News writing - how to write a sports report in 4 steps

News writing style is just as important for sports reporting as it is for general news, business stories or any other journalistic work.

The advantage of sports writing is that you are allowed to a little more freedom in your choice of words. In crime or business writing, you are restricted in your use of adjectives and adverbs, and are encouraged to focus more on nouns and verbs.
Sports writing, however, allows you to go to town in describing plays, the atmosphere, fans and other colorful aspects of a sporting event.

For this article, we will go through, step by step, how to write a straightforward sports report using quotes.

Ideally, any sports story would have quotes from the winners and losers. Indeed, many sports articles are written around what athletes say rather than what they have achieved on the field of play.

However, you also have sports articles written without quotes. When rookies learn how to write like a journalist, especially in sport, they are likely to come across the structure that we will show you here.

We will adapt the NBA game between Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers on April 1 as our example article.

1. Intro - the most important news aspect of a sports game is the score. Who won? How did they win and what effect did the victory have? Also important is whether we are writing from a Boston perspective or Cleveland. In this case, we will go with Cleveland.

"Cleveland Cavaliers lost 98-96 to the Boston Celtics after Delonte West's sank two free throws in the final seconds, dropping three and a half games behind the Pistons for the best record in the Eastern Conference."

2. More info - The above is enough for those who have a passing interest in the sport. However, NBA fans would want more information and you could give it to them in one or two paragraphs.

"The Cavaliers were without star player LeBron James, suffering from a knee injury, while the Celtics were minus Paul Pierce. Gerald Green led the way for Celtics with 25 points while Kendrick Perkins had 12 points and nine rebounds.

The Cavaliers, for whom Larry Hughes scored 24 with Sasha Pavlovic scoring 17, have already qualified for the play-offs while Boston are out of the running."

3. Quote - This is where you can provide a quote from the coach or a key player from both teams. You can precede each saying with a lead-in paragraph or go straight into the quote.

"Celtic forward Al Jefferson, said: 'They were missing their best player and we were missing our best play. We just stuck in there.'

Cavs coach Mike Brown said James' absence was a key factor in their loss.

'We miss LeBron. We miss LeBron every time he doesn't play. He's our guy,' said Brown."

The thinking behind sports articles is that people would have watched the game on TV anyway and would not want boring game description. Therefore, quotes from the people who matter, such as athletes and coaches, would offer better reading value.

4. The rest - Once you got the main information and key quotes out of the way, you can go on to describe the game. Even better would be to describe just one or two plays and include more quotes.

There are many types of sports news writing that is offered around the world everyday. We have merely showed you its simplest form. Certainly, it is a rewarding form of news writing for journalists who love their sport. And the structure they use allow them to adapt their skills to any type of journalism writing.

About the Author
Nazvi Careem is an experienced journalist, writer and writing coach who has written for newspapers, magazines and global news agencies such as Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. To download a free chapter of his book on news writing secrets, check out his website dedicated to the art of news writing.

Mortal Engines - the movie

This movie is about confrontations between moving futuristic cities, sometimes a real clash of giants of iron and stone, that provides a more creative action movie than any blockbuster this year in Hollywood.

The story is the stuff from which real nightmares are made, but also a great starting point for science fiction movies. ''Mortal Engines'' is based on a series of youth books dealing with young people born into a horrifying, but fascinating at the same time, post-apocalyptic world.

The background story for the plot is called "The 60 Minutes War". Within one hour in the 21st century, the nations of the world have destroyed each other, and the majority of people and the natural conditions that allow it to exist. The plot itself takes place about 1,000 years later, after the world has undergone a technological, economic and political reform and is composed, among other things, of independent cities.

Unlike the classical days of Greece, the future cities are mobile - they have adapted themselves to a resource-free world with chains that make it possible to move like a huge tank.

This is how we meet at the beginning of the movie London, which runs a wild chase after a small German settlement in order to swallow it as a kind of fuel. They call it "municipal Darwinism".

The 60-minute war eliminated most of the technologies and most of civilization, thus driving humanity into an electric prehistoric era in the spirit of the 19th century.

Mankind combined new technological developments and archaeological discoveries of old technologies. In such a world, an air battle between a hyper-sophisticated plane and an upgraded balloon is commonplace. It's a world where curious engineers and archaeologists have equal potential to achieve technology that will change the rules of the game.

