In my racket, a 'lead' is used to lure a reader into a story, a hook that hints at what lies ahead in the tale.
In terms of sports, the way we cover and write game stories has changed. The truth is most readers already know who won and lost the game when they pick up the paper.
That's where we bank on the people who cover our sports beats to offer their analysis and opinion of what happened in the game. They're not exactly columnists, but it's not the traditional 'inverted pyramid' style of reporting that focused on the 5 W's (who, what, when, where, why) either.
Having said that, you'll wait a long time before you read a better lead than our Phillies beat writer Dennis Deitch penned on that ugly, disheartening performance by the pinstripes in the Big Apple vs. the Mets last night.
The Phillies fell 7-1 - and it probably wasn't that close.
This one was over early, a fact not lost on Deitch when he tapped out this gem of a lead:
"The Mets were camouflage jerseys Monday night. Before the fisrt inning was over, the Phillies were raising a white flag."
Ouch!
You can read the rest of Dennis' game story here.
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