Thinking about writing ...

Cutter's Log - Stardate 8002.13.70
Current Song - Dirty Work (Steely Dan)

It seems like America is getting lazy. I know I have, and in some way it is showing in what I write. Back when I was writing for print, the first thing we do is type our our agate (the box score) and then our actual story. I hated doing that, especially on deadline. Isn't it the stories people want to look at? But when little Johnny who went 0-for-4 with 2 K's isn't mentioned in the story, they turn to the box.

On NISB, I have tried to use up the unlimited space (the "online advantage") to make mention of these stats. I'll do that and still keep the story from being long and drab.

We now live in an age where we need to recognize not just the star athletes, but every single person who makes an effort in the event. This is in order to please them. People come up with a journalism method which recognizes all those involved, and then takes it as the default. Everything other philosophy becomes worthless and unwanted. Having been raised an old-school sportswriter, I'm not likely to recognize athlete after athlete because you have to EARN your name in the paper, not recieve it.

I've mentioned this before in an older entry, but I began to wonder again if I would do better if I turned to columns instead of game pieces. When you think about it, there is no real "high school sports columnist" left in northern Illinois (since Andy Colbert departed SVN). In fact, I think Barry Temkin and maybe Bob Frisk are the only ones left.

It would further escalate my education in column writing. If I actually find a journalism job and have to convert back to writing game articles, and thus doing agate, I'll already have that experience. I have considered setting up templates for sports agates and just filling in the blanks rather than write out half of it. I've seen Tribune writers write out part of their story before halftime of a game on their laptop. I'm not close to getting a laptop right now. I still do not know how one works. If only I had this information, I'd be much better off! If I can start writing my columns during the game, that may give me a heads up on knowing how to write game stories in progression.

The business of writing game articles is one that requires continual involvement, which I do not have. Column writing gives me more freedom in not only what I write, but how and when I can write. I don't have that time to concentrate toward game articles until I graduate CC in 2010. I'll let the newspapers take care of the game articles, while I do what they don't do.