French Open final; an assessment of the best players in each Major League Baseball division is offered in Sports on Earth; and a list of five reasons why the Warriors-Cavs would play out much differently than the previous season is presented on FOXsports.com, analysis on how Golden State’s bench outplayed Cleveland’s starters in Game 1 of the NBA Finals that includes screen shots and video to visually illustrate the main points. Think beyond bats and ball coverage to deliver creative, fun, in-depth pieces that fans will devour.
HEADLINE: A Wonderful Life
BYLINE: Dave Sheinin, Washington Post
You can read the complete story by going to WashingtonPost.com.
Chapter 5 Developing Sports Columns
Ron Higgins had rarely left a press box during a football game in his 20 years of reporting. This time, though, he knew he had no choice. Craig Zeigler, a tight end for Ole Miss, lay on the football field, his leg broken in two spots and twisted in a grotesque position after being leg-whipped by a Vanderbilt player. Teammate Eli Manning said later he could not look at his friend.
Zeigler, Higgins knew, was a beloved teammate who had worked through numerous injuries to earn his starting spot. So after the senior was carted from Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, Higgins walked out of the press box, headed to Baptist Hospital—North Mississippi, spoke with Zeigler and his father before the surgery, and wrote a column that prompted Vanderbilt’s chancellor to call in praise and the Football Writers Association of America to award first place in a national competition.
“Think outside the box,” says Higgins, now a columnist for New Orleans’ Times-Picayune. “Think differently. Columns are not just about good writing.”
Columnists also need to bring readers to places fans rarely, if ever, see, which often includes locker rooms, practice sessions, and team road trips. “I’m a big believer that the greatest advantage we have is our access,” says the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Mike Sielski, named the nation’s top columnist in 2015 by Associated Press Sports Editors. “We have to use it. Only so many of us have access to these people. In your columns, you have to ground what you do in your reporting, the freshness of your take. You need to give people something they won’t find in a box score, Twitter or ESPN.”1
Columnists are reporters with an opinion. The best columnists are also keen observers, precise writers, and excellent storytellers. Frequently, we forget that readers love stories. But that is difficult to do in 15 to 20 inches or 500 to 800 words.
A good sports columnist offers fresh, meaningful insights and cultural criticism, analyzes games in considerably more depth than the average fan, covers ignored sports, addresses sensitive issues—and, at different times, afflicts and comforts us. In addition, a sports columnist offers strong opinions sharpened by facts in a suitable tone and style. Don’t write a column if you are only mildly interested in the topic—be as passionate as your readers, the fan(atics) who follow these players and teams.
sports insider
A columnist is important, primarily I think, as a guidepost for readers and consumers of news. With the proliferation of media in the 21st century, not only does everyone have an opinion, but most people have a vessel through which to make it public: a blog, social media, talk radio, and so forth. The value of a columnist lies in his or her ability to combine excellent writing with insight that can come only from reporting well. It lies in an unspoken pact he or she makes with readers: I have done my homework. I know what’s really going on here. And my informed opinion, I hope, will help you understand this issue/person/situation better.
Mike Sielski, Philadelphia Inquirer
At the same time, columnists have to know the teams better than fans to avoid making statements that are either implausible or laughably wrong.
“Before long, readers lose their faith in the writer’s knowledge,” says The Palm Beach Post sports producer Scott Andera, “and will either actively avoid reading the columnist’s work or spread the word to other knowledgeable readers that the columnist doesn’t know what he/she is talking about.”
Columnists frequently write opinion pieces, offer notes, or playfully address an issue and tell stories, using a variety of approaches, such as the following:
▸ Game column. Address the one thing fans should extract from an event in the moment. For example: Did the quarterback or goalie have a great game? What does this game mean for the team as a whole? Did a team end a winning streak? Make the playoffs? Did the opposing defense shut down the star running back?
▸ Human interest. These columns almost read like features, Look for a personal story connected to sports on your campus. Find an assistant coach on a given team who has a close relationship with a player or focus on a player who has recovered from a severe illness or injury. “Tom Rinaldi specializes in these pieces,” Sielski said. “At the end, you’ll usually be a puddle [when watching them on ESPN].” But, as Red Smith warned more than 80 years ago, don’t God up the athletes, turning them into something beyond what they are: fallible human beings. Don’t ascribe traits to them that do not exist. Plus, don’t view athletes only as they appear on the field. Just because a player like Phillies second baseman Chase Utley or Andrew Luck is an excellent athlete on the field does not mean that they are virtuous outside the lines.
▸ What do I think of this? This remains a staple of column writing, Sielski said, because it remains a fulcrum of the sports columnist’s job: Letting readers know what one thinks. “You can’t get around that,” he says. “They [his opinions] still generate the most reaction to what I write.”
▸ News writing. These revolve around breaking news, such as a player’s injury, arrest, trade or signing. Frequently, columnists will then explain how this news will impact the team.
▸ Interview-based column. These focus on exclusive interviews with key sports figures who reveal information on topics they typically do not discuss or who answer a question unusually. During these interviews, Sielski says, take people into new directions. In addition, ask questions that enable you to develop narratives, which can be powerful.
▸ The “new thing” column. In these pieces, one approaches a traditional topic in a new or different way. For example, is Nick Foles not performing well because he does not have enough time to throw the ball or because he is making poor choices? Check on statistical analytics to determine why he did not play as well as in the previous season. Conventional wisdom might be that the quarterback must not be getting as much time because of a weak offensive lineman. But the metrics might reveal that he did have plenty time to throw.
▸ Historic. These columns can address personal or team milestone from the past, a coach’s milestone victory, or they can assess a significant historic moment, such as when LaSalle went to the Sweet 16 in the 1950s—a topic that would be more newsworthy, of