In this respect, "Mortal Engines" is excellent. The world is luxurious and layered, merging past and future, nature and technology, in a spectacular and charming way. The action is rich in images, and in masses of moving parts in every frame that energize the journey. Even when a scene is just a dialogue in a room, the director makes sure to remind us that the room is only a cell in a wonderful machine city that is constantly in motion.

The mobile city also represents a beautiful representation of the British classes who have also returned to a rigid division. It is still a democracy, but one that is based on fighting for survival and therefore its bloodthirsty citizens.

The director created wonderful and fascinating cities, that manage to ignite the imagination. It is not just London - every city and town is an independent state, a small world that is built up to the last detail, rich in cultural and technological history.

Humanized Map Principles

At the very heart of the map, like the movie, is the narrative platform, as a means of mass communication, as visual art, a product of expression, as a language with distinct syntax and built-in grammar.

What are the building blocks of the map as a language? What are its components and how does the manipulations they generate work?

As in the case of any language, the cartographic syntax also operates within the framework of some particular "logic."

The cartographic language is a diverse terminological system that includes data collection, editing and interpretation.

The basic elements of the satellite image may be: size, angle, camera movement, lighting, and more.

From here begins the process of interpreting the photographic expression in the direction of a cartographic expression - a map.

Every action from here on is an appeal on the realist example. Every action creates a response, there is no action without a counter-action, the combination of the two is the heart of the matter. This creates a drama that begins and ends in combination.

The map is building and organization of a composition. Creating the map is a process similar to creating a movie. We activate in the mind of the map reader: angles, axes, motions, and all visual components in space. The cartographer is actually a director. All possible visual elements are engineered into the map.

Like any cinematic shot, the map also has one central component in the general picture, which can be called dominant. It is highlighted by the artist through graphic embossing of color, blurring, and more.

The aerial photograph as an objective camera, a fly on the wall, is a tool for voyeurism and an invasion mechanism. The larger the zoom, the greater the invasion of others life.

That's why the cartographer has to be subjective. He has to wander over the photograph like a mobile camera, extract meanings, and express his inner world.

Using as many graphic tools as possible, he creates a composition, by which he transforms the two-dimensional photograph into a three-dimensional creation. The 3D, which is a basic concept in the brain, requires the map reader to create a vanishing point of consciousness, a synthesis, which is the necessary conclusion for him from reading the map's data. The graphic vanishing point is created by highlighting certain elements at the expense of others. The vanishing point of consciousness is, to a large extent, also the visual vanishing point - the focal point.

Symmetry, therefore, becomes only one instrument of many species in the cartographer's toolbox. The photographed space is for him a means of expression. He breaks it by emphasizing or assimilating various elements.

Space design techniques are also a means of emotional-Pavlovian conditioning.

The cartographer creates space inside a space. It intensifies the dimension of depth by creating images, by changing focus.

The map creates a cinematic character, as every movie creates a cartographic figure. For example, movies dealing with the city. The fetishization of urban space exists in both films and maps. The city, movie, or map, may be perceived as threatening or friendly, foreign or close, and so forth.

Underlying the reading of the map is the map legend, which serves as an introduction to its principles. The legend enables understanding of the cartographic image as a semiotic array of: sign, signified, marked. This is the basic language of the concepts that build the map, and its principles of interpreting it.

The entrance gate to each map is formalism, which is a style under the "realist example." This is similar to basic concepts and basic patterns of the objective camera.

Then comes the question of the cartographic composition. The spatial arrangement as an emotional manipulation, space as a figure, space as a means of expression. Realism has to become a style, through the vanishing point of consciousness, and the symmetrical space becomes an asymmetrical space, the object of aesthetic choices.

Maps manipulates the dimensions of space and time. They takes us to many places and times. They may create a continuous consciousness or static consciousness. A dynamic map, liberated and dramatic, creates an entirely different emotional state from a static map.

That is how the narrative is created. The map is a plot anchored in narrative. It is an information channel that includes text and sub-text, as continuous and coherent as possible, which includes repetition, memory and recollection as basic principles.

There are map genres. The genre is a premise in cartography. Over the generations, genre principles have become the cornerstones of map art, such as the genres in classical Hollywood cinema.

The genre makes editing the map clearer. This is done through rhythm, images, associations, and so on.

In addition, it is possible to present maps as cinematic works, on video clips, through camera movement, and various editing combinations.

Many maps are currently being presented accompanied by soundtrack and cinematic music.

