In praise (and defense of) the game story, an essential — but dying — aspect of sports journalism

It's all about "instant analysis" and "takeaways" these days, but it doesn't have to be

When most people think about sports writing, the game story is probably what first comes to mind — a reporter goes to a game, notebook and laptop in hand, watches it, interviews players and coaches afterwards and writes up a report that appears shortly thereafter on the web or the next morning in print.

I asked AI to provide an image of a sports writer working on a game story. Not bad, though god only knows a) what sport he’s covering and b) what that contraption is to the writer’s left. The cup of coffee is a nice touch. Also, I didn’t mention race or gender to the AI bot, yet it provided a White male. Make of that what you will…

What used to be a staple of sports journalism really hasn't been for a while. Of course there's still a huge audience for sports writing in general but these days, few read game stories (or so the thinking goes). That's been true since the days of television, but the trend accelerated with computers and smartphones and on-demand highlights and analysis. Currently, the closest equivalent to the game story (which falls under the category of hard news) comes in the form of "instant analysis" or "takeaways" (in other words, "opinion") that are published almost immediately after a game ends, or, sometimes, during the game as a running blog. The thinking is that most people — thanks to electronic media — already know what happened in a game and don't need to read a hard-news report on it. If they're going to read anything after a game, it has to be a quick and digestible breakdown.

And I get it. Very few people these days look to the written word — web or especially print — for straight-up game coverage. But there are still a few outlets that write game stories (or "gamers" in industry lingo). The Associated Press provides an immediate writeup of every major North American sporting event (even this one from Japan). For Monday night's Sabres-Bruins hockey game, the Boston Globe wrote a game story but the Buffalo News did the whole "5 takeaways" thing (though I read it and it was kind of like a game story). Game stories are still out there and you can still find them if you look.

By now you probably know where I'm going with this. I like gamers — reading and writing them. And if I say so myself I'm pretty good at writing them. Unfortunately I only get to do it a few times a year and all within a short window — the college hockey version of March Madness for my friends at USCHO. This week I'll be at TD Garden in Boston for the Hockey East semifinals and final. A week later I have the same gig for the same website but the venue will be the NCAA East Regional in Manchester, N.H. USCHO only produces game stories in the postseason. That's six gamers over two weekends.

Here's how semifinal night unfolds as a game-story writer. I'll watch the first game from the press box, write a running story and hit "send" on what's called a first writethru as soon as it's over. Then I fold up the laptop, head downstairs to the press conferences, listen to what the players and coaches have to say and maybe ask a question or two. Then I'll head back up to the press box and start to write the second writethru, which is an expanded version of the first writethru with quotes. By this time the second game has started, so I have to finish the second writethru (which is usually due about an hour after the first game ends) while keeping an eye on the second game. Then I do the whole thing over again for the second game. It's a little easier on the second night, naturally, because there's only one game.

The gamer still holds a place in sports journalism — at least for some of us. Highlights and "takeaways" dominate modern sports coverage, but I like it when a writer can capture the essence of a game through words. Writing gamers is both a challenge and a joy and for two weekends in March, I get to do it. It's a fast-paced process and one I look forward to every year.

— JD