Yale Bulletin and Calendar

March 3, 2000

Volume 28, Number 23

Veteran sports writers help
Yale journalists hone their craft

Campus journalists recently learned that good sports writing requires more than just knowing the score.

A Feb. 25 seminar sponsored by the Department of Athletics brought together about a dozen sports writers from the Yale Daily News and The Yale Herald with two veterans of the genre -- Robert Barton '57, an editor and columnist for the New Haven Register's sports pages, and Marcia Chambers, an expert on the legal aspects of sports, who writes for the The New York Times and such publications as Golf Digest.

Barton opened the seminar with words of advice from an editor's perspective. "As an editor," he said, "you have to hope that your writer knows grammar, spelling, punctuation and style," as well as a healthy understanding of history and geography.

Citing several instances of reporting errors he's encountered -- including "unchartered waters" for "uncharted waters" and "Calgary, Ontario" for "Calgary, Alberta" -- Barton said, "These are the things an editor defends against just at the first reading." He encouraged the young writers to broaden their educational horizons, and to study Latin to strengthen both their English vocabulary and their understanding of grammar.

Reporters should avoid the mistake of "writing for their own ear," suggested Barton, and focus instead "on writing for what the reader needs to know."

As a Yale undergraduate, Barton recalled, he was a stringer for the Associated Press and quickly learned to write stories that could be cut after any given paragraph and still make sense. "This type of organization is your best friend. ... With it, you can't go wrong," he said, adding that he still uses the principle when writing feature stories.

Chambers, who is tutor-in-law for the mid-career Knight Journalism Program at the Law School and associate master of Morse College, focused her presentation on how to find and develop stories.

"Your eye will lead you to stories," said Chambers. If a reporter sees lots of empty seats at a stadium, for example, he or she should ask why, she said. "Ask routine questions." It is also important to "look at the world around you for structure," she told the students. For example, in citing a recent on-ice assault by one National Hockey League player against another, she said a reporter covering this event should "look back in time to find out who might have faced a similar situation and what penalty was imposed."

Sports writers also need to familiarize themselves with the organization of the entities that govern athletics, she advised. "Just as commissioners and their staffs make policies for their sports, so do athletic directors and their staffs." Reporters should understand how all these pieces go together, she said.

Chambers also encouraged the fledgling writers to explore the dynamics of "big-buck economics ... You ought to follow the buck, to look where the money is going."

It is also essential for reporters "to really get to know the coaches, the administrators and the players," she said, because they are all important sources for stories.

In the question-and-answer session following their presentations, Barton and Chambers offered their advice on how to conduct a good interview and the ethics of using information obtained "off the record," among other topics.

This is the first time that the Athletics Department has offered a seminar for the students covering sports at Yale, according to Steve Conn, director of Yale Sports Publicity. He was inspired to organize this event, he says, because "there is no journalism curriculum here at Yale, and certainly no sports journalism curriculum." Yet, campus sports writers he meets demonstrate a "thirst for knowledge" about how to hone their craft, added Conn, who is considering holding a seminar on sports photography sometime in the near future.

-- By LuAnn Bishop

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