Keith Gave didn’t know what to expect from Red Wings players when he walked in their locker room for the first time. After all, he was the third writer assigned the hockey beat by the Detroit Free Press in only 18 months. Gave also knew that he was not a hockey expert.
The Red Wings players clearly were not excited about breaking in another writer. Veteran Ron Duguay immediately asked him: “How much do you know about hockey?” Continue reading Work hard (and realize when you screw up) →
Sports journalism students in Chicago and Indianapolis can apply for the inaugural Diversity Sports Media Institute offered by the National Sports Journalism Center at IUPUI.
During the free week-long workshop, students will produce video and/or web content with TV producers, participate in a mock press conference, and attend sessions offered by experienced sports journalists.
You can download a PDF application by clicking here. Deadline is April 1.
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By H. Darr Beiser/USA TODAY
Sports writers love hyperbole – a breathtaking, stupefying, mind-blowing way to attract fans to read stories, watch ‘big-time’ events, and read more stories.
Grantland Rice started much of it in the 1920s by calling Babe Ruth the ‘Sultan of Swat,’ Red Grange the ‘Galloping Ghost,’ and Jack Dempsey the ‘Manassas Mauler.’ In the 1980s, we depicted our Olympic hockey victory over the Soviets as a ‘miracle on ice,’ a moniker that was more a political statement than a religious one. Last night, that ecclesiastical nickname was resurrected before, during and after the USA’s hockey game vs. Canada, our dear friends to the north. The game was ‘epic,’ ‘astounding,’ ‘unbelievable.’ Continue reading Do you believe in hyperbole? →

The Duquesne Duke reveals how Duquesne's cuts adversely affected athletes on 4 teams.
The Duquesne Duke does a solid job illustrating the real cost of eliminating four men’s sports teams at the Pittsburgh university.
Duquesne is typically evasive, calling the reduction a difficult but ’strategically important’ decision, according to the school’s president. The athletic director offers an equally ambiguous reason: “Focusing on and strengthening a core group of sports will maximize our ability to compete at the highest level, enhance the student athlete experience, and better utilize existing funding,” said Greg Amodio.
Of course, all of this is offered in a press release and not in a press conference, where officials would have to answer the tough questions, like the following: Continue reading Duke staff seeks reason Duquesne cut 4 sports →
Taking notes is essential to finding trends, pointing out key plays and making assessments in games. To help with that, I’ve included several scorecards and forms that will assist in these tasks. You can find them on the right side of this page, under ‘Scorecards.’
In descending order, forms and scorecards are offered for baseball, basketball, bowling and football. In addition, these forms are annotated in the Field Guide To Covering Sports, which explains short-hand used in scoring and offers the best ways to take notes. You can pre-order a copy by clicking here.
Continue reading Download these scorecards to cover games →
Game stories continue to evolve.
Unlike 20 years ago, sports journalists are no longer compelled to offer the score in the lead. Most fans today already know the result before they read the game story. In fact, fans who watch a game are more likely to read game stories than those who had not.
To learn more about structuring and reporting games, you can download PDF critiques of four recent basketball and wrestling stories cited below. Continue reading Some models for covering games →

Humboldt State University's student-run newspaper, 'The Lumberjack,' investigated health risks related to artificial turf.
Games still dominate sports journalism, serving as a sort of skeleton to all other coverage.
But features are the heart and soul of sports coverage, allowing readers to dig deeper into social, economic, psychological and historical connections.
Of course, we usually don’t think about sports in these elevated terms. Instead too many sports departments focus more on bat-and-ball coverage, preferring to write game precedes, live-blogs and game stories (and, heck, even tweets).
Game coverage is clearly essential. But game coverage should not essentially be all a sports staff produces.
Continue reading Add some ’soul’ to your sports coverage →
Writers shouldn’t vote for Hall, BCS champ
Sure, the BCS vote was obvious, right? It was easy for sports writers to deem an undefeated Boise State football team as less worthy than two one-loss Florida and Texas teams, therefore ranking the Broncos fourth in the nation. It was easy to keep Boise State and Texas Christian University out of a title game. By continuing to vote, writers tacitly approve a BCS system that denies FBS football teams access to a national championship, even though every single other NCAA sports – from NAIA to Division I, from lacrosse to field hockey to bowling – earns a championship through a playoff system. Continue reading Writers shouldn’t vote for Hall, BCS champ →