Mungaray

Jake Mungaray

Matthew Wilson

Writing 2

19 April 2017

WP1

Sports encompasses such a broad array of areas and touches political, economical, and

social aspects of life. Because of this, when writing a sports article, individual writers have a

very diverse agenda when it comes to considering the strategies to reach their goal in writing the

article. Two very distinct genres of sports articles are articles published in local newspapers

versus articles published to websites such as Barstool Sports. For articles that are going to be

viewed in the local newspapers, the writers goal is to create the piece in a neutral, respectable

manner and clearly present the facts. On the other hand, Barstool Sports writers purpose differs

because although they are still writing to tell their readers about a sports headline, they are doing

in a humorous, satirical way in order to lighten the mood and create a unique way to read about

sports stories.

The clear, straight to the point presentation of the headline that is characteristic of

newspaper sports articles can be seen in the story "LaVar Ball blames foot speed of white guys

for UCLA downfall.", which was published in the Daily Breeze, a local newspaper in the Los

Angeles area. Before reading a word of the article, since it is published in a newspaper that goes

out to a wide range of people and families, the readers expectation is for article to be easy to

understand, factual, and not contain any statements that are too obscene or outlandish. One way

in which the writer was able to meet these expectations is through the format of the article. He

provided very little commentary or opinionated statements; instead he used a plethora of quotes
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to introduce such a ridiculous, absurd claim made by Lavar Ball. For many sports media outlets,

remaining quiet and impartial on yet another ludicrous claim made by Mr. Ball would be an

impossible task. However, since the goal of the writer of the Daily Breeze is to present the story

to the public, he refrains from offering up any sort of commentary, and leaves that up to his

readers to discuss.

Another convention utilized by the writer is the tone of the story and word choice used to

describe events. The article is written in a bland and vanilla way not to come off as boring, but

rather to describe the events and prevent the facts as clearly and objectively as possible. The

readers of this article are coming to this genre for their sport articles in order to find sports

information (essentially the box score) and to see what new statement Lavar Ball said, not to find

commentary or discussion on the statement. In addition, the writer uses technical, but plain

language to describe the events of the story. One example of this is the sentence, Ball was

undercut trying to catch a lob pass late in the first half of UCLAs win over 14th-seeded Kent

State on March 17. The description of the event does not try to portray it has an egregious

attempt to injure star Lonzo Ball, but simply states what happened in a straightforward manner.

This allows readers to quickly and easily obtain the information they were seeking to find from

this source, and allows the readers to form their own interpretations.

On the other hand, writers of different genres must apply other conventions in their work

in order to achieve the texts rhetorical aim. For example, sports articles published on Barstool

Sports shed light on sports headlines and stories in a much more satirical, light-hearted, and

casual manner than traditional sports media outlets such as local news papers or even major

companies like ESPN. One article on Barstool Sports that uses conventions to accurately portray

the genre as well as the rhetorical goal of the paper is Mavericks To Honor Tony Romo During
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The Last Game Of The Season By Letting Him Dress In Uniform And Sit On The Bench. The

image posted before the opening paragraph of the article cues readers into the notion that this is

not a formal, serious sports article. The image features a picture of Tony Romos head poorly

cropped on to the body of a Dallas Maverick player, which introduces the topic of the article in a

playful way.

The rhetorical goal of this article is to take note of the nice gesture of the Mavericks to let

their local long time franchise quarterback take the spotlight one more time after deciding to

retire from his athletic career under less than ideal circumstances. However, because of the genre

of the article, the article wants to accomplish his goal in entertaining fashion in order to drown

what can be perceived by many, especially Dallas Cowboy fans, as an unfortunate, bitter end to a

great players career. One convention used to execute this is the authors choice to purposely

leave in the crossed-out phrase Super Bowl playoff games. By choosing to do this, he is

poking fun at how Romo was never successful in the playoffs, and this allows his target audience

of NFL fans, Cowboy fans specifically, to all relate to the bittersweet feeling almost every

season was even though the team never one a Super Bowl. The author is able to channel the

memories of those bittersweet feelings, which is precisely how he wants to convey the storyline,

and the purposeful lack of editing allows him to do so in a humorous way so he can lighten the

mood.

Another convention the writer employs to achieve his rhetorical aims is he references

another sports headline that particularly appeals to the Dallas area by bringing up Rajon Rondo

and his time with the Mavericks. Through referencing a local sports event, he is once again

connecting to his readers. Furthermore, this is a perfect historical event to tie into this storyline

because Rondos time with the Mavericks was not the brightest spot of his career, similar to
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Romo, but the writer is very confident that it will turn out better for Romo, spinning the story

into a slightly more positive one.

Although sport articles can discuss the same sports headline or story, the genre the article

is in helps determine the rhetorical claim of the piece. Articles that are going to be read in local

newspapers tend more formal and straight to the point. In the above example, the author uses dull

word choice and technical, descriptive language when giving the story line in order for readers to

obtain the information and facts they are seeking in a quick and easy manner. There is little to no

analysis or commentary from the writer himself. However, articles posted on sports blogs such as

Barstool Sports take on a much different approach. These articles tend to use more

conversational language to notify readers of headlines in a much more amusing way. This can be

observed by the author making jokes on other sports stories as well as leaving a crossed out

phrase in the body of the article. These conventions convey the informal approach taken by thw

writer, which are very commonly used in this genre. It also allows the author to accomplish his

goal of shining light on a headline that received mixed reactions, and telling the story in a

bittersweet way, while still paying respects to a great player.

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Works Cited

Fowler, Clay. "LaVar Ball blames foot speed of white guys for UCLA downfall." The Daily

Breeze. The Daily Breeze, 06 Apr. 2017. Web. 09 Apr. 2017.

"Mavericks To Honor Tony Romo During The Last Game Of The Season By Letting Him Dress

In Uniform And Sit On The Bench." Barstool Sports. N.p., 08 Apr. 1970. Web. 09 Apr.

2017.