You are looking live … well not quite live. The picture above was before kickoff last Friday night as the Ohio high school football season got underway. It is my 20th season covering high school football. It never gets old.
The game in question was Wilmington at Little Miami. The way I cover a game has changed a lot in 20 years. Now, I have Tweetdeck open along with a spreadsheet where I keep a running log of the game. I will be able to pull stats from it later.
It is the edge I balance upon every Friday night during the fall. How do I cover a game in 2015? How do I provide updates to my followers, not only of this game but the big Blanchester vs. Clinton-Massie rivalry game going on a few miles away?
How do I write a good story for a game that will end at 9:35, with quotes and stats, and get it filed by 10:30? That’s the fun and scary part every week.
How do I balance the need for a quick story with a desire to write well? Obviously, the risks are low in a sports story, but we need not look further than the Boston Marathon Bombing story to see the dangers of fast journalism. The Columbia Journalism Review talks about it in detail.
Writer Brendan Nyhan said, “But while the attention on CNN’s missteps is welcome, the cable network was not alone in making important errors during coverage of the bombing—the Associated Press, for instance, also mistakenly reported that a suspect was in custody Wednesday. The problem is that the institutional like these is far too short. More fundamental changes are needed—any chance we can create an anti-Pulitzer for worst breaking news coverage?”
Back to the challenges of a football game
The first three quarters move fairly quickly. It is 8:51, which means if the fourth quarter goes as quickly, it may be over by 9:20 or 9:25.
Then, the touchdowns start flying. The following were some of the tweets or retweets I sent out between 8:51 and 9:35:
- Little Miami settles for a field goal. It’s 20-13 Wilmington with 11:46 left.
- Wilmington returns the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. 27-13.
- Retweet of Goshen leading Ross 21-17 with 6:57 left.
- Retweet of Indian Hill leading New Richmond 35-14 at the end of 3.
- Update on Blanchester-Massie game, which is now 37-7 CM.
- Another retweet of Blan-CM game, now 44-7.
- Wilmington scores again. Now 34-13 with 6:15 left.
- Goshen scores again. Another retweet. Now 28-17.
- Washington leads Johnstown Northridge 7-0 at end of 3. Retweet.
- Little Miami scores again. Now 34-20.
- Retweets: Western Brown, East Clinton leading. Goshen has won 28-20.
- Wilmington returns onside kick 50 yards for a touchdown. Now 41-20.
- Retweets: Bethel-Tate, Miami Trace losing. Northridge now within a point of Washington.
- Retweet: Clinton-Massie beats Blanchester 51-7.
- Little Miami returns ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. Now 48-26.
- Game finally goes final. 48-26. It’s 9:35. I have 55 minutes.
I left out quite a few tweets about my game that were just updating field position on downs. So I’ve basically been writing a running summary on Twitter, now I have to write a story.
It’s quite a bit different than in 1995. Then, all my notes were in my notebook, and stats were kept on a clipboard. I would drive to the News Journal after the game, and have until 2:30 a.m. to finish my story.
Those days are long gone.
By 10:49, my final game story is posted online. Each week, I hope to get quicker in getting things done, while writing a higher quality story. It’s a daunting challenge.
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