Somewhere in the history of sports writing came this question: "Do you ever wonder why a grammatically correct sentence you’ve written just lies there like a dead fish?"
And the answer to this worry was the hundreds of sports verbs. To be fair, describing 'actions' in an interesting way takes some creativity.
There is a universal love and appreciation of sports. It has been magnified in the 20th century with newspaper, radio and television. I am biased and had thought it is about keeping the reader's/viewer's attention to the written words or the replay. Something that's already happened seems a bit like getting leftovers for dinner, so how to make leftovers appealing?.
I thought I would find dozens of articles on the funniest sports writing - the most extreme verbs and sentences, etc. This is because there are numerous articles on the sports verb. There are hundreds of words full of activity and action awaiting the writer and announcer.
But actually finding them proved elusive. A article says that the worst column written about sports ever published was by celebrated N.Y. Times writer, David Brooks on Jeremy Lin. But it isn't bad writing. A sports writer apologizes for "worst piece of sports journalism ever" - he used a framing device of a real person who had been abducted and held captive for 18 years to review sports activities in the 18 year period that the person missed. That might be tops on horrible mistakes.
There's lots on the best in sports, the greatest sports moments - are the 200, 51 or 21? Are you ready for the greatest sports headlines ever? Most are unrepeatably bad taste and sexist - sex-oriented puns on player surnames. Think "balls" and you can imagine the treasure trove. So they might in fact be the "worst".
My conclusion for the day: Oh well, that was worth a try.
Here's the miniature world of alpine rock garden displays.
I am usually seeing headlines that want me to click to see the top 10, the most beautiful, the best, etc. Today there's a headline that is an exception:
12 of the work places to live in the U.S.
This article made their list considering crime reports, annual median incomes, air quality, climate, poverty levels and unemployment rates. Their list included St. Louis. Here are the "worst" 5:
Memphis, Tennessee New Haven, Connecticut Cleveland, Ohio Detroit, Michigan Camden, Jew Jersey
Forbes has had Camden on their list of "America's Most Miserable Cities" for years. It is known for urban decay and political corruption. Its median household income is $18,000 and 45% of residents live below the poverty line. Its crime rate is 560% over the national average.
I thought: Maybe in perspective, we'll find that the U.S. is not in dire straits. So I spread the net to the most dangerous cities in the world. St. Louis comes up number 13 for murder rates. The 12 cities ahead of it are in Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil. I thought, I'd look broader to find the 'most horrible' places in the world. Even there, we see U.S. cities: Dhaka, then Mumbai, Detroit, Karachi and Hackensack, N.J.
Every day I learn something new: I could never have guessed these statistics.
Today's image shows a beautiful meandering road in Colorado.
