Getting into the Minds of a Sports Fanatic:
A Lede That Worked
A great, story, an interesting piece for the sports fanatic and a story with a lede that not only makes it interesting but allows the reader to know what the conclusion of the article will be and how much attention they must pay to the Bulls and Derrick Rose next season. I am talking about a story titled “The Bulls need to start preparing themselves for life without Derick Rose.”, written by Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
The lede of the story was amazing, and brilliant at best. Why? Basically, the headline concludes that The Bulls need to be worried about loosing Derrick Rose, and no longer having him on the team. The lede, starts off with the now fired Head Coach of The Chicago Bulls Tom Thiboudeau, complimenting Derrick Rose.
The lede starts off saying “Tom barely changed his stance on point guard Derrick Rose. He was loyal to the end” (Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times). The lede continues with a quote in which Thiboudeau says, “I want to say this about Derrick: It was a long year,” Thiboudeau said after the playoff loss to the Cavaliers last month. “The good thing is I think he has regained his confidence. “I think he’ll have a great year next year” ( Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times). After being fired from the Bulls, it would suggest that Tom Thiboudeau’s compliments of Derrick Rose hold loyalty but also truth that Derrick Rose has been playing very well, regardless of the continued losses and playoff loss of The Bulls against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
For those of us who follows sports, The Bulls have been terrible and Derrick Rose has been considered not so popular like he use to be because of his performance in the NBA. It seems he is on his way back to NBA superstar status. Even Tom Thiboudeau noticed Derrick Rose’s performance throughout the last year and mentioned how Derrick has regained his overall confidence as a player.
"Fired with two years still left on his contract, Thibodeau will only have the chance to observe that from afar. And he could very well be right. Maybe Rose is headed back towards elite status. After a regular season in which he played 51 games and averaged 17.7 points per, shooting a dismal 28 percent from beyond the three point line, the playoffs seemed to flip a switch for the one-time MVP, as he averaged 20.3 points, shooting 35 percent from three, as well as handling out 6.5 assists” (Joe Cowley, Chicago Sun-Times). Arguably, the article suggests on wether Derrick Rose will stay with the Bulls or leave to another team because of his continued improvement as a player. Will he become more valuable to the point where Chicago can’t afford him anymore because of their failures?
In conclusion, I think article held a great lede. It provided us with an immediate opinion of Tom Thiboudeau, fired Head Coach of the Chicago Bulls, complimenting Derrick Rose’s performance and stating how Derrick has gained his confidence back and will have a great year next year. It gives us as sports readers interest into the story, that the Head Coach of the Bulls would be so loyal and truthful enough to even mention Derrick’s improvement as a player. As readers it allows us to continue reading the story on why and how The Bulls should start preparing to lose Derrick as a player on their team? The title of the article itself gave the lede a bit of a boost as well.
The Bulls Need to start preparing themselves for life without Derrick Rose: http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/7/71/713784/bulls-need-start-preparing-life-without-derrick-rose
A Lede That Didn’t Work:
An article with a title called “A Quiter Sports Season, And Why Tennis Needs Caddies” could sound depressing, annoying to people who love and live for sports. Is goofy humor with no real seriousness the best way to go in a lede?
Ah, it’s summer, and sport is of a sweeter sort now - don’t you think? For instance, of all the jobs in sport, I think maybe the best is retrieving foul balls. The boys and girls in that job get to wear uniforms and gloves, but mostly they just sit and occasionally gather up a foul, then give it away to some happy fan. Isn’t that a neat job” (NPR, Sweetness and light, the Score on Sports with Frank Deford).
A sports lede that starts off with humor and almost zero seriousness, doesn’t relate to the story and title at hand can potentially go bad. Ledes must hold credibility, some sort of a source (a quote etc.) and a connection with the title. Similar to the Chicago Sun-Times article about Derrick Rose, having someone important quoted in your lede or even a catch phrase that is not only interesting but catches your attention, in a way that does’ automatically turn you off.
If a lede sounds stupid or comes of as forced humor to sound interesting or funny by personality, I would be turned off right away and not amused. Ledes should be interesting and humors, but they also have to hold merit, reliability and importance. Scanlan says, “An effective lede makes a promise to a reader or viewer: I have something important, something interesting, to tell you “ (Scanlan, The Power of Leads and Ledes, pg.1).
In conclusion, I think this lede fell short because the overall personality of the article was too much and not serious. When you talk about change in sports, I would assume sports fanatics take changes and opinions or ideas very seriously. Based on the readers comments below, it might have turned them off throughout the entire article. Scanlan says “Ledes are the foundation of every news story, no matter what the medium” (Scanlan, The Power of Leads or Ledes, pg. 1). Ledes must be the platform for every good story and this lede wasn’t.
The Quieter Sports Season, And Why Tennis Needs Caddies: http://www.npr.org/2015/06/24/416822378/the-quieter-sports-season-and-why-tennis-needs-caddies
Notes: I had a hard time finding a news story with a bad lede, but I wanted to give something.
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