Hiring standards for stringers for high school sports

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

For awhile, I put a moratorium on stated, opined, remarked, smiled, etc.
There was, and is, nothing wrong with said.

"If I could click "like" on this four billion times, I would," exclaimed BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo.

 

[HanSenSE]

One of my JM professors asked us all to smile one day during clash. Then he said, "OK, now say something while smiling."

"said with a smile" is impossible. "said" takes care of it.

Opined, remarked, stated are unnecessary. Said works.

I'm not a fan of "says," either. The editor of one magazine I write for uses 1-9 for numbers and changes said to says. Drives me bananas. But the checks clear so I roll with it.

Don't remember where I was where an editor insisted on said in straight news and says I features. I used said in both and let them fix it.

 

[Liut]

There's nothing like copy-editing on deadline and coming across, "Polk High shillelaghed Montrose 54-0."

Poor guy apparently tired of the words "defeated" and "beat."

Those words are taboo!!! Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, can be either defeated or beat anymore.
In my market, if a team loses it doesn't lose, it falls or fell. It falls or fell every fricking time. Clumsy teams abound in Liut's neighborhood.
Been absent during the holiday weekend, but to return and catch up on this thread made my morning.
"+1 to all of you," Liut said.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

Those words are taboo!!! Nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, can be either defeated or beat anymore.
In my market, if a team loses it doesn't lose, it falls or fell. It falls or fell every fricking time. Clumsy teams abound in Liut's neighborhood.
Been absent during the holiday weekend, but to return and catch up on this thread made my morning.
"+1 to all of you," Liut said.

"Glad to have helped," smiled BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo.

 

[swingline]

What's the feeling on *chortled?*

 

[daytonadan1983]

Back when I had interns, game nights for them meant they had 30 minutes to get me a 150 word breaking, 60 minutes for the 450 worder and the next day for the optional. When they asked why, I said so as you as soon as you get out of here, you can show that you can write on deadline ...and be ready for the real world deadlines...

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

What's the feeling on *chortled?*

"forking terrible," lamented BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo.

 

[Small Town Guy]

We had a part-timer--nicest kid in the world, absolutely couldn't write a sentence to save his life and in the immortal words of one of the old-timers at the shop, "Must have been dropped on his head as a kid. A lot," and went on to become a banker, which left me questioning our country's entire financial system--who opened one gamer with, "The Fancytown and Redneck Village baseball teams played with each other for three hours Thursday night."

 

[Liut]

We had a part-timer--nicest kid in the world, absolutely couldn't write a sentence to save his life and in the immortal words of one of the old-timers at the shop, "Must have been dropped on his head as a kid. A lot," and went on to become a banker, which left me questioning our country's entire financial system--who opened one gamer with, "The Fancytown and Redneck Village baseball teams played with each other for three hours Thursday night."

LMAO!

I inherited a full-timer at one shop who liked to use *snickered*
Tried to be subtle at first but when that didn't work, lost it and asked, "Was he eating a f****** candy bar?"

 

[rtse11]

I had a stringer at a high school softball game who wrote that a player "banged a two-bagger" in her first at-bat and "turned the trick again" an inning later.
I'm told I set the office record for f bombs that night

 

[Typist Clerk]

Back when I had interns, game nights for them meant they had 30 minutes to get me a 150 word breaking, 60 minutes for the 450 worder and the next day for the optional. When they asked why, I said so as you as soon as you get out of here, you can show that you can write on deadline ...and be ready for the real world deadlines...

That would do it. Think I can give you 150 in five minutes starting from scratch, but I've been at it a couple of moons.

 

[HanSenSE]

One of my editors told me once, when he was a sports editor in the upper Midwest, said he told writers on games that went long, told them "I need 10 in 10 " meaning 10 grafs in 10 minutes.

At the place I string occasionally now, I know one of the stringers is in trouble when I see the lead "A large crowd showed up at Springfield High when the Isotopes hostec Podunk West for the tournament title Wednesday. "