(boo-yah?)
The New York Times’ Julie Bosman is positively en fuego Monday morning, reporting that Stuart Scott-isms have permeated the nation’s sports sections.
To many sportswriters, scoring a touchdown in football has become “taking it to the house.”
Hitting a home run has become “taking it deep.” And a hot young basketball player has become a “diaper dandy.”
According to a new survey of sports journalists by a doctoral student, ESPN is to blame. Scott Reinhardy, who is working toward a Ph.D. at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, surveyed 249 sports journalists gathered at the Associated Press Sports Editors Convention in 2004, focusing on the use of sports jargon in newspaper writing. He found a widespread acknowledgment that ESPN-speak has entered the common vernacular of newspaper sportswriting.
“Reporters don’t write ‘boo-yah,’ but some of the language and style and tone does emulate what’s on ESPN,” Mr. Reinhardy said.
Does Mr. Reinhardy like this trend? Oh no, he does not. “I don’t want to fight through cute phrases and puns and metaphors” when reading the sports pages, he said, “and when they don’t work, they really fall flat.”