Write the gamer, don't try your stand-up material...

I think it's OK for a gamer lede, perhaps better for a columnist's lede or early graph.

I'll certainly take this one-time lede over those who all foolishly do Halloween ledes on routine high school football gamers.

 

Adding on to that, one of the truly great things about a good copy desk is that you feel free to try new things, knowing full well that it'll most likely be axed if it doesn't fly. That's a lot better than knowing that what you write will probably be what people see, good or bad.

Of course, then there's the possibility that the copy guys are all having great laughs at your lede directly at your expense, but maybe that's another topic for another time.

 

Ledes that could have been used:

Penn State breaks a leg for JoPa!

Penn State makes Temple look Owl-ful!

JoPa wobbles but he don't fall down ... to Temple!

Penn State rolls in like a Lion, out with a BAM!

I include these because the central tenet of journalism is to include ledes with exclamation points. And words with CAPS.

 

Those almost are as bad as the buttons handed out by Citizen Bank every game weekend.

"Lions don't tire out." (Akron)
"The Cat gets the cheese." (Wisconsin)
"You're not Owl that." (Temple)

There are a few others that are pretty groan worthy.

 

And when Temple broke its long-ass losing streak, if you were courting the young Internet loser demo ...

"Owls win? O RLY?"
Subhed: "YA RLY"

 

droll turn of phrase - sportswriting used to be more consistently droll and clever - before the Era of ranting, obsessive stats, and shrinking access

it's just sports - lighten up - go back and read jim murray - he would have loved that line

 

This reminds me of something one of the old sports writers told me after the press conference ended for a particularly, one-sided, hardly-anything-of-note game:

"I'm going to write a shitty story, but it will still be better than the game."