High DramaFrom Sale and Pelletier's belated gold to Chris Witty's speed skating gold medal and world record, there has been no shortage of drama in these Olympic Games. And whether on the television or in the newspapers, sportswriters are working vigorously to make the most of the drama and grab your attention. Look at these headlines about the men's luge competition from the Chicago Tribune and SportingNews.com:
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"Heidt slides into the hunt"
"Germany's Hackl, Italy's Zoeggeler set for a duel"
These headlines are typical of sports journalism; their evocative language sends a clear message about the rivalry that prevailed in the luge competition. If you read the sports pages regularly, you will notice that sports headlines — and sportswriting in general — have a particular style that you won't find in other parts of the newspaper. What makes sportswriting so unique?
Metaphorically Speaking...
Here are some common words and phrases that you might read in a newspaper sports section:
| Quest | Dominated |
| Fought hard | Prevailed |
| Attacked | Chased down |
| Neutralized | Advanced |
| Heroic | Warriors |
If it sounds as if these words are describing a battle, that's because they are meant to. Sportswriters often write about athletic competitions as if they were wars or crusades. In other words, they use a metaphor to describe the action.
A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word denoting one subject is used in place of another to suggest similarities between them. For instance, in one of the headlines we've already seen, Olympic luge competitors Georg Hackl and Armin Zoeggeler are described as being "set for a duel." Here, the word "duel" is a metaphor for the competition between the two men.
Using the language of battles can make events sound exciting. Not all sportswriting uses aggressive language. However, certain sports, such as hockey, are inherently aggressive, and that is reflected in the articles written about them.
- Find out more about metaphors from Purdue University's Online Writing Lab.
- Why else is a "battle" or "quest" an appropriate metaphor for a sporting event?
- Try describing a typical day in your life using the types of metaphors you find in sports journalism.
Boston University Professor Jack Falla, a former Sports Illustrated writer, talked with Riverdeep about using metaphors in sportswriting. Falla says that when he wrote about hockey player Wayne Gretzky, he sometimes referred to him as a water bug. He used the metaphor of a plow horse to describe hockey player Ray Bourque.
- Considering the metaphors that Falla used to describe Gretzky and Bourque, how do you think the playing styles of these athletes differed?
- What violent-sounding verbs might be used to describe a hockey game? A football game?
- Read the sports section of a newspaper for a couple of days. What words are typically used?
Metaphors are one of many devices that sportswriters use to create punchy headlines. A different device is used in the following headline (from ChicagoSports.com) about Olympic skier Picabo Street:
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"A Street paved with emotion a long time ago"
This headline is an example of a pun. A pun is the use of words in a way that is humorous and provides a double meaning. In the example above, the use of "Street" is referring to both Picabo herself, and an actual street or road.
- Find out more about puns from this literary terms library.
- Carefully read the following headlines and see if you can decipher their double meaning.
| Luge | "U.S. enjoys slide show: Hayden 7th after two runs" | |
| Ski jumping | "A mountain of a task awaits U.S. jumper" | |
| Mogul skiing | "USA could make bumps smooth" | |
| Figure skating | "Gold medal won't thaw Yagudin's relationship with old coach" | |
| Luge | "Deja luge: In a repeat of Nagano, U.S. teams take the two medals" | |
| Snow- boarding |
"Clark spins gold in women's half pipe" | |
| Snow- boarding |
"Air force: U.S. men dominate on home pipe" | |
- Look in the sports section of a newspaper. Can you pick out examples of puns used in the headlines?
- Think of a sporting event you have recently watched. Create two attention-grabbing headlines for the event using puns.
Artful Alliteration
To make headlines catchy and rhythmic, journalists have borrowed "alliteration" from poetry.
The two headlines below, from SportingNews.com and the official website of the 2002 Olympics,
use alliteration. Can you use the headlines to figure out what alliteration is?
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"Curling stone start sliding Monday"
"Swiss sensation soars to win"
In each headline, three of the words begin with the "s" sound. Alliteration is the use of two or more words that begin with the same sound.
- Find out more about alliteration from this library of literary terms.
- Can you think of alliterations you may have said as a kid? (Remember Peter Piper?)
- Write headlines that use alliteration for a few different sports.
- Search our news partner site, CNN Student News, and find examples of headlines using alliterations.
Fans of Sportswriting
What is it about sportswriting that appeals to so many people?
After all, sports enthusiasts probably watch the games on TV or listen to them on the radio.
Why would they want to read an article recounting the game in a newspaper or magazine that
could be published a day, week, or even a month after the actual event?
At Sports Illustrated, "we assumed our readers always knew who won," says writer Jack Falla. "Our job was to tell them how and why and to bring out the color and interest behind the game or the athlete. Sports Illustrated spent a lot of money sending its writers and photographers everywhere in the world. We were expected to take advantage of that and come back with information other media didn't have — and then to distill it and serve it entertainingly. Inform and entertain. Our editors often referred to something called the 'savor factor' — letting the reader savor the event all over again."
And why are sports so compelling? "Unlike a play or a movie, there is no scripted ending," says Falla. "Thus, there is true drama and it's up to us to see it, define it, present it, and tell the reader what it means."
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There are other themes that inspire sportswriters, such as tales of fellowship or leadership. According to Falla, a sporting event "can be a stage for courage, will, magnanimity, grace or even greed, cowardice and vanity. Sport — even at its lowest levels — can give us some insight into the human condition."
So far, these Winter Olympics have seen stories of both triumph and disgrace. Chris Klug's story is one of great courage and will: just 19 months ago he had a liver transplant but it didn't stop him from taking the bronze in the men's parallel giant slalom. Chris Witty also overcame illness to take the gold — and a world record — in the 1,000 meter speed skating event.
Figure skating, on the other hand, has left audiences with less pleasant memories. First, there was calamity over the pairs medals. Then, the winners of the men's gold and silver medals, Alexei Yagudin and Evgeni Plushenko respectively, did not conceal their bitter rivalry during the competition.
These stories, both good and bad, will take their place in the annals of Olympic history. And by the time the 2002 Winter Olympics close at the end of this week, thousands of sportswriters will have written billions of words about them — in hundreds of languages — all over the world.
--Olympics reporting and activities by Zora Warren of the Harvard Graduate School in Education's "Technology in Education" program
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Writer's Resource Library Use the lexicon in this free version of the Library to find out about different language terms. |
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Nature at Close Range Find out about another kind of writing — nature writing — in this Riverdeep archive article. |
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Editor's Desk For middle school students: Try your hand at editing different kinds of texts and see if you can save the citizens of Edtropolis. |
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