The Athletic keeps growing .......

Yeah, that’s insane. Shows a tremendous lack of trust in the person sent all the way to Florida for the story. I’ve never heard of a newspaper editor not allowing a few extra inches if the story warrants it.

There are stories that deserve to run long and I agree that for those people will stick with the story to the end.

 

Sounds like half of the editors I worked for in newspapers. One of many reasons I don't miss it. I'm fortunate in the freelance gigs that I have: they give me the spacing that it's worth. I was told up front that feature articles were usually in the 2,000-3,000 ballpark. On one particular subject I ended up talking to about 16 people and got some great anecdotes. I told my editor this thing might go over 3,000 -- to maybe around 3,500 -- and they replied "write what it's worth and we'll make it fit."

 

"Write what it's worth" is a mantra to live by.

 

Worked for these guys for four years and have never thought, let alone said, a bad word about them. They've always been fair and respectful.

 

And it works both directions.

 

Precisely my point. Some things are worth 500 words. Some are worth 5,000. Not everything fits into a box. Use your judgement as a writer and editor to make the right call.

 

An event we have celebrated its 25th anniversary last year and I did an article on how it started, grew and has grown. Interviewed 24 people. When I started writing, and then writing some more, and well, you can't leave out that...or that...the finished product ended up being 5,500 words. Proofed it three times, clicked send late on a Sunday night and said out loud, "This is the one that gets me bitched out." Two weeks go by and I don't hear a word. Not a yay, nay or fuck you. I see my boss at another event the following month and said, "I thought for sure I was getting scolded for length" and he said, "no, I knew the work you were putting in and that was the size I expected."

 

As it relates to culture writing - which is often on The Ringer - it's almost always too long and spun up into long grafs of pretty writing that don't settle down.

 

As someone who once wrote a 60-inch gamer on a football team winning its first game in three years — quite obnoxious — I’ll defer to guys who’ve done this (and done it much better) for a while.

 

It's the material. We've all read 30-inch stories that read like 10 and 10-inch stories that read like 30.

 

The Ringer runs the longest lists I have ever seen. Today they ran an NBA story on the "Top 25 Players of the First 25ish Games". I like NBA basketball but I don't feel like I have the time to read something like that. And I just retired and have literally all day to read what Iwant.