Is deadline writing no longer good enough for BASW?

[Michael_ Gee]

I believe it was during Game Five of the 2004 ALCS that some writer made the immortal remark, "When they say no lead is safe in Fenway Park, they're not talking about baseball."

 

[Versatile]

It's a book compiled with readers in mind.

So, at one time, when it included deadline writing, it was compiled with something else in mind?

In the era of Glenn Stout and the Best American _____ Writing series, there's been very few one-night stories, period.

We had a pretty wide agreement that Dan Wetzel's aforementioned Tom Brady story deserved a spot. But I also understand the logic that features hold up better.

For the record, I don't get why these books even get published in an era when 90% of the stories are available for free online. I prefer link-heavy lists from Longform.org and the like. They also are much more timely. The year thing where the Best American _____ Series is all a year old is just a reminder of its inherent datedness.

 

[Morris816]

A piece written on deadline, be it a gamer, column or whatever else, will best hold up over time if one can go back and read it a year later and truly remember what made the event special or newsworthy. That's a tougher thing to do, when more often one will write a piece that is well worth reading the next day, but may not truly reflect how special the event was when read a year or two later.

 

[BYH]

This is what I was getting at on the Posnanski thread and the idea that there's finally a longform site run by someone who doesn't actively loathe sportswriting. Sportswriting is 95% grunt deadline writing. Yes, most of it is rote and far from transcendent, and that's fine. Gamers need to be written and space (of the virtual or newsprint) variety needs to be filled and quickly forgotten, over and over and over again.

But there are gamers and deadline writing and column writing that rises above it all and is as good as anything else that is out there. Anyone who has read anything about the Kansas City Royals this month knows that. Those gamers and columns are so good b/c of the relationships and institutional knowledge built up by the drudgery of writing daily gamers, of being around enough to notice a little thing or have a meaningless little exchange in May that pays off in October. This is not a critique of longform, or longform writers, but unless someone is assigned to a team or a subject for an entire season (which does happen), those details are unlikely to be discovered.

But what are the odds a Jeff Passan, Andy McCullough or Sam Mellinger gamer/column ends up in the 2015 BASW? About as good as me waking up next to Kristen Bell tomorrow morning. There hasn't been a deadline piece in BASW in the last decade not b/c there have been no BASW-worthy deadline pieces, but because the series editor simply has no regard for the type of grunt sportswriting that generates magical deadline writing. The insomnia-curing longform he's curating at SB Nation is ample evidence of that.

 

[Alma]

I think instead of speaking in the abstract, we should talk more in terms of what should have been included. The Wetzel pieces. That's a start. What else? And if your answer is "Well, I don't remember a specific piece, but I'm sure there were some..." then that says a lot about how memorable those pieces were, doesn't it?

IMO, no, it says virtually nothing, because I'm not omniscient and memory is, IMO, a relatively poor judge of quality. There may have been on an annual basis many worthy submissions I've never read or wouldn't remember.

At any rate, if the editors believe deadline writing simply isn't good enough anymore, or the Internet has rendered it irrelevant, or deadline writing just doesn't sell, then so be it. The specific BASW selections are of no particular concern to me. What Bob said intrigued me, though.

 

[Versatile]

Here are a few I remembered and was able to find:

• Adam Kilgore on Doug Fister's dad's firehouse
• Robert Klemko on Richard Sherman after the Super Bowl
• T.J. Simers on Al Davis' death
• Tyler Kepner on a terrible call in the 2011 World Series

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/sports/baseball/at-first-fireworks-over-the-umpiring.html?_r=0

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Man, when T.J. drops the pose and writes as a plain old human being, he's forkin' great.

 

[Versatile]

A piece written on deadline, be it a gamer, column or whatever else, will best hold up over time if one can go back and read it a year later and truly remember what made the event special or newsworthy. That's a tougher thing to do, when more often one will write a piece that is well worth reading the next day, but may not truly reflect how special the event was when read a year or two later.

I disagree. The pieces discussed here all focus on unique and aggressive post-game reportage. The key is setting your work apart from the masses.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

Man, when T.J. drops the pose and writes as a plain old human being, he's forkin' great.

Yup.

 

[AD]

back in '88, i went to fenway archives and combed through gammons' daily stuff from '78. it was insanely good. then i went back to '75. made me want to leave the business. purple? no question. but, then, nearly everything out of boston during a home team run is. that's part of what makes a boston run so wonderful -- and to opponents, so sickening. that populace -- unlike, say, miami -- actually BLEED purple for their teams. yes, it's insufferable. but gammons reflected that so perfectly -- and so did ryan at his best.

 

[Rhody31]

The best game story I've ever read I never actually read.
At my first shop we had a writer at a state semifinal game. Score was like 77-58 or something ridiculous. We didn't have laptops, so as reporters we had to get quotes, hand write and call one of the other guys on the desk for dictation.
On this night I was taking the call and every graf was amazing. I knew halfway in this was an award-winner and made for damn sure I was typing every word clean.
Reporter ended up winning state awards and I think an APSE for it. Wish I had a link for it because to this day it's something I'll never forget.

 

[Double Down]

Speaking of deadliners, this is a great gamer from Ben Shpigel on last night's Pats/Jets game.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/17/sports/football/ny-jets-do-everything-but-win-the-game.html?_r=0