1. Column writing

2. Popular
The most coveted position in the sports department is the job of sports columnist. The sports columnist usually can write on any subject he or she wants. Sports columns are typically given good play or promoted more frequently.
However, the sports columnist is expected to attract readers and his or her column should be among the best-read or most talked-about articles.

3. The sports column: To praise, criticize, analyze or interpret
Not to cheerlead, nit-pick, second-guess or air personal grievances
Should show honesty and fair play
All opinions should be supported with facts
Can be serious or funny; a detailed look at one subject or a collection of short insights

4. It’s not just your opinion
Good columns are not constructed on opinions. They are firmly built on fact-based, accurate ideas. Sports columnists need facts to support their claims.
While at first blush sports columns appear to be easy to write – what could be easier than writing what you think? – they are, in reality, extremely difficult. They demand great effort in both writing and research.
Without diligent research, reliable sources and unique perspectives, your opinion does not matter. Anyone can spew out a sports opinion.

5. Characteristics of a good column
Knowledge: You have to know what you are writing about. Knowledgeable sources: Cheap shots come in the form of unwarranted criticism (this is the worst team ever), unfounded speculation (the coach will be fired by season’s end), and broad assumptions (a player’s partying is harming his play), among others. Such antics are the result of poor or lazy reporting. There is a time, place, and purpose for criticizing a team, player, or management. Sometimes there will be public outcry for a coach’s firing or a player benching. Instead of jumping on that bandwagon, ask management or coaches to address public concerns. Armed with good information from trustworthy sources, you can be the go-between for addressing rumors and speculation. Fact-based analysis: Broad, unfounded statements need to be avoided. How can you prove a player has lost her shooting touch, a coach has “lost the team,” or management is cheap? Carefully providing relevant statistics or information from sources “in the know” can help you avoid faulty claims. Hal Bock and the Nets column

6. Logical, unique perspectives: Too many columnists simply rehash the chatter surrounding them. Writing about an issue that has already been talked to death on radio or in the blogs does not benefit you or your readers. Impeccable reporting: As a sports journalist you get to go places common folk do not. Use that access to ask interesting questions, float different ideas, and have average-guy conversations. Ask about social and cultural current events. Recognize reading or music-listening habits of athletes and coaches. Observe their relationships with teammates and nonteammates. Also, when writing about someone allow the subject of the column or story to respond to criticism or accusations. If you provide the source of your criticism fair opportunity to comment, and prove diligent in your reporting, you will gain a source’s respect. And, those sources lead to other good stories. Hal Bock and Ron Turcotte column

7. Types of sports columns
1. Editorial: This type of column is most closely aligned with the traditional editorial columns written for the newspaper’s op-ed page. The main purpose of the column is to form an opinion about some aspect of the sports world. It could involve a criticism of baseball’s steroid policy, or a call for closer scrutiny of an athletic program. The editorial board of the newspaper often supports the opinions expressed in the column.
2. My view: Slightly different from the editorial, this type of column allows the columnist to talk about his or her personal experiences. A columnist may write about a player having a particularly good (or bad) year, based on the personal observation of the writer (and, of course, backed by support for the view)
3. Ask the expert: Some newspapers run columns that answer questions sent in directly from readers. A reader may ask about a sports record, or about the status of a player’s injury. The columnist will answer the questions through his or her extensive network of sources.

8. 4. Reader response: If columnists are doing their job, they should get plenty of mail from readers – either critical or complimentary. Columnists can use these letters as a basis for columns, either pointing out why a criticism is unwarranted (or warranted), or expanding on points raised by the reader.
5. Sports trivia: Because sports have so many records – many obscure – a columnist could devote articles to pointing out some of these records. Historical events often make for interesting column topics.
6. “Mixed bag”: This approach can include all of the above. A columnist can take a stand on an issue, mix in his or her own observations, include some expert commentary, include reader responses, and throw in some trivia. In other words, this type of column defies definition.

9. Structural types of columns include but are not limited to:
Notebook: Notebook columns are generally fact-based, multi-item columns that discuss unusual or off-the-beaten-path issues. These columns do not feature a great deal of opinion, sticking closely to verifiable information supported by quotes and sources. Notebooks are well read and interesting.
Game columns: These columns fill in the gaps not covered by the beat writer. The game column is an attempt to extract a larger meaning from a game that generally takes the reader beyond the game story, sidebar, or game notes. These types of columns will have more opinion than notebook columns but stick close to the facts and events that occur at the event.
 Reflection: Many of these columns are in the form of historical reflection. Anniversaries, record-breaking achievements, milestones, and career conclusions all qualify as reflection columns. Veteran sports journalists might reflect upon how an up-and-coming player reminds him or her of a former player. Reflection columns many times focus on comparing teams, players, or attitudes. Sometimes those reflections are personal accounts. Other times they include the reflection of others. Generally, a balance of both is a good rule to follow. As a column writer, provide some of your perspectives but have others support or challenge those perspectives.
Issues: Issue columns examine sports through the perspective of recent research or occurrences. Steroid use among high school athletes, head injuries of youth soccer players. Discussing a national issue through a local viewpoint is a great way to bring the discussion home to local readers. Interviewing local experts on the issue makes for great local conversation. Again, your opinion is not nearly as important as bringing these issues to the forefront for discussion. In fact, you might not even have an opinion about the issue. But by providing several perspectives, you show how complex the issue has become.

