[25] It is the belief of the author that the sporting page has not yet reached its highest level of language and that the younger of us will live to see as pure English used on the sporting page as in the other news columns. The purpose of this volume, however, is not to present the work of the reporter as it ought to be, but as it is—a fact which accounts for the above paragraph and its recommendation of the use of slang in sporting news stories.
231. Four Kinds.—An examination of sporting news stories shows four kinds: (1) those dealing with athletic events before their occurrence; (2) those reporting the events; (3) those analyzing and explaining the events and their results; and (4) those dealing with the sport in general. The second of these, the story reporting an athletic event, is not unlike the types of news stories examined in the two preceding chapters and may be discussed first, reserving for later analysis the other three because of their divergence from the normal type of news article.
232. The Lead.—The lead to a story reporting an athletic event follows with few exceptions the same general principles as the leads already examined. Unlike those studied in the preceding chapters, however, the lead to such a story often is written last, because of the necessity of writing a running account of the game as it progresses, yet of giving final results in the lead. The feature most frequently played up is the final result, with additional mention of the causes of victory or defeat, the equality or inequality of the opposing players, and any important incidents. Always too, of course, the names of the teams, the time, and the place are given. But the score is regularly the feature,—so much so that if one is in doubt about what to feature in an athletic contest, one can always play a trump card by featuring the results. Thus:
One hit and one score was all the Senators could make off the Yankees at Washington this afternoon, but that was enough. Joe Gedeon made the hit, a three bagger, and Milan passed him home when he dropped Nunamacher's high fly to center.
A tie score was the best the Maroons could do for the Hoosiers Saturday on Marshall Field. The count was 7-7 when Umpire Hanson called the game in the eleventh inning on account of darkness.
233. Names of the Teams.—Almost as frequent is the featuring of the names of the opposing teams, with the final score included at the end of the lead.
Cornell's 1915 football team wrote its name in football history in blazing letters on Franklin Field this afternoon when at the end of one of the most stirring contests ever seen on that gridiron the scoreboard read: Cornell, 24; Pennsylvania, 9.
234. Cause of Victory or Defeat.—The cause of a team's victory or defeat often makes an effective feature for the lead.
With the aid of a bewildering assortment of plays, the Syracuse University football team defeated the Oregon Agricultural College here to-day, 28 to 0.
Inability to hit, coupled with poor fielding at critical moments, caused the defeat of the New York University nine by the Stevens Institute of Technology yesterday on Ohio Field. The score was 5 to 3.