Zinsser Presentation 17,18 (Sports and arts)

1. Nicholas Trost March 11, 2010 COM 362 Newslab Zinsser Presentation17,18 (Sports and arts)

2. “Sports English” • There is no such thing, just “English” • Don’t use exhausted synonyms • “Old Pigskin” • “Knotting the count” • “Hit the showers”

3. I Disagree…. • Sometimes this synonyms are useful • Sportscenter anchor Stuart Scott, ESPN.com Columnist Rick Reilly and ESPN.com NBA columnist, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon with PTI, have all made livings off writing this way. • You can still have good writing with a lot of these synonyms • “Diaper Dandy” Dick Vitale • “Mama, there goes that man” Mark Jackson • “As cool as the other side of the pillow” Stuart Scott • “Running like someone is chasing him” Scott Van Pelt • “Too much mayo is bad for your health” Christian Caple

4. “King” James & “The Answer”

5. Zinsser Uses Analogies Too • “He was also fearless, during his tenure no sacred cow could safely graze” p. 201 • “You can’t just throw them in water and expect them to swim easily. The water needs to be warmed up” pg. 203 • “Jargon is flooding our daily life and language” p. 43 • “Today, Criticisms have many first cousins in Journalism” p. 205 • “Criticism is the stage on which journalists do their fanciest strutting” p. 194 • “Both are unnecessary fears to lug through life” p.147

6. Want to find out about America? Read a sports story-our values are entrenched inside • Ego of athletes have rubbed off on sportswriter • Using sarcasm instead of fact- “Last night the Mets took the field determined to find another ridiculous way to lose”-the athletes did no such thing.

7. Sports interwoven with social history-”Billie Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs”-the best sportswriters can capture that • Values to look for when writing about sport: People and Places, Time and Transition • Athletes actual lives • Greedy owners • Worshiping of the stars • And so on…

8. Writing About The Arts…

9. Art is all around us • Difficult to judge good/bad, to appreciate to a new work-you need skills for this • Criticism is hard to write, most want to do it

10. Usually no power for critics, except for big publications like the NYTimes. • Reviewer vs. Critic-A reviewer reports more than making an aesthetic judgment-a Critic makes a judgment. • Advice: Don’t give away too much of the plot, let your audience see and decide. Don’t spoil it, usually one sentence is fine. • Use details-not just ‘fascinating’. Well, how was it ‘fascinating”?

11. No ecstatic adjectives such as “enthralling” and “luminous”. • Critics see themselves as scholars in their field • Get inside your medium, see plays, sporting events, art shows if you want to get into that. Know the history, so you can analyze what’s next. • “Stylish, allusive, disturbing” makes the greatest criticism • Use good metaphors and lively adjectives

12. Music hard to write about because it goes through our ears • Start your criticism by describing the world they are about the enter • Express your opinion firmly, don’t be a centrist • Don’t “Pee Down Both Legs”-An analogy he likes!

13. END