Comments on: Fifty dos and don’ts for sportswriters . . .

By: John Lowe

John Lowe — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:08:23 +0000

Dave: Thank you for the outstanding list. I humbly submit the following:

Four steps to proofread your story (this can be done after you file it, while the desk is reading it):

1. Read only the quotes. They’re an easy place to make typos on small words and leave out words, especially if you’ve quickly transcribed the quotes. “It” can easily become “if” you’re not careful, and “of” can turn into “on.”

2. Go to the last paragraph. Double-check each name for spelling and accuracy (is this the right person or institution or place?). Then go to the second-to-last paragraph and do the same. Keep checking names end-to-beginning, one paragraph at a time. This way, you don’t get caught up in the flow of the story and the sound of your own writing.

3. Go to the last paragraph and double-check all numbers in it. Now do the same one paragraph at a time, bottom to top, as with the name-checking in step 2.

4. Take your hands off the keyboard. Then read the story as if it’s already in print or on the Internet. Look for only the most obviously wrong things — something that would make you say “Oh no.” Something like referring “Tuesday” as “Thursday” or to “Michigan State” as “Ohio State.”

By: Tim Sullivan

Tim Sullivan — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 08:29:48 +0000

Cultivate the grunts on your beat. Eventually, they may be the bosses.

By: Sridhar

Sridhar — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:10:43 +0000

About number 48, what about when someone is making a lighthearted comment which may not make complete sense unless you add “he laughed” or “he joked” instead of saying “he said”. After all, the spoken word doesn’t really put everything in context.

By: william wilczewski

william wilczewski — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:25:22 +0000

Also one that I have learned along the way … treat your photographer well, if it’s you or someone else.

By: william wilczewski

william wilczewski — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:21:46 +0000

Dave:
Here is a pointer you gave me at one Kentucky Derby when I was glad to have been brave enough to approach you …
“Xs and Os are okay, but never forget the human element.”

By: charles pierce

charles pierce — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:03:14 +0000

Gotta disagree strongly on one, Dave.
Never, EVER clean up a quote. Never. Not once. Ever. A subject’s colloqualisms — vocabulary, or grammar — can be as revealing as anything else. And cleaning up quotes is a serious gateway drug to those wonderful quotes — from writers you and I can both name — that seem to belie the athlete’s obvious intellectual shortcomings.
Not once. Never.

By: Dave Tepps

Dave Tepps — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 15:02:36 +0000

It’s wonderful if you have someone at your shop with the craftsmanship and approach that Dave Kindred writes about here. I always try to make sure those people are recognized as role models. Because sometimes they get taken for granted.

By: Mike Dodd

Mike Dodd — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:05:39 +0000

BRAVO, BRAVO….I’ll add two:

1. Never assume anything. Chuck Knox used to lecture reporters by asking how they spelled assume. Then he’d say, “That means you make an ASS out of U and ME.”

2. Remember, the story is not about you. Report the news, avoid making yourself part of it.

By: Tom Brew

Tom Brew — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:11:39 +0000

Dave … What a wonderful list. As a current Night Sports Editor at the Star, I really love Nos. 49 and 50. A great story for you about No. 38. When I was a junior covering basketball at Indiana University, early in the season I got a rare opportunity to catch Bob Knight in his office in a one-on-one setting. I said to him “You always go on and on about how sportswriters don’t know anything, and I agree with you. I really want to learn about the game of basketball, so would you please let me come to practice every day and get educated.” I was just throwing it out there, expecting the quick NO. Knight stared down at me and said “OK, but with some rules, of course.” I quickly agreed to the rules and watched my first practice about 30 minutes later about 20 more throughout the year. One day, he said: “You’re going to be the smartest sportswriter in the world.” Of course, it all ended about February that year, when I wrote something he didn’t like. Never set foot inside an Indiana practice again.
TOM BREW