Is this a good gamer lead?

Or, dare I say, even maybe helped the first one. Maybe not, but not impossible.

 

facebook is like adidas, but I don't know if it's different -- or even there -- in the AP stylebook.

Also, Devin, really bad form to call out someone like that.

PS: Isn't this the game that didn't make the front of some of the papers?

 

I don't think OMG! really means Oh My Gosh! either.

 

i've done okay in this field. one reason is that, for the first six years of my career, i spent it at an ambitious mid-sized paper where i could try stupid leads, think i was doing something unprecedented -- in short, often be mind-bogglingly awful -- and the only people who'd know were my mystified readers, the snickering deskers, and a lot of incredibly patient management types who watched my back, figuring i'd get over myself eventually. the other reason is that, like most writers, i had the oft-crippling combination of huge ambition and ego undermined by insecurity and thinskinned sensitivity to criticism. and this i know: if my shit was raked over by internet jackals, poked full of holes and held up to ridicule, i don't think i would have survived. because i was really bad, and i wasn't sure i wouldn't always be. at last i found a bit of voice, but i had more time to do so than anyone similarly handicapped would in this toxic environment.

so, really, here's a toast to those long-gone go-for-the-balls mid-level papers like the st. pete times, the long beach press telegram, the sacto bee and union, the san jose mercury news, the des moines register and dozens of others -- papers that wanted to be big time, spent money to send idiot writers like me all over the nation, gave them a ridiculous amount of space to fill -- and yet, allowed enough obscurity so some writers could find themselves. devin: if you put this up to actually ask about the merits of the lede, okay. if you put it up to anonymously rip the writer and make yourself feel better about yourself, it's time to think about becoming a better person. we've all written crap. we've all missed. the key is to never push away from the keyboard without giving it everything you've got. then you have nothing to apologize for.

but you? i think you do.

 

St. Pete is a mid-level paper? Uh... No...

 

if you compare it to the ny times, wall street journal, usa today and the la times in its heyday? uh...yeah.

 

OK, that's fair if you're comparing it to the national papers. I think mid-level, I think Palm Beach, Fort Worth, Contra Costa, Fresno...

 

my idea of mid-level is pretty broad, admittedly. i include your group as well as mine -- and for me it was as much mind-set as circulation: smaller papers who had the will and balls and money to try and compete with the big boys -- sending people all over to do take-outs, two or three columnists, etc. -- and more than holding their own. incredible training grounds that, i fear, are lost to the industry. whether the internet replaces that, or ends up eating too many of its young, will be one of the things to watch out for....

 

well said

 

Great lead for the student paper.

 

Perhaps another factor that has contributed to your longevity is all the energy that you've saves not reaching for that shift key. :-*

 

true: i have "saves" lots of energy. thanks for noticing.