The SNO Report: Using the Sports Score Scroller for non-traditional scores
So you need help condensing a three-page fax of cross country results into the teeny little SNO Sports Score Scroller, eh?
The compassionate thing to tell you to do would be to pick up your local newspaper, open it to the sports agate page and see how the hard-working unsung heroes of local newsrooms — sports clerks — do it. #supportlocaljournalism
Your major team sports are easy — football, basketball, baseball and softball, soccer, and hockey. None are made up of winnable individual elements; all of the quarters, halves, periods or innings in a game add up to one final score at the end.
Volleyball is one of the sports that ends up on the fringe of that group because the final score (sets won vs. sets won) is made up of other final team scores. How to display all that information in our Sports Score Scroller depends on how much information you want to show.
Take last December’s NCAA Division I volleyball championship game:
Saturday, December 15
Volleyball
Stanford 3 – Nebraska 2
or
Saturday, December 15
Volleyball
Stanford 3 – Nebraska 2 (28-26, 22-25, 25-16, 15-25, 15-12)
In the second example, the results from individual sets would be placed after the “2” in the Opponent’s Score field. They fit best there because they don’t break up the connection between the 3-2 final score. Stylistically, because Stanford won, always type their score first in the set-by-set results even when it’s lower (28-26, 22-25, etc.).
Tennis, cross country, golf, swimming and diving, track and field, and wrestling yield, perhaps, the most challenging subset of results to condense into the Sports Score Scroller, but they are all team sports. So, despite the myriad of individual times, results, placings and scores, each of them typically end up in an easy-to-use final team score. Take this team tennis match, for example:
Friday, December 5
Boys Tennis
Effingham 7 – Charleston 5
A team tennis match, or dual, counts one point for a team per individual win, which is how Effingham wins 7-5. Utilize the same setup for any of the other team sports in this group that participate in dual matches, and then write about the individual results in a news story.
When there are more than two teams competing, like at a meet or tournament, you need to decide how many of the results you want to show.
Try something simple, like this:
Friday, December 5
Girls Golf
Bloomington Central Catholic 661 (4th Place) – Normal U-High 619 (1st Place)
This way creates perspective of your team’s score (and where it placed) compared to the winner. If your team wins, who was second?
To recreate it, assume Bloomington Central Catholic is your school. Type “661 (4th Place)” all into the Our Score field. Normal U-High, in this example, is your “Opponent,” even though they weren’t the only one, and “619 (1st Place)” is their score.
Cheerleading and dance competition results can be displayed the same way.
Friday, December 5
Competitive Cheer
Joliet 88.91 (5th) – Frankfort 91.59 (1st)
It helps to know how each sport works, too. Each one in this group typically has final point totals awarded to teams in any event. If you don’t understand it, ask the coach.
In the postseason, though, athletes competing in these sports can extend their seasons beyond the end of the team’s run by way of their individual performances. That’s where it gets tricky. Given the way Sports Scores are setup, the individual athlete you want to display results for may best serve as your “Opponent.”
Saturday, December 7
Track & Field
Mount Zion 1st Place – Josie Held 12’ 6” (Pole Vault)
In this example, “1st Place” is your score, Josie is the “Opponent” and “12’ 6” (Pole Vault)” is the complete Opponent’s Score.
This won’t work every time, though, and it won’t work well for the results of multiple individuals all at once. So, you may try utilizing a different SNO tool altogether: the Breaking News Ticker.
Naomi Osaka defeats Sabrina Andreescu in three sets (5-7, 6-3, 6-4)
Is there a sport you’re struggling with, not mentioned here? We’d be happy to help.