Sports-team names: singular or plural?

This question, from a quiz on agreement, was a subject of disagreement:

The Wizards are terrible this year, but the Magic is having another great season.

AP style calls for Magic is. However, grammar books, along with some editors and many students, prefer Magic are.

Even the pros do not follow AP style on this point. Consider this phrase from a story by David Hyde, sports reporter for the Orlando Sentinel (10/30/10):
The Magic were (not was) coming off an easy win at home ...

Or this story with no byline from Miami Herald (10/31/10):
The Heat have (not has) won [six of their last seven games] at New Jersey.


I polled some of my sports-oriented friends in journalism. Their responses:

From former sports editor Steve Koehler:
I’m pretty sure that team nicknames are considered plural i.e. The Jazz are crap, the Heat are awful, etc. The Magic are terrific. I'm pretty sure that’s AP’s rule. Whatever AP says is the rule media should be following...

From former sports editor Jeff Majeske:
I've approached teams like that as a ''they.'' The Jazz are going for their third straight win. The Heat were led by Dwyane Wade’s 29 points. From a grammatical standpoint, Heat, Jazz, etc., are collectives. My reasoning for not following this convention is that newspapers should reflect how people talk (within certain boundaries, of course). When in doubt, I rely on what sounds correct.

From MSU Jack Dimond, MSU journalism instructor:

Ed: The online AP Stylebook says the singular nicknames that plural verbs. Here's the full entry (I can't really think of why there is a logical difference between the Orlando Magic and the Stanford Cardinal):

collective nouns -- Nouns that ...denote a unit take singular verbs and pronouns: class, committee, crowd, family, group, herd, jury, orchestra, team.

However, team names such as the Jazz, the Magic, the Avalanche and the Thunder take plural verbs.

Many singular names take singular verbs: Boston is favored in the playoffs. The Cardinal is in the NCAA tournament.

If you want my personal opinion, it should be ''Magic are.'' It’s singular in form but plural in meaning, in the sense that it refers to the players on the team rather than the team as a single entity. OK, so this doesn't really make any sense, but I think one of the reasons we have style rules is that you just have to pick something and go with it.

Here’s my thought: Consider using team names as singular or plural, as the case suggests, in the same way that "jury" and "couple" are handled.

Blog posts: Online observations

Questions to consider

• What does this online presentation offer that ordinary print journalism can’t provide?
• Do you like what you see, nor not? Why?
• Could anything be improved?

These links may inspire blog posts. Or find your own:

Springfield News-Leader's Data Leader

Springfield News-Leader's Metromix

Springfield News-Leader's Creative Minds series

Wichita Eagle: Ron Sylvester

Wilmington (Delaware) News-Journal: Political report

The Daily Beast: Cheat Sheet

St. Louis Post Dispatch on Facebook

Nut graf analysis: basic news story

Earl threatens East Coast with weekend pounding

The Associated Press
(Picked up by the LA Times)

BEAUFORT, N.C. —Hurricane Earl packed winds near 125 mph as it blew toward North Carolina on Thursday, putting the Eastern Seaboard all the way to Canada on alert for a Labor Day weekend pounding by waves, gales and rain.

A hurricane warning was issued for the tip of Massachusetts, including Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. New hurricane and tropical storm warnings and watches were issued for parts of Canada, adding to those already in effect from North Carolina to near the Canadian border.

[Here's the nut graf:] With winds expected to whip up in North Carolina's Outer Banks by the evening, Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said residents and tourists could no longer afford to wait on the next forecast to see how close the eye of the storm might get.

Analysis

One of the important functions of a nut graf is to put the story in a context so we know what we should care. I think the FEMA warning makes it clear why we should care — especially with the language "... could no longer afford to wait on the next forecast ... " The story goes on to say that the hurricane may not score a direct hit on the barrier islands off off North Carolina nor on areas farther up the coast. But these details are secondary to the overall threat of the hurricane, which, according to one meteorologist quoted, "is the strongest hurricane to threaten the northeast and New England since Hurricane Bob in 1991." If anything, the nut graf could be stronger if the essence of this quote could be worked into it.

Nut graf analysis: story with alternative lead

An Oasis Off London’s Beaten Path

By Oliver Strand
New York Times

With its picnic tables and chipped folding chairs, Towpath feels as if it should be in a shack on the beach, not on the ground floor of a converted factory in East London.

Regent’s Canal has a narrow walkway shared by pedestrians and cyclists.

Wine is served in juice glasses, and food is limited to bar snacks like almonds or radishes served with anchovies. During a recent visit, a young, chatty crowd filled the seats and benches Towpath sets up on the narrow walkway that runs along Regent’s Canal, a thin band of water that slices through the city’s aging industrial zones. The afternoon light bounced off the canal, making this corner of the capital feel languid, like a village waking up from a siesta.

This is London?

[This is the nut graf:] Not exactly. This is East London, a sprawling area known for its artists, anarchists and immigrants. Neighborhoods like Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Hackney Wick have long been where a creative class could afford to live and work. Now it’s also where they play, shop and eat.

Analysis

This story is one of those typical top-heavy New York Times stories with a long but engaging lead-in. While an inverted pyramid story gets to the point quickly, this approach gives the reader an incentive to read until the essential facts appear. If you don't find the incentive appealing, you may check out of the story before you know what it's about. It's a calculated risk by the writer.

In this story, the "where" is established quickly, and the nut graf provides the remaining W's. I think it mostly succeeds because it flows from the conversational, scene-setting opening with the "Not exactly" fragment. Then it delivers the remaining essentials. The most important aspect of this nut graf is the analytical part in the last sentence, which explains where the story is headed.

I have one problem with this nut graf. From my limited knowledge of London, I believe East London is a huge area of the city. Is the story really trying to embrace half of one of the biggest cities in the world? The story starts with a small area called Towpath. In the nut graf, the scope enlarges to Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Hackney Wick — and to East London in general. In the very spot where (as Harrower puts it) the story should be condensed into a nutshell, I'm a little confused.

Linking

NYT story here.

Leads

Shirley Sharrod not returning to Ag Department

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/shirley-sherrod-not-returning-to-agriculture-department/19605907?ncid=webmail

The Associated Press (picked up by AOL)

WASHINGTON (Aug. 24) -- Shirley Sherrod, ousted from the Agriculture Department during a racial firestorm that embarrassed the Obama administration, rejected an offer to return to the USDA on Tuesday. But at a cordial news conference with the man who asked her to leave - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack - she said she may do consulting work for him on racial issues.

This lead is two sentences long and covers too much ground. If some of the information could go lower in the story, the lead would have more impact simply because the reader would have less information to process.

Here are the elements I think could go lower in the story:

• " ... that embarrassed the Obama administration ... "
• "But at a cordial news conference with the man who asked her to leave - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack ... "

If these elements were left out, we'd have a one-sentence lead that might go like this:

Shirley Sherrod, ousted from the Agriculture Department during a racial firestorm, rejected an offer to return to the USDA on Tuesday but left the door open to do consulting on racial issues.

As Harrower points out about leads, this one covers key W's:
Who: Shirley Sherrod
What: offer rejected
When: Tuesday
Where: It's in the dateline

Why and how are missing from the lead, but that's a blessing, given all the extra information it contains.