And in Sports News: Wanke hoping to beat off stiff bribe penalty

[Little Wing]

:spank: Author


BRATISLAVA, March 7 (Reuters) - Police said on Wednesday they had charged the Slovak Football Association's acting secretary-general Vladimir Wanke with taking a bribe, an allegation the soccer chief strongly denied.

Police said the 61-year old Wanke has been charged with allegedly receiving 10,000 crowns ($380) from the owner of the Eldus Mocenok soccer club in a player registration deal.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=412997&cc=5901

[KitchenWitch]

1. Oh my, was that ever poorly written.

:spank: is right!

[billyskank]

2. I don't get it

:P

[KitchenWitch]

3. The headline sounds awfully euphemistic...

:rofl:

[billyskank]

4. I think there is a sub-editor somewhere feeling very pleased with themselves.

:D

[Shakespeare]

5. Copyeditors find numerous ways to have fun.

Think sitting around writing headlines all night is boring? Newp. :7

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. If I were the desk chief

whoever wrote that hed would be relegated to editing obits and cop calls.

[Little Wing]

9. Cop Calls?

That's a goldmine!

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. For what?

:shrug:

[Little Wing]

11. Tongue in cheek headlining

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Heds aren't supposed to be tongue-in-cheek

They're supposed to quickly summarize the story and lead readers into it without resorting to sophomoric humor.

[Little Wing]

16. Well. in that case

:yoiks:

[Oeditpus Rex]

18. I take my profession seriously, yeah

I'm proud of what I do. Some aren't. They won't last long in it.

[Little Wing]

20. eh, it's sports, I don't see anything wrong with having some fun with sports

[Oeditpus Rex]

21. Okay, then

Put a hed like that over a story about a high school team in your local paper.

[Little Wing]

22. Okay. Python guy's sacred cow = paper headlines

I'll remember that before I post next time. :hi:

[Shakespeare]

23. Ya know, while the referenced headline was a bit much.....

...I have no problem at ALL with playful headlines for sports and features stories. Straight news stories absolutely should have the headlines you describe, but the occasional tongue-in-cheek headline in sports and features keeps things lively. And I've worked as both an editor AND a reporter (and thank my lucky stars for all the copyeditors over the years who've topped off my stories with excellent heds, some playful where appropriate).

And every hard-as-nails print veteran J prof I ever had felt the same way. :shrug:

[Oeditpus Rex]

25. I've got no problem with that

for certain sports and feature stories, and even some news "brites." Hell, I've written quite a few of 'em. (One I remember in particular went on an A3 story about the Post Office's amnesty program for people who hadn't returned letter bins: "Post Office says, 'Get your bins back in here'.")

When I was a sports editor, I was a big fan of "slammer" heds for big games; I've run "Incredible!" "Yes!" and the like at up to 250 points. I think those do a good job of conveying the importance of the event (especially if it's a win for the home team) and they also give more latitude to play with photos and stuff in the page design — which is important to you when you're writing, editing and laying out the pages. :crazy:

The hed in question, though, was on a straight news story — sports, yeah, but still straight news, not unlike stories about Barry Bonds and BALCO, many of which ran on A1 in the Chron and the SJ Merc.

It also violated two rules: Don't play off someone's name (unless it's a nickname they're comfortable with) and definitely don't make lewd references. There are kids in the house.

BTW — so far, 16 views but no comments. :shrug:


Edit: I almost forgot the A1 banner I wanted to use on election night 2000: "Son of a Bush!" :7

[Shakespeare]

13. Nah, I'd go for a low-level chastizing.

C'mon, that's a GREAT headline. Besides, the mind that came up with that headline is the same mind you want working for you when you've got an impossibly small amount of space and a lot of info you need crammed into a headline. It's such an underrated job--it requires occasional brilliance, and with that comes a wicked sense of humor.

[Oeditpus Rex]

14. I think all the desk jockeys

at www.testycopyeditors.org would disagree.

Want me to post it and find out? :P

[Shakespeare]

24. Sure, go for it. n/t

[madinmaryland]

6. IBTL!!1!!

:hide:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

7. Dude, I so love that.

Props to the copy-editor.

:rofl:

[matcom]

12. perfect

so perfect i'm :cry:

[NewWaveChick1981]

17. ...

:spray: :rofl: Priceless!

[reyd reid reed]

19. That hed oughta land someone

on the sidelines.

That's HORRIBLE.

:wow: