Notebooks. Which kind?

I actually do this too. I got ridiculed in the press box recently because I couldn't keep baseball stats in a normal scorebook, but my system is just so much easier for me, even though I have to print out a page every time I go to a game. Is it unorthodox? Sure. But it works for me, and I get the stuff down, so I don't care what anyone else says.

 

I use the medium-sized ones, always with yellow paper... I have no idea why, just something I do...

 

i use a regular notebook that i keep clipped to my metal clipboard (hollow inside for storing pens, media guide, something to read, stuff to prove who i am, etc. - looks like the one that the guy carries around who reads the meter on my house)...gives me more room which is handy especially for interviews after games and i have a bludgeoning device at hand if shit gets hectic with the drunken parents at the random high school game i'm sitting at.

 

I use the thin reporter's notepads for everything but high school football, where I need a legal-sized pad to keep stats. The reporter's notebook fits in my back pocket, which is why I use it. That, and I got dozens of them from various events I've covered.

For all college events, and at larger high school events where I have a seat at a table, I keep the play-by-play on my laptop.

 

Wow. A discussion on notepads. Fascinating.

 

It's cheaper too. Instead of going to the sporting goods store and dropping five bucks, there
s a web site I can print out baseball/softball scoresheets for free.

Take them to the copy machine, print out about 50 or so and you're set with a stack for a good while.



For football, I'll use a legal pad on a clip board with my pre-printed stat sheet (hi slappy) on the other side. In between plays, write down the play, flip over and record the stats (which I keep a cumulative total to avoid tabulating on deadline).


For interviews, I use the steno pad, which you can find in packs of 10 at any office supply store. I'm pretty sure Target has them too.

 

I echo Willie-Butch ...

For me, legal pads for football and basketball, with hand-drawn rules down the middle steno-style. My peculiar note-taking style lends itself to wider lines. And I like using a clipboard, too, to keep the Redwoods worth of handouts under control. For baseball, it is a scoresheet I used back in the day when I was a scorer for the local minor league team. Made me a bunch of double-sided copies, and continue to make more when I run low. Similarly, for prep games, I use the same stats compilation sheet a legendary prep guru at one of my old haunts developed (and tape it to the back of a clipboard, just like Hank). I share those, and the technique to use them, with our stringer kids every year.

I like the slim notepads for non-stats stuff (interviews, etc.). And you GOTTA keep some in the car -- as my first boss always said ... you never know when I plane will crash in front of you, and you need to report on it. Those notepads tucked away in the backseat pocket have come in handy when tornadoes hit town and I was the closest to the scene.

rb

 

http://www.baseballscorecard.com/downloads.htm

Here's the site I found baseball scoresheets at. Download the pdf to your desktop and print it out.

I prefer the enhanced vertical, which allows you to keep track of balls and strikes for each batter.

 

I always used Reporter's Notebooks, and never left the house without one in my back pocket. As long as I was a writer, all my pants had a crease from the notebook.

My first paper didn't have them, so another guy and I went in on a case of them, which was the smallest order you could place with the supply house. Well worth it.

 

Hey, I'm not suggesting you don't use them. i'm just saying steno pads work for me. I can get a half of football pbp on 1 1/2 pages(front and Back) and a quarter of a basketball game on one sheet

 

Steno for stats, reporter's notebooks for interviews, notes, etc. So nice to have something that can fit in the back pocket.

 

Search for "reporters notebook" on Office Depot's Web site. $1.99 a pop, 17.99 a dozen.