Article Reviews

Celtics:

Magic take the bait

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/articles/2011/02/07/magic_take_the_bait/

The article recapping the Celtics and Magic game is well written and entertaining. The lead draws the reader in and plays with the word “tricks,” which is clever since the Celtics were playing the magic. The angle of the article focuses on the “tricks” the Celtics used to beat the Magic this week. The reporter does a good job of balancing the angle with a re-cap of the game, which makes reading the article entertaining in addition to being informative. The quotes used were good, however they could’ve been trimmed down. There’s a lot of quote packing towards the end of the article. The article was enjoyable and painted a good picture for readers.

Bruins:

Bang up job done by Bruins over Stars

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/articles/2011/02/04/bang_up_job_done_by_bruins_over_stars/?page=1

This article written about the Bruins and Stars game really gives readers a lot of information about the history between the teams and what happened at the game this week. Without knowing what has happened in the past, the story wouldn’t make as much sense. The reporter did his homework. Someone that doesn’t usually follow the Bruins could understand what happened and why it did, which is necessary in sports journalism. The quotes go along with the re-cap nicely and the reporter does a nice job of balancing quotes and facts. He doesn’t overuse the quotes.

Super Bowl XLV:

Injuries not too much to overcome

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/articles/2011/02/07/injuries_not_too_much_to_overcome/?page=1

This article focuses mainly on the injuries to the Packers during the Super Bowl. Although the reporter angled his article around the injuries, he gives too much information. I felt that I was overloaded with information after reading the first five paragraphs, and didn’t really want to continue reading. The sentences were extremely long, and fact filled. I understand he wanted to prove the point of the Packers still being able to win despite all the injuries, I just think he could’ve presented the information better. The article gets easier to read towards the end, where the reporter focuses on what happened in the game and having quotes. He does a nice job of not having too many quotes and a good job of spacing them out. I didn’t mind that he focused on the injuries for the entire article because they played a major role in this Super Bowl.

All three articles used the feature approach. Each reporter did a nice job of balancing a re-cap of the game with some important angle. These angles make the articles more enjoyable to read and give the stories color. I could picture what happened during the game after reading them.