In the past it was the storyteller who wandered from city to city and told his experiences against the background of his journey map. 

Today, cinema and the modern soundtrack make it possible to synthesize sound and image, and to present maps according to cinematic principles.

A satellite photo of Northern California

Physical map of northern California

Map of northern California settlements and roads

Human Extinction By 2030 -Climate Disruption - The Movie

Climate Disruption The Movie was uploaded to highlight the overwhelming about of scientific information pointing to human extinction by 2030. Governments, and Universities they control, are in denial.

Smell Your Way to a Better Mood

You can change your mood by changing what you smell. Smell has a powerful effect on behavior. Certain smells can brighten our moods and lift our spirits. Some smells we find repulsive and alert us to danger. If smells are such powerful influencers of moods and behavior doesn't it make sense that changing the smell can also change the behavior?

You can change your mood by changing what you smell. Quick: Which of our five senses more than any other influences our behavior? Triggers our memories? Controls our cravings? Enhances our moods? Ignites our sexuality?

If you replied, "It's our sense of smell," then you're smarter than most. We live in a culture that overwhelms us with stimulation delivered through sight and sound. Even taste and touch are highly valued and utilized to expand our experience of pleasure and sensuality. But our sense of smell has been relegated to the bottom of the sensory pile. It's an unfortunate place to be for a sense that's primarily responsible for our quality of life.

Unlike the other senses, our sense of smell is always on duty. Each day, without any thought, we breathe in over 23,040 times and inhale over 238 cubic feet of air. Each breath floods our smell receptors with information about the environment we live in. Smells of pleasure. Awareness. Danger. Sexual attraction. We are capable of recognizing approximately 10,000 different odors, with each odor having the power to influence our moods and behavior. However, most people would be hard pressed to identify more than a couple of dozen. Such is the mystery of this enigmatic sense.

Smell has a powerful effect on behavior. Certain smells can brighten our moods and lift our spirits, like the smell of a good cup of coffee and warm cinnamon buns straight from the oven. An exotic perfume or the smell of your lover's skin can lead to intimacy and romance while other scents bring a sense of calm and make us feel at home.

Some smells we find repulsive and alert us to danger. Just think of your reaction to the stink of a dead skunk on the side of the road or the smell of burning toast. Such strong smells usually trigger an instant reaction and alert us to take corrective action.

Aromas delivered directly to the smell receptors in our brain have a powerful effect on our behavior. Since birth, our smell receptors have been busy cataloguing every smell that passed through our nostrils. As newborn infants snuggled up against our mothers' breast, the smell of her skin gave us a deep sense of comfort and safety. That first smell, lodged deep within our memory, still has the power to trigger intense feelings.

The environment of our childhood, with its varied smells, fragrances and odors, built the platform of scent memories, which determines how we respond to the hints of those scents today. The smell of a musty basement, Thanksgiving dinner at grammas or the gym locker room after a basketball game are all powerful triggers that transport us back into our world of memories.

The brain processes information delivered through our other senses by cognitive identification first, which in turn triggers an emotional response. But our sense of smell is unique. It does the opposite. Our smell receptors are directly connected to the limbic system, which controls emotional behavior and memory. Incoming odors first trigger an emotional response, which is then followed by cognitive recognition. That's why, for example, you'll respond to the relaxing effects of lavender long before you can identify the specific aroma.

Aromas have long been used to influence behavior. Legend has it that Cleopatra perfumed the sails of her ship sent to meet Anthony so the wind would carry a hint of her desire. For centuries, doctors would diagnose various diseases by smell alone and we all know that our shopping experience is influenced by the smells funneled through the air conditioning systems. Smells are being introduced everywhere - in our household products, our homes, our cars and office environments.

If smells are such powerful influencers of moods and behavior doesn't it make sense that changing the smell can also change the behavior? Research is pointing to that probability. So while the sense of smell is the least known of our senses, it has recently emerged as a new medical frontier. As research identifies how odor is identified and transmitted, we will be able to use a variety of scents to obtain the maximum benefits we desire. It is the scents-ible approach to creating health and well-being.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Luke Vorstermans

Luke Vorstermans is the founder of The Sense of Smell Lab, a world leader in the development of innovative products that use our sense of smell to influence behavior, trigger memories, manage cravings, enhance moods and improve sexual health. To learn more about enhancing your sex drive with Scentuelle patch go to http://www.scentuellepatch.com

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