This is the next topic we will cover in class ...
Overview: Back in the time of Grantland Rice, interviews and quotes were non-existent. The sportswriters sat high up in their proverbial ivory towers and wrote what they thought. Often, it was in the form of prose and poetry. Often, the facts did not get in the way of a good story. Ha! Nowadays, however, quotes are the lifeblood of Sports Journalism in all platforms.
In your stories, sourcing and good, quality quotes are a big part of how you will be graded.
The reason for this: As stated early in the class, good reporting makes good stories and good writing. We place a premium on good, solid reporting and sourcing.
We also place a premium on accurately styled quotes. We will go over that here and now.
First off, just because someone said something, it does not mean it needs to be quoted.
A coach that says his team “gave 110 percent” or “played within themselves” does not need to be quoted as such. They are CLICHES and CLICHES should be avoided like the plague (which, by the way, is a CLICHÉ). You will know if you used quotes that are CLICHED because I will point that out to you in your grading sheets.
In fairness to you, many coaches are lunk heads. This is a fact. They are not there to provide reporters with good quotes. In fact, most coaches are suspicious of reporters. As a defense mechanism, they say nothing and their nothingness is in the form of clichés. Your job as a reporter is to wade through the muck, ask good questions and get them to give you quality quotes.
OK. A few rules:
1-A quote must start with a quote mark. Duh. Like this: “Hello,’’ Coach Pete said to the class. “How are you all doing tonight?”
2-All punctuation must reside inside the quote marks. See #1
3-You need to tell us who said the quote after the first sentence of the quote. You cannot have multiple sentences before telling us who said it.
Right: “How are you all doing tonight?” Coach Pete asked. “I hope you have an excellent evening.”
Wrong: “How are you all doing tonight? I hope you have an excellent evening.” Coach Pete said.
4-Attribution. In first reference, you first and last name. In second reference, use only last name.
5-Say who said the quote before you say said. How’s that for a tongue-twister!
6-Except for extraordinary circumstances, always say SAID in your attributions.
“Our women’s team ran really well on Saturday,’’ Marist coach Pete Colaizzo said. “I think we have a great future this season.’’
Later in the story …
“Jane Sheehan ran a great race,’’ Colaizzo said. “She really ran those back hills very tough.’’
OK. Example time. Which quotes are correct styles and which quotes are incorrect styles?
(Side note to anyone stumbling upon this after googling your name or a coach’s name: These quotes are MADE UP and are being used as EXAMPLES for a Sports Reporting Class at Marist College. I apologize for any confusion this may cause)
--“The weather was beautiful down there on Saturday,’’ said head coach Pete Colaizzo. “Our men ran with aplomb.”
--“We had a great time hosting some excellent teams in this tournament. We hope they will come back for the tourney again next year,’’ Marist women’s soccer head coach Kate Lyn exclaimed with glee.
--Said Brian Giorgis, head women’s basketball coach at Marist College, “We are sure gonna miss that Allenspach. She was a gamer.’’
--“Erica (Allenspach) will be missed by our program,’’ associate head coach Megan Gebbia said. “She did everything well on the basketball court. She will be impossible to replace.’’
--“Everything went great with our race,’’ beamed Fox Trot race director Eileen Sylvia, “the band was awesome and the weather was perfect!”
--‘Our football team needs to put two halves of football together so we can win football games. We need to be more consistent on both sides of the ball,’’ head coach Jim Parady said.
--“Our special teams execution was a little spotty,’’ said Jim Parady, now in his 20th year at the helm of the Red Foxes. “We need to tighten things up with our punting game.’’
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