Nicholas TrostMarch 11, 2010COM 362 Newslab

“Sports English”

There is no such thing, just “English” Don’t use exhausted synonyms

“Old Pigskin” “Knotting the count” “Hit the showers”

I Disagree….

Sometimes this synonyms are useful Sportscenter anchor Stuart Scott, ESPN.com

Columnist Rick Reilly and ESPN.com NBA columnist, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon with PTI, have all made livings off writing this way.

You can still have good writing with a lot of these synonyms “Diaper Dandy” Dick Vitale “Mama, there goes that man” Mark Jackson “As cool as the other side of the pillow” Stuart Scott “Running like someone is chasing him” Scott Van Pelt “Too much mayo is bad for your health” Christian Caple

“King” James & “The Answer”

Zinsser Uses Analogies Too “He was also fearless, during his tenure no

sacred cow could safely graze” p. 201 “You can’t just throw them in water and

expect them to swim easily. The water needs to be warmed up” pg. 203

“Jargon is flooding our daily life and language” p. 43

“Today, Criticisms have many first cousins in Journalism” p. 205

“Criticism is the stage on which journalists do their fanciest strutting” p. 194

“Both are unnecessary fears to lug through life” p.147

Want to find out about America? Read a sports story-our values are entrenched inside

Ego of athletes have rubbed off on sportswriter

Using sarcasm instead of fact- “Last night the Mets took the field determined to find another ridiculous way to lose”-the athletes did no such thing.

Sports interwoven with social history-”Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs”-the best sportswriters can capture that

Values to look for when writing about sport: People and Places, Time and Transition Athletes actual lives Greedy owners Worshiping of the stars And so on…

Writing About The Arts…

Art is all around us Difficult to judge good/bad, to

appreciate to a new work-you need skills for this

Criticism is hard to write, most want to do it

Usually no power for critics, except for big publications like the NYTimes.

Reviewer vs. Critic-A reviewer reports more than making an aesthetic judgment-a Critic makes a judgment.

Advice: Don’t give away too much of the plot, let your audience see and decide. Don’t spoil it, usually one sentence is fine.

Use details-not just ‘fascinating’. Well, how was it ‘fascinating”?

No ecstatic adjectives such as “enthralling” and “luminous”.

Critics see themselves as scholars in their field

Get inside your medium, see plays, sporting events, art shows if you want to get into that. Know the history, so you can analyze what’s next.

“Stylish, allusive, disturbing” makes the greatest criticism Use good metaphors and lively adjectives

Music hard to write about because it goes through our ears

Start your criticism by describing the world they are about the enter

Express your opinion firmly, don’t be a centrist Don’t “Pee Down Both Legs”-An analogy

he likes!

END