alexander to his league MVP level of 2005 after three months of irrelevance caused by a badly bruised left foot that eventually became broken and caused a seven-week layoff.
“I’m definitely tired, but I feel good,” Alexander said before being hauled away for involuntary manslaughter. “I’m probably in better shape than even I thought I was.”
That had all of Seattle sighing in relief Tuesday.

 

I give the writer an "A" for effort in trying to come up with something different, but a "D" in execution. The lede reads like the writer thought of a "brilliant" idea and forced it, rather than letting creativity flow naturally right out the fingers.

Having said that, I will put up a defense of AP writers, with my wife formerly having been one for 10 years, my son's godmother being a current AP Sports Writer, and myself having dabbled in the wire trade at the beginning of my career. I don't know who most of you are, but I would suspect some of the people ripping the AP would crack under the pressure of working there.

And certainly I've heard AP writers in the past complain about stories being "put through the boring machine." The idea was that your story could run anywhere, so it had to appeal everywhere. Unfortunately, that can end up creating stories as exciting as cheese pizza.

Not saying the AP or its writers lack room for improvement. But, hey, it's not all bad.

 

I like it, Leo. But I think the charge would be vehicular homocide.

 

The Four Horsemen lede would be shredded to pieces on this site.

 

The Four Horsemen lede was right for its time. Much of what worked in Golden Era journalism doesn't work today. Someone made the point that in days of old, ledes were peppered with Biblical and classic literature references. Now it's video games and pop culture. Plus, there's a difference between Grantland Rice banging out that lede and an AP writer doing it, or, God above help us, some prep writer.

I think today you'd be more likely to see a Four Horsemen lede that invoked Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard and the Andersons than you would the Revelations horseriders.