Avoid the obvious

Be original in all that you do. It's the only rule I have.
God didn't make you unique so you could be a copy.
Same goes for writing.

 

Not at all. If a stray turkey wanders onto the field and trips a runner heading to the end zone, feel free to mention the turkey in the story. Maybe even in the lead.

 

I wrote a Halloween lede in my game story in part because of this thread. One of the best things about sports writing is it allows you to have a little fun, and I don't see the problem with a holiday themed lede every once in a while in that vein.

 

One of the worst things about being a slot is seeing 11 "every once in a while" holiday leads all in the same evening.

Too much of anything just isn't good.

The other night I saw three "xxxxx holds off xxxxx" headlines on one page. Now, you can't really accuse any single copy editor of doing anything wrong, but taken AS A COLLECTIVE it was just too much and required two of the headlines to be rewritten.

That's kind of the point behind all this.

 

"Zombies may have risen from the dead Friday night, but Bumfuck High lay moldering in its grave in a 62-0 loss to Asskicking Prep."

 

I had a great lede all planned for Friday night because the QB for the local team's last name is Goblin. You assholes ruined it.

I need a bullet. Anyone got one they can spare?

 

You can still use it if he's ever implicated in a gay sex scandal.

Hey, if I hadn't said it ...

 

If the guy's name is Goblin, the Halloween lede is fair game.
Exception to the rule. You should have been smart enough to realize that.

 

Is Rob Zombie's son playing HS football anywhere?

 

Writers also should know that slavery has been abolished.

From a story on cbssports.com Saturday night: "Owned by Jim Rome, Shared Belief jockey Mike Smith said after the race the early bump ruined his horse's chances."

 

Ah, but what if they pick up the paper and there are SEVEN of those ledes?

 

My guess is they wouldn't care. Only hardcores and sportswriters are going to read seven high school sports stories. Now if a copy editor goes rogue and shoehorns Halloween ledes into all stories, local and wire, that's ... actually, I'd like to see how that would work out. But for most people, it'll come down to a) is my kid in the story? b) how much is my kid in the story? c) does my school get a bigger story than my rival school? And I'm not sure about the last one.