10. Pat Forde’s “Forde Minutes” is a notebook style column on Yahoo Sports

11. Writing the column: the structure
As with the types of sports columns, the structure of columns can vary greatly. A typical structure, however, follows the same formula that editorial writers use. This involves three sections:
1. Premise: The introduction should address the main point of the column. What is the purpose of the article? It often helps if you can state the premise of the column in one clear and concise sentence, for instance, “Steroid users should not be allowed into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.” By reducing a column into one sentence, a writer can focus more clearly on the topic and avoid wandering off on tangents. (Of course it doesn’t have to be the first sentence. Be creative in your introduction)
Some sports columns take a “two-sided” approach, showing both the pros and cons of a premise. This also adds a degree of fairness to the column by noting opposing points of view. Of course, the columnist can refute these opposing points of view with additional evidence.
One columnist put it this way: “Ask a compelling question that you then answer in your column: My editor is very insistent on determining the compelling question in every column. It’s not enough to have a topic. He wants to know what the compelling question is and how I’m going to answer it.”
2. Evidence: The point of the column needs to be supported with facts, figures, quotes, and statistics. A column that merely states an opinion with no factual evidence appears unfair.
3. Conclusion: Good columns return to the premise and clearly point out why the original premise is correct.

12. Problems to avoid:
Being wimpy: Columnists are supposed to take a stand. It doesn’t matter if they are right or wrong. What matters is that the columnist makes a cogent point and backs it with solid evidence.
Overexposure: Readers typically want to see what you think, but they don’t necessarily want to read about you personally. Don’t go overboard telling personal tales about your background.
Keep it simple: Some columnists get too complicated in their columns, pointing out aspects of sporting events that go beyond the comprehension of most readers. Readers expect to learn from a column, but they also expect to be entertained and enlightened in understandable terms.
 Don’t get overly technical. So instead of writing: “Patellar diseases, chondromalacia, Osgood– Schlatter’s disease, swelling and edema of the knee, ligament instability, knee instability, recurrent knee pain, arthritis, degenerative joint... ” how about writing “knee problems.”

13. Staying fresh: Some sports columnists tend to repeat themselves
Staying fresh: Some sports columnists tend to repeat themselves. Good columnists experiment with different writing styles. They look for topic ideas in unusual places. And they avoid dry, dull issues that can be written practically every day.
Avoid things everyone knows or would expect: “Bill Self was very excited about his 2015 recruiting class.” Has a coach ever been disappointed with his recruits? “The New York Yankees have one of the largest payrolls in Major League Baseball.” That’s standard operating procedure. Tell the reader something new.
Yahoo’s Pat Forde used this column to address a Muslim player’s thoughts in the wake of Donald Trump’s first-week immigration ban.

14. Topics: Write about what your readers want to read
Topics: Write about what your readers want to read. Don’t forget about them.
Don’t insult: Sports columnists sometimes take themselves too seriously. They can call for a coach’s firing, or for a player to be dropped from a team. These are legitimate topics for columns, but you have to remember that you are writing about people’s lives.
Fans spouting off online for heads to roll might be acceptable but a columnist has a greater responsibility. A sports journalist should have enough knowledge or enough reporting diligence to shed light on the circumstances behind a team’s struggles. Perhaps a coach has been distracted because his father is dying of leukemia. Maybe there are unreported injuries or a spat between teammates. Avoid assumptions by asking questions. Do not assume everything is what it appears.

15. Being too cute: Sometimes, columnists try to be too funny
Being too cute: Sometimes, columnists try to be too funny. It’s important to always keep in mind, though, that what one person thinks is funny, another will think is stupid. It’s a fine line between clever and cute.
So avoid puns. Someone once wrote, “Rod wasn’t Lavering” during a tennis match involving Rod Laver. Since “laver” is not a verb (it’s a noun referring to a wash basin, or a noun referring to seaweed), the use of the term as a verb is well within the “cute” category.
Another trap is when writers attempt to describe something but the descriptions do not translate. The writer has something in his or her head but cannot quite explain it properly. It becomes a, “You had to be there moment.” Well, we weren’t there. It’s your job to provide enough context where we can get the joke too.

16. Sometimes writers, particularly columnists, overwrite the details in a story. The actual essence of the story becomes lost in the telling of it.
For example, in 1993 a baseball bounced off the head of Texas Rangers right fielder Jose Canseco and over the fence for a home run. The events are humorous enough where extensive explanation only gets in the way of the story. An example of overwriting:
Never known for his fielding prowess, Texas Rangers transient right fielder and slugger Jose Canseco redefined his position in Wednesday’s game by turning an out into a home run for the Cleveland Indians.
In an effort to be clever and cute, the author loses the reader with all kinds of descriptions that clutter the story. Although some of those descriptions might be beneficial to the story, restraint is recommended. For example:
Never known for his fielding, Texas Rangers right fielder Jose Canseco turned an out into a Cleveland home run when a fly ball bounced off his head and over the fence Wednesday.
It’s shorter, more to the point, the imagery is stronger, and it still includes all the same information. Keep the storytelling simple and concise.

17. Strange topics: It’s a sports column.
Lack of focus: Columns need to have a point or a purpose. Some columns inform, some create awareness, and some attempt to persuade. Decide early which approach you will be taking. . In the first few paragraphs, provide a definitive sentence or paragraph that sets the foundation for the column. And don’t bring in other issues.
Homerism: Don’t lose your objectivity. If a team is playing bad, say so. Don’t try to find the positives. If you always defend the team in your columns, or write only “good news” columns, you will lose the trust of the readers.

18. Award winners
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