Writing Sports Columns and Blogs

Writing Sports Columns and Blogs
Joe Gisondi, Eastern Illinois University

I know sports aren’t usually my favorite section of journalism, but as the editor I thought it wouldn’t hurt me to be well rounded. Plus, Lauren and Brittany said such great things about Gisondi from a section the day before, I thought I would give it a try. I should have gone to a general sports writing session and not one about sports columns, but there were still a few things that can be applied to our yearbook sports writers.

• Go to the team’s practices, not just their home games
• Build a relationship with the coaches.

Sports Columns hints:
• Have a clear voice
• Read other respected sports columns
• Have a different point of view
• Don’t use “I” to much, readers will know it is your column
• Don’t focus on yourself
• Make sure you column is newsworthy
• Avoid clichés
• Pose a question
• Try to get people to think
• Put links in your blog. It makes it more transparent.

Lela Coker

Sports: It's All About The Story

Apparently all of the students from the first session presented by Eric Adelson, including myself, were inspired enough to return to his second session. Adelson decided to use this second session, which was originally supposed to address finding a story within a game, as an open forum. Students asked questions ranging from "How do I make the most of my internship?" to "How do you write about sports that aren't interesting?" The main point that really hit home with me was when Adelson said: " The stories you write aren't about sports, they are about people who play sports." It is up to the writer to make people care about sports, even if they know nothing about it. Sports writers must paint a picture, tell the reader what the sights, smells, sounds, etc. where like and what the turning point of the game was in order to tell the story accurately. I really enjoyed sitting there and absorbing all of the information Adelson was sharing. It made me wish for a sports writing class at NSU... (hint, hint)

-- Lauren Sciba

Profiles: Hammering the Scenes

I opened the door to this session at approximately 1:30.32 and there were people packed in the aisle all the way up to the podium. Eric Adelson from ESPN The Magazine apparently draws a big crowd wherever he goes. This was probably the best session I have attended all week.

Adelson picked a girl from the audience to use as an interview subject. The girl (coincidentally named Lauren) was seated in front of the room where Adelson proceeded to walk the audience through an interview step-by-step. To come up with good questions to ask the subject, a reporter should first contact the subject's best friend, mother, roommate, teammate, etc. and collect stories, anecdotes and background. Then, the subject can be asked to comment on those stories, giving you more background and a deeper profile.

Adelson said a profile should be a roadmap of a person's life. Questions should be used as "monkey bars," one leading to another. Making a subject comfortable is key -- if someone is not comfortable, they won't talk to you. And finally, ending the interview with the question: "Is there anything else you want to add?" is also important because Adelson said that is where you will get your best quotes.

-- Lauren Sciba

Writing Sports Columns and Blogs

After my experiences yesterday at the sessions with Joe Gisondi, I made it a point to attend other sessions where he presided. Gisondi talked about the differences between blogs and regular columns, although there are few, the main one is the freedom that blogging gives a writer. Blogs have no gatekeepers and a writer publish whatever he/she wants. Gisondi said a blog is absolute freedom in the writer's world. He also discussed the importance of developing a voice and finding new and creative ways to tell stories. Blogs and columns share some rules, like avoiding clichés, hooking the reader, entertain but also inform. Overall, I enjoyed hearing Gisondi's tips on becoming a better writer. I plan to start reading his blog and emulate his skills.

-- Lauren Sciba

Writing Game Stories Worth Reading

THIS SESSION WAS AMAZING!!!

I got so many ideas from this presentation, I can't wait to get back to Natchitoches and rewrite every story in the sports section of the Potpourri. Seriously.

Joe Gisondi from Eastern Illinois University inspired me and gave me so many ideas for stories and angles. I feel like, at NSU, sports writers can get away with writing sub-par stories because no one else wants to do it. After this session, I don't want anyone to get away with that anymore.

Since NSU doesn't have a sports writing class, I walked away with a lot from this presentation regarding writing sports leads and leaving out statistics no one knows about. Gisondi also gave suggestions for building relationships with sources, not letting athletes and coaches get away with cliche answers and putting positive spins on stories after a team lost.

I am so excited to go home and put all the things I learned from the sports sessions into action!

-- Lauren Sciba

Writing Game Stories Worth Reading

This session was great! I decided to attend a sports session because I feel that the sports sections within NSU student media needs some work.

I am not a sports person and have never been interested in writing about sports...until now. The session has inspired me to become a sports writer! I can't wait to get back and get to work.

The speaker addressed problems within the college sports publication. He provided an example of what a good sports story should contain and we are going to print a copy for all sports writers when we get back.

A sports story should not be about stats,scores, or quotes. It should emphasize the most interesting angle of the game in order to draw the reader in and include sources from both teams. There was so much information in this session that I can't blog about all of it. He did give us a Web site, http://www.onsportz.com/, as a resource he created for college sports writers that is definitely worth checking.

Brittany Byrd

The Successful Sports Section

The speaker for this session was Nils Rosdahl from North Idaho College. He had some great examples and ideas for quality sports sections for newspaper that could also be modified for yearbook.

I was really fired up by this session; it gave me such great ideas for our media on covering different sports and creative ways to report. Rosdahl said that sports stories should not be recaps because everyone already knows what happened before they pick up the paper. The stories should have an angle and also look towards the future. Feature stories on players or specific plays are a good way to make the section interesting too. I realized from this session that sports stories are newsy, but should be written more like features to draw in readers.

-- Lauren Sciba