Best Ledes?

Everyone is telling me about bad ledes in the other thread. What about the good ones?

 

This was written by one of my former student writers when he worked for the Big J School's wire service:

"If you could stop rubbing your itchy, watery eyes for one second, put down the tissue and look around, you'd see an increasing number of sneezing, sniffling sad sacks just like you."

When I saw that lede, I HAD to run that story in my paper.

 

I also liked this one:

"Your cat kicked the bucket yesterday. The economy is souring, your baby's daddy skipped town and no matter how often you listen to "SexyBack," Justin Timberlake is never going to date you."

 

The famous lede to an advancer in an English paper for the 1966 World Cup final between England and West Germany:

"If on the morrow we should lose to the Germans at our national game, fret not, lads, for twice in this century we have beaten them at theirs."

 

The legendary Dick Young after Don Larsen's perfect game in the '56 World Series:

"The imperfect man pitched the perfect game."

 

In fact, sportsed, that lede appeared under Joe Trimble's byline, although legend has it Young wrote it for him

 

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

OR

"Call me Ishmael."

 

You are correct.

 

Adn there is no reason to believe that Young didn't write it. I don't think old Joe could have come up with something like that.

 

I read this one in the Chicago Tribune a number of years ago when the Cubs were playing some bad defense for a season:

"If the sky were falling, which one of the Cubs would drop it first?"

 

I've always been a fan of "Gentlemen, start your coffins."

 

Shirley Povich in the Washington Post.

"Jim Brown, born ineligible to play for the Redskins, integrated their end zone three times yesterday."