Sports Media Midterm Unit 1 Sports Writing

Sports Reports in date back to 1700s

newspapers

Sports specific emerge in early 1800s.

magazines

Sport Writing

“Blossems”

Washburn and Lamb: Sports writing during this period- Between mid 1850s + 1910s, sports-writing “thrust”

“blossoms”

On the other hand “blossoming” spurred on by changes in

broader cultural / media escape

Start to see a number of

“firsts”

Changes in spotting landscapes

Sports becoming popular; commercials

attractive subjected for growing mass media

“blossoming”

Bryan and Holt: This period also noble for seeing develop and accerlate

“symbolic relationship between sports and media”

The 1920s kick off what is known referred to as

“the golden age”

“New heights” for sports writing exemplified by new for sports writers.

fame

Writers

1. “Gee-Whiz” school

2. “Aw nuts” school

exemplied by perhaps most famous sports writer of era. Grantland and Rice

“Gee-Whiz” school

Associated with (Sperber)

“florid and exciting prose”

Preferred

“romantic language”

If “Gee Whiz” school exemplified by Grantland Rice, exemplified by W.O Mc Geehan.

“Aw Nuts” school

popularized baseball, early writer

Henry Chadwick

Antodote to hero- worshipping Grantland Rice… a professor + sketch (Schulian)

W.O Mc Geehan

“coarser and less glorious “

style

“Gee Whiz” more writers popular than

“Aw Nuts”

As the 20th century progresses, sports face from two new forms of media

competition

Quantity of sports writing in their wake though

does not decrease

“However, sports writing does adjust

technological competition

by these new media (Bryan and Holt)

“to focus on areas not covered very well”

Print coverage of sports does though over the course of 200s

begin to decline,

Increasingly, sports writing finds a home

online

Will Leitch (2004)

“There is a stigma involved in writing on the Internet”….

Travis Vogan

distancing itself from the mediums unrefined reputation

Most consequential, Page 2 hires online writer

Bill Simmons

Vogan: Simmons became known for online space to break “traditional”- writing conventions

E.g columns

E.g “Freewheeling style”

The Sports Guy, then is a

subversion of the traditional sports column -Bryan Curtis 2005

E.g “ “ for his favorite teams

“Rooted openly”

Simmons’ colums are highly -Bryan Curtis 2005

partisan

“Usually familiar relationship with leaders”

E.g

E.g Deemphasis on covential forms of

“access”

E.g 2

“We want to put up longer, more thought out stuff.”

Grantland spurs a wave of focusing on long-form context The Athletic

“similar boutique offshoots”

Notably, in the process, saw site relying on of literacy writing

“noslagic ideal”

As sports writing digital era see fuquent invocations of a appeal

“nostalgic”

See, then, that sports writings more on live has come with significant

tensions

Sports and media long been said to exist in

“symbiotic relationship”

This relationship, in long turn long been said to (including sports writing)

shape media content

“quality linked to fears over loss of access to sports organization”

celebratory

Rowel, Many outlets/ writers

“heavily dependent on cultivating good relationships

Looming threat “of loss of access “can incentivize sports writers to .

go easy on their subjects

Claim work prioritizes accuracy

Claim work as independent

“In House Media”

defined as reporting something before the team has issued an official release”

“Most do not break news,

Less likely to engage in reporter-driven analysis, .

a staple of the sports page

Eg claims of combating mainstream medias oversimpliedcation

greater accuracy

In 2014 The Players Tribune launched as a site

The Players Tribune

Schwartz and Vogan": site represents

“highly selective exercises itself-promotion"

Creates a space for athletes to

self-brand

Site production writing “that reflects that

celebratory, protective, and automated, Gee Whiz Style of sports writing

Relationship between sports and some parts of media ecosystem even

closer

Craggs: Gambling-focused outlets add to sports-media relationship.

new wrinkles

Part of broader growth of blogging including

sports blogging

Arguably the most (Serazio)

“popular sports blog in history”

in late 2010s

Ownership/site

Site staff installed by private equity owners.

clashes with management

In 2020, many of the former staff launch

Defector media

E.g

“Amateur” roots

E.g 9/14/26

“Abstained from any semblance of “discretion”

E.g 9/14

Public rejection of sports media norms

to hold sport to account, you must step out of its power struggles

(Serazio)

media might orient themselves to be in less in need of access to sports newsmakers

9/14/26 3

Idelized images that reinforce common

myths

Ability to recognize hoax a product of hoax themes

“outsider”

Some parts of media landscape now even to athletes/teams/leagues, while other parts

closer, further

The Preview/Advance reader for an event

“Primes”

The Game Story A recap of what happened during an

event

The Sidebar Story Focuses on a from a game story

specific aspect

The Follow Attempts to and contextualize

“regain perspective”

The Feature story :Focuses on “human elements” in trying to conjure emotional, reactions

Human interest stories

Try to revert the personalities athletes, coaches, etc.

Profiles:

The column Writer offers their on some aspects of the sports world

opinion

Beginnings Capture the attention

of the audience and make them want to know more.

the theme or essence of the story

Establish

the tension and energy of the event

Reflect

the key information

Summarize

Can think about that information in terms of (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How)

5Ws and H

Brief, include the basic elements of the games

Straight leads

A sort of short story

Anecdotal leads

Loaded with details and information

Descriptive leads

Middles

Foreshadowing leads

Begin with most important information at the top of the story, then descend downward in order of importance

Invented pyramid

Still puts at least information at bottom of story, but most important information follow a lead that focuses on something

Diamond Structure

Focuses on timeline of events-starting will end, then proceeding backwards

Invented chronological Order

to opening paragraphs, referring points from lead.

Circling back

Ending with a so final word goes to a source

quote

Concluding with a “color”

anecdote

Gesturing toward the (e.g upcoming games)

future

-scene-setting, dialogue, metaphor, point overview, and fly-on-the-wall reporting”

Techniques found regularly in novels

Points to importance of

style

discovery that it was possible in non-fiction, in journalism to use any literacy device

Tom Wofle

Hartstock: “Emphasize and

narrative, descriptive modalities

is what traditional narrative is about

Chronological line

Often entails

“a personal voice”