Field Guide to Covering Sports. Joe Gisondi
down games into smaller parts, such as scoring runs in basketball, key drives in football, or key at-bats in softball or baseball. For example, you might notice that a basketball team played better with a smaller lineup, going on scoring runs of 12–2 and 10–0 when the starting center was on the bench. You might notice that a soccer team dominated the middle of the field for most of the game, which will allow you to focus on the play of the center midfielders and backs and describe their efforts during these key moments. You might compare the number of running plays with the number of passing plays by each football team during the game or a key series or by each half of the game. Why did the teams run more in the second half? You could also assess how well a team ran power plays in hockey. Why did a team struggle despite having a one-man advantage? For baseball, you should address pitch selection and pitch counts. Did a pitcher rely too heavily on fastballs, especially when he was behind in the count? Or did a team hit more grounders than fly balls?
Don’t forget to convey what happens next. Has the team advanced to the next level of a state playoff? Include this information high in a story. Where does the team play next during the regular season? That detail can wait for later.
Here are some more examples:
▸ “With Kansas’ 63–21 loss to Texas Tech, MU moved into a first-place tie in the Big 12 North with the Jayhawks by dismantling its second North opponent in as many tries this season. Mizzou previously beat Nebraska 52–17.”6
▸ “Gaudin allowed a leadoff single and walked the next hitter, but escaped the inning with a ground out, a strikeout and a fly out. His sinkers and sliders moved all over, several bouncing in front of catcher Jose Molina. One hit a batter, another was a wild pitch, and three times Oakland moved a runner to third.”7
▸ “Seattle doesn’t game plan for its exhibition opponents, and the Broncos ran a heavy diet of screen plays and short routes. Their longest play of the first half was a 26-yard completion to Eddie Royal on a bubble screen.”8
▸ “The offense is being helped this year by a couple of things, and maybe they’re obvious. One: The inside players have the ability to step away from the basket and be threats unlike the center who clogged the middle in recent years. Although he didn’t do it Saturday, center Mike Tisdale has shown great confidence in his mid-range jumper and so has forward Mike Davis. That opens a lot of space to get things done. Two: The Illini start three guards who have played the point at various times. Trent Meacham, Demetri McCamey and Chester Frazier can all pass the ball effectively and their assist numbers reflect the fact that sometimes they have three point guards on the court simultaneously.”9
Key Plays
Describe or cite key plays that change the outcome of a game, highlight key drives, illustrate a trend, describe how a strategy succeeded or failed, and show how a player made a difference. Sometimes these events are not obvious—such as a slide into second base that broke up a double play and allowed a run to score in the third inning of a 2–1 game. Sometimes the big hit is not really so big, as the following story shows:
PHILADELPHIA—There could be a lot of empty pews in Philadelphia churches on Sunday morning. The prayers of the Phillies’ fans were answered at 1:47 A.M., with a slow chopper up the third-base line that gave the Phillies the victory in Game 3 of the World Series.
Carlos Ruiz, who had homered in the second inning, drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth with a ball that traveled only about 40 feet. It brought home Eric Bruntlett to lift the Phillies over the Tampa Bay Rays, 5–4, at wild and water-logged Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies lead the series, two games to one.
“It was a great night for me,” Ruiz said. “I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”10
The Boston Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa focuses on an early goal here that sparked a later rally:
In the second period, Thornton, as the third man high in the offensive zone, winged a shot on goal. Yelle, positioned in front of goalie Johan Hedberg (28 saves), positioned his stick and deflected the puck into the net at 3:37, giving the Bruins the life they needed. Then, at 5:57, Lucic scored the first of his three to tie the score at 2.11
In football, teams win and lose based on their ability to both score quickly and produce lengthy drives that keep the other team off the field. Sometimes, a winning drive happens at the end of a big game like the Super Bowl, when the New York Giants rallied to defeat the previously unbeaten New England Patriots during an improbable and bizarre finish. Sometimes a team wins because it put together a drive that did not yield a single point but did run five or eight minutes off the game clock.
Or maybe the most significant drive is one that put the game out of reach, such as the following one that enabled the Florida Gators to secure a second national championship in three years:
The Sooners couldn’t finish. So the Gators finished them off. The joy culminated Thursday with an impeccable 76-yard drive and a 4-yard pass from Tebow to receiver David Nelson in the middle of the end zone with five minutes to go. Tebow created third-down conversion after conversion on that drive to finish with 231 passing yards and two touchdowns to match his 109 yards rushing.12
Statistics
Cite key stats, but don’t rely too heavily on them—especially in the lead. Don’t just focus on the fact players scored 30-plus points, ran for more than 100 yards, or recorded 20 kills in a match—unless you’re writing short briefs for a sports roundup. In more fully developed game stories, stats should support other key ideas. Explain how a softball player drove in seven runs, what enabled a basketball player to grab 15 rebounds, or why a miler managed to run the final two laps faster than the opening two. In golf, you might note when players go on cold or hot streaks, something that combines stats and trends. The following passage also explains why a streak ended:
Marino did much better than that. He made seven birdies in a bogey-free third round, including five in a seven-hole stretch on the back nine. “I got hot starting on No. 9. I made a couple putts,” Marino said. “I’ve been hitting it good all week, but the last two days I didn’t make much of anything on the greens. I got on a nice streak the last few holes of today.” The streak ended at No. 17. Eager to finish before dark, Marino nearly hit his tee shot into the group in front of him, a threesome hidden in the sunken fairway.13
Stats are essential for understanding all athletic events, but they do not tell the entire story. So be judicious about which ones to insert, and use only those that help illustrate key trends, drives, or plays or those that explain how a team won or lost. Readers can easily check box scores and read blog entries to learn more about additional stats from games or events.
Quotations
Quotations allow your readers to share in the thoughts and emotions of the game’s key people. They’re a perfect example of why people read sports stories, even if they watched the game and know the outcome: Reporters add to readers’ understanding by asking questions and finding out things no one could know just by looking.
A good quote takes you inside the speaker’s head and helps you see the world through different eyes. The next chapter, about interviewing, provides tips on getting people to talk to you. Once they do, learn to distinguish a good quote from a mediocre one. The fact that someone said something to you and you managed to record the words exactly does not make the quote worth using. A good quote must do more than take up space—it