Читать книгу Field Guide to Covering Sports - Joe Gisondi - Страница 29

Quotations allow your readers to share in the thoughts and emotions of the game’s key people. They’re a perfect example of why people read sports stories, even if they watched the game and know the outcome: Reporters add to readers’ understanding by asking questions and finding out things no one could know just by looking.

A good quote takes you inside the speaker’s head and helps you see the world through different eyes. The next chapter, about interviewing, provides tips on getting people to talk to you. Once they do, learn to distinguish a good quote from a mediocre one. The fact that someone said something to you and you managed to record the words exactly does not make the quote worth using. A good quote must do more than take up space—it must advance the story. A good quote is either a unique thought or a thought expressed in unique language.

Here’s Indians’ outfielder Shin-Soo Choo offering insights into Jered Weaver, who pitched a shutout against the Angels: “He was using his fastball early and then throwing his changeup and curveball in hitters’ counts. He was hitting the inside corner and the outside corner.”¹⁴

How did Jelena Jankovic blow three match points to nearly lose to Elena Dementieva in the finals of a women’s tennis event? “I couldn’t believe, you know, that I was able to win this match,” Jankovic said. “At 5–4 and three match points on my serve, I thought I was going to win right there. And then all of a sudden, she was going for broke on those points and she took her chances. It was tough for me to accept that I lost that game.”¹⁵

Both quotes allow readers to get inside an athlete’s head.

West Virginia football coach Bill Stewart relies on clichés in the following quote, which offers no insights into the team’s season: “It’s going to be a long grind,” Stewart said. “It’s going to be 12 hard-fought games, but it’s going to be great for college football and great for this league.”¹⁶ What will be the biggest challenge for the season? How will the team cope with a difficult schedule? Ask questions to solicit quotes that are worth reading.

And in the following quote, what exactly did Alabama football coach Nick Saban really say about his team’s preseason workout? “It was good to get the first scrimmage behind us. It was good to see guys go out there in competitive situations, and see who could step their game up. Obviously, those guys who have a little more experience, have more playing time behind them and a little more confidence usually have a better opportunity to be successful.”¹⁷ Saban says very little beyond the obvious.

Don’t waste space with quotes unless they offer new information, expert opinion—or are entertaining. At times, you may even want to lead with an entertaining quote:

 ▸ Miami coach Pat Riley after his team, then 11–46, won, to end an 11-game losing streak: “I feel like a mosquito in a nudist colony. I know what to do. I just don’t know where to start.”¹⁸

 ▸ Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers when asked how many more games Kevin Garnett would miss with a strained abdominal muscle: “You know Doc’s a nickname, correct?”¹⁹

 ▸ PGA Tour player Rory Sabbatini: “Lick the lollipop of mediocrity once and you’ll suck forever.”²⁰

 ▸ Bowling Green football coach Gregg Brandon after his team lost 63–7 to Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl: “I don’t know what happened. We were out of it before we were in it.”²¹