The introduction of the usual athletic story always contains certain facts. The first sentence, corresponding to the lead of a news story, always gives the names of the teams, the score, the time, the place, and the most striking feature of the game. After this the plays that resulted in scores are described and the star plays or players are enumerated. Usually a comparison of the two teams, as to weight, speed, and playing, follows, and the opinion of the captain or of some coach may be included. The rest of the introduction may be devoted to the picturesque side of the game: the crowd, the cheering, the celebration, etc. All of this must be told briefly in 200 words or less. The introduction is simply the brief summary story slightly expanded. Here is a fair example (the paragraph containing the scoring has been omitted):
Purdue triumphed over Indiana today, 12 to 5, recording the first victory for the Boilermakers over the Crimson in five years.
(Omitted paragraph on scoring belongs here.)
Purdue played a great game at all times. Oliphant, right half-back on the Boilermaker eleven, played remarkably well and was the hardest man for the locals to handle. Baugh, Miller, Winston and Capt. Tavey also starred for Coach Hoit's men.
The Lafayette rooters, 1,500 strong, rushed on the field at the close of the struggle and carried their players off the field.
This is ordinarily followed by a brief running account of the game. It does not attempt to follow every play or to trace the course of the ball throughout the entire game, as a complete running account would do. It is usually made from the detailed running account by a process of elimination so that nothing but the "high spots" of the game is left. Such an account may run from 200 to 300 words in length. At the end tables are usually printed to give the line-up and the tabulated results of the game, but these may sometimes be omitted. The following is an extract from a condensed running account:
Again the cadets fought their way to the 10-yard line, runs by Rose and Patterson helping materially, but again Wayland held. The half ended after Wayland had kicked out of danger.
In the second half St. John's outplayed Wayland throughout. The cadets by a succession of line plunges took the ball within striking distance several times, only to be held for downs or lose it on a fumble.
Patterson electrified the crowd just before the third quarter ended by twice dodging through for 20-yard runs, placing the ball on the 15-yard line, where the cadets were held for downs.
3. Long Football Story.—The third class of football story is the long detailed account. This is all that is left of the elaborate write-ups of the season's big games that were printed a few years ago and may be seen occasionally now. Ten or twenty years ago it was not unusual for an editor to run several pages, profusely illustrated, on a big eastern football game. The story was written up from every possible aspect—athletic, social, picturesque, etc. Every play was described in detail and sometimes a graphic diagram of the play was inserted. Each phase was handled by a different reporter and the whole thing was given a prominence in the paper out of all proportion with its real importance. Such a treatment of athletic news has now been very largely discarded.