Editors at small papers deal with spicing up gamers

tell me, you are either very young for this business or very old. which is it?

 

That's wayyyyy too concrete an answer. I don't care for the writer who ALWAYS needs 3-4 grafs to get to the score, but I wouldn't presume to say that it's NEVER called for.

 

just throwing this out for debate -- aren't most people using score boxes or score toppers,and does that change anyone's opinion on where the score in a gamer needs to go?

 

We use score toppers ... and we actively teach that they are NOT to be a consideration when deciding where to put the final score in a story.

 

It varies widely depending on whether your outlet is the first place people will go to get the story or how long before publication your game takes place. However, IMO, if you haven't put the final score in by graf 3, you've got problems unless you're covering a spring training game. There, the results aren't important.

 

Hack is right on the play-by-play, we aren't TV play-by-play commentators. We're supposed to find the story inside the story of the game, whatever the score.

 

Shot is right. Sometimes a score can wait, example. 1st graph, anecdotal lead, 2nd graph quote that sums it up the lead, 3rd graph, the nut graph with the score and other details.