Nov. 18, 2008
(10:16 p.m.): If you’re a sports writer, two of the worst, most-clichéd ledes you can write are the following: 1)What a difference a half makes. 2) It was a tale of two halves. For any budding sports writers out there, avoid those two bad boys at all costs. And if you look closely, you’ll see those ledes* written from time to time. Always good for a chuckle.
*A lede is the first couple grafs** of your story. The sentences that will lead your reader into the story and will (hopefully) compel him/her to stay with it until the very end.
**Paragraphs
Anyway, Bill and I were talking during the middle of a rather mediocre second half by UC, and he said he’d take the Dickensian Tale of Two Halves lede. I said I’d write What A Difference A Half Makes. Then, of course, Mick came in during the postgamer presser and chose for us. Without prompting he said:
“It was a tale of two halves.*** We came out with great energy in the first half. Our passing was excellent. It shows by our 12 first-half assists, which was directly reflected in our high field goal percentage. Our defense was very good as well. We’re about as good as we could be, except for free throw shooting.
“Our lack of maturity showed a little bit in the second half. We had some guys who lost their focus. That’s a dangerous habit you don’t want to let happen. You can’t condone it. You saw what happened. Texas Southern came out of the locker room not worried about the score but to play with some toughness and compete. Our guys didn’t have the same focus they had in the first half, other than Steve Toyloy.”
***So, there you go. Mick is a better basketball coach than a sports writer. But he makes a good point. UC was very mediocre in the second half.
“We have to work on finishing the game strong,” Alvin Mitchell said. “We come out playing hard. Just to experience it last year, we know everything you do in the beginning of the season prepares you for the Big East. We have to work on keeping up that energy for the entire game.”
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“I don’t think my shot is back to where it was in high school,” he said. “I have to keep on shooting in the gym. Just repetition. It feels better than it did last year. I have to get my arc and repetition back to the way it used to be.” Mick, though, pointed out that every shot Mitchell has made this year has come from behind the arc. He needs to work on scoring easier baskets, Mick said.
“Alvin can make shots,” he said. “I’ll tell you what Alvin has to do: all his makes are 3s, and he’s got to be able to finish a little better. He has to learn to pull up and shoot. That’s the guy you see in practice. If you leave him, he can make shots. He’s still improving on defense and rebounding. As long as he’s continuing to work hard, he’s going to get better. That’s something he can give us. It makes us harder to defend.”
“This is my second game, so it’s getting tougher,” Dixon said. “All the planning and practicing every day. I have to grind it out. It’s actually harder than I thought it would be. I didn’t know it was this hard. Practice every day, games, film, all that. It takes a toll on you. I have to get used to it.”
“Maybe I’m not starting the right guys,” Mick said with a chuckle. “It’s good we scored 82 points and Deonta Vaughn had only 12. That couldn’t have happened last year if we had played 60-70 minutes.”
