Leslie A. Rodriguez put together a list of useful tips for aspiring sportswriters and posted it on Blogs.SetonHill.edu. Rodriguez’s list is not all-inclusive — is any  list? — but covers things that should be in any sportswriter’s toolbox.

Mastering these tips won’t unsure you become the next J.A. Adande, Wright Thompson or Selena Roberts, but they should keep any young sportswriter on track to write thoughtful, clever stories that readers today want to read.

Sport Specific Terms:

* Corny terminology is the first thing editors will cut out of your copy. Football players are not gridders; basketball players are not cagers. Don’t try to be innovative and come up with nifty names for things that aren’t considered mainstream.

* Use the word that describes the object. Keep it simple and try not to use slang or cute terms. A football is not a pigskin. “Nothing but net” and “going to the hoop” are cliche and over used sayings.

* Cliches continued: ever compare a sporting event to a war, even in quotes. Never compare a team’s failures to a disaster.

* Avoid trite expressions, even when quoted directly. A team won or lost; defeated or was defeated. Avoid verbs such as “whomped, boatraced, pounded, walloped.” Same goes for “take ‘em one at a time, barnburner, cliffhanger, nailbiter, stomped, clipped and out for blood.”

* Understand Jargon. Especially with medical/legal terminology. Look up medical terms such as anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament. Put it in lay terms.

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