Chip Shots: Postmortem Of A High School Football Article
October 15, 2022 at 2:42 a.m.
Chip Shots: Postmortem Of A High School Football Article
By Chip Davenport-
I wish I caught some parts of my article pre-print so I could reverse them. I changed the tone twice due to a generous print deadline time gap because the Warsaw-Goshen football game (October 7) ended so early I had the time.
I had too much time.
There is nothing worse than being afforded greater-than-expected time to complete a task only to have the end product have some typos, and a little bit of l’esprit d’escalier.
What was that I just said?
It’s a French expression whose meaning is loosely translated as “the wit of the staircase.” It’s when something well worth saying occurs to you after leaving a party - or even a business meeting for that matter – and you, instead, wish you’d mentioned it while you had the floor.
Let’s get inside my brain and tear up some of the finished product you read either online or in print in last week’s Warsaw-Goshen football article.
First, some inside dope.
There are times you can prewrite a lead and conclusion when the outcome to an event is predictable. Once the game ends, if things went according to what was pre-written, you simply add quotes, stats, identify specific contributing events, and complete the work.
This works quite well, especially when a team you cover is playing in the Central time zone, and the print deadline is very tight (think next year, Warsaw opens its first two weeks of football playing in the Region).
I proactively prewrote my lead and conclusion for the October 7 Warsaw-Goshen football game article because I also have my PA announcing duties.
It should have been perfect, but it wasn’t. In fact, I wouldn’t post it on social media even if you put me under extreme duress.
Now, let’s discuss – as coaches like the say - the unforced errors, and other problems.
The game ended around 8:50 p.m. giving me almost 45 additional minutes to complete a crisp story. The score was heavily in Warsaw’s favor, so laundry listing contributors, and citing Senior Night honorees should have been a piece of cake.
It wasn’t.
I used the additional time to overthink the article, keeping the lead but changing the tone twice, and consequently I created some quality control “misses” because I ended up bumping very closely against Friday night’s print deadline.
I mentioned I customarily do not have time while I’m PA announcing the football game to tickle the keyboards of my laptop computer. I jot down a few notes while announcing, then I jump into the article after each home game with an almost blank canvas.
I realized the additional time did more harm than good.
This stinks because I had all the time in the world to get a good product out to the readers with the early ending (running clock the entire second half). I even forgot my headline (thanks, Connor, for picking that up for me).
The lead still worked, but the skeleton pre-written portion was a poor fit once I began reporting the results actually taking place Friday night.
It turns out the Senior Night game was the stage for some solid senior performances, but it was the sophomores and juniors stepping into starting roles, or significant rep roles who contributed greatly to the game’s outcome.
Finally, l‘esprit d’escalier.
I realized, for example, Noah Knepp – a hard-working senior reserve offensive lineman who will be flying planes after his final high school football game – logged reps throughout most of the game and put forth a very solid effort. I did not mention it, though. I was upset with myself because I was afforded as much copy space as I needed (again, thank you Connor).
Additionally, Grant Cook, plagued by an injury the entire season, gave some action on the field of play a brief shot still in pain, and it was not noted in my article.
My wife consoled me saying, “Chip, you’re not writing the article for a high school yearbook, and you’re almost always going to leave someone out, or leave them wanting to read more in real-time reporting.”
Still….
I get aggravated seeing an athlete slam his or her hands on the ground after missing a play instead of getting up and trying to chase whom they originally tried to defend or block. I looked at the article only once, then moved on to tackle a busier-than-usual week.
Maybe, on the other hand, this postmortem I’m sharing might be a delayed hand-slapping-on-the-ground moment.
Well, time to get back on my feet and… chase… again.
I wish I caught some parts of my article pre-print so I could reverse them. I changed the tone twice due to a generous print deadline time gap because the Warsaw-Goshen football game (October 7) ended so early I had the time.
I had too much time.
There is nothing worse than being afforded greater-than-expected time to complete a task only to have the end product have some typos, and a little bit of l’esprit d’escalier.
What was that I just said?
It’s a French expression whose meaning is loosely translated as “the wit of the staircase.” It’s when something well worth saying occurs to you after leaving a party - or even a business meeting for that matter – and you, instead, wish you’d mentioned it while you had the floor.
Let’s get inside my brain and tear up some of the finished product you read either online or in print in last week’s Warsaw-Goshen football article.
First, some inside dope.
There are times you can prewrite a lead and conclusion when the outcome to an event is predictable. Once the game ends, if things went according to what was pre-written, you simply add quotes, stats, identify specific contributing events, and complete the work.
This works quite well, especially when a team you cover is playing in the Central time zone, and the print deadline is very tight (think next year, Warsaw opens its first two weeks of football playing in the Region).
I proactively prewrote my lead and conclusion for the October 7 Warsaw-Goshen football game article because I also have my PA announcing duties.
It should have been perfect, but it wasn’t. In fact, I wouldn’t post it on social media even if you put me under extreme duress.
Now, let’s discuss – as coaches like the say - the unforced errors, and other problems.
The game ended around 8:50 p.m. giving me almost 45 additional minutes to complete a crisp story. The score was heavily in Warsaw’s favor, so laundry listing contributors, and citing Senior Night honorees should have been a piece of cake.
It wasn’t.
I used the additional time to overthink the article, keeping the lead but changing the tone twice, and consequently I created some quality control “misses” because I ended up bumping very closely against Friday night’s print deadline.
I mentioned I customarily do not have time while I’m PA announcing the football game to tickle the keyboards of my laptop computer. I jot down a few notes while announcing, then I jump into the article after each home game with an almost blank canvas.
I realized the additional time did more harm than good.
This stinks because I had all the time in the world to get a good product out to the readers with the early ending (running clock the entire second half). I even forgot my headline (thanks, Connor, for picking that up for me).
The lead still worked, but the skeleton pre-written portion was a poor fit once I began reporting the results actually taking place Friday night.
It turns out the Senior Night game was the stage for some solid senior performances, but it was the sophomores and juniors stepping into starting roles, or significant rep roles who contributed greatly to the game’s outcome.
Finally, l‘esprit d’escalier.
I realized, for example, Noah Knepp – a hard-working senior reserve offensive lineman who will be flying planes after his final high school football game – logged reps throughout most of the game and put forth a very solid effort. I did not mention it, though. I was upset with myself because I was afforded as much copy space as I needed (again, thank you Connor).
Additionally, Grant Cook, plagued by an injury the entire season, gave some action on the field of play a brief shot still in pain, and it was not noted in my article.
My wife consoled me saying, “Chip, you’re not writing the article for a high school yearbook, and you’re almost always going to leave someone out, or leave them wanting to read more in real-time reporting.”
Still….
I get aggravated seeing an athlete slam his or her hands on the ground after missing a play instead of getting up and trying to chase whom they originally tried to defend or block. I looked at the article only once, then moved on to tackle a busier-than-usual week.
Maybe, on the other hand, this postmortem I’m sharing might be a delayed hand-slapping-on-the-ground moment.
Well, time to get back on my feet and… chase… again.
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