Sports Style Guide & Tips

HEAD COACH/COACH IS NOT CAPITALIZED EVER!

Abbreviations:

  • WKU: never Western, Western Kentucky
  • Hilltoppers: never Tops, Hilltops, Toppers
  • Lady Toppers: never Lady Tops, Lady Hilltoppers
  • Conference USA on first reference C-USA on second reference
  • Diddle Arena- not E.A. Diddle Arena
  •       -games happen in Diddle Arena, not at Diddle Arena
  • Houchens-Smith Stadium- not Houchens Industries-LT Smith Stadium
  •       –games happen in Houchens-Smith Stadium, not at Houchens-Smith Stadium
  • Power 5 and Group of 5- not Power Five/Group of Five/power five/power 5/group of five/group of 5
  • Mid-major

It is not necessary to spell out common abbreviations like the following:

    Leagues:    

  • NFL
  • AFC
  • NFC
  • NBS
  • NHL
  • NCAA
  • PGA
  • NBA
  • NHL
  • NCAA
  • PGA
  • LPGA
  • USGA
  • NASCAR
  • MLB
  • AL
  • NL
  • FIFA

Conference:

Never spell out Power 5 conferences

  • ACC
  • Big Ten (this is an exception to the numeral rule, not Big 10)
  • Big 12
  • Pac 12
  • SEC

Spell out all other conferences on first reference, abbreviations acceptable on second reference if applicable.

Schools:

Schools do not need to be accompanied by formal titles like “University of or University”

BUT, on first reference, school should be spelled out, then abbreviations used if applicable

  • Ex: Southern California then USC
  • Louisiana State then LSU
  • Kentucky then UK
  • Southern Mississippi then Southern Miss

DO NOT FORCE ABBREVIATIONS. GO WITH WHAT SOUNDS BETTER

Conference USA style:

Spell out school names as listed below on first reference. Use abbreviations on second reference if applicable

ALSO NOTE: mascots and feminine mascots (or lack thereof)

  • Alabama-Birmingham, UAB (Blazers)
  • Florida Atlantic, FAU (Owls)
  • Florida International, FIU (Panthers)
  • Louisiana Tech, LA Tech (Bulldogs, Lady Techsters)
  • Marshall, no abbreviation (never use MU) (Thundering Herd)
  • Middle Tennessee, MTSU (Blue Raiders)
  • Charlotte, no abbreviation (no UNCC, North Carolina Charlotte, Char.) (49ers)
  • North Texas, no abbreviation (Mean Green)
  • Old Dominion, ODU (Monarchs, Lady Monarchs)
  • Rice, no abbreviation (Owls)
  • Southern Mississippi, Southern Miss (Golden Eagles, Lady Eagles)
  • Texas-El Paso, UTEP (Miners)
  • Texas-San Antonio, UTSA (Roadrunners)

Apostrophe- Use only in constructions where warranted:

  • “Hilltoppers quarterback Mike White” does not need an apostrophe
  • “Mike White, the Hilltoppers’ quarterback” does need an apostrophe

Astroturf

Baseball

  • ERA, RBI – never spelled out
  • center field, left field, right field
  • center fielder, left fielder, right fielder
  • designated hitter
  • doubleheader
  • double play
  • first baseman, second baseman, third baseman, shortstop
  • lineup (n.)
  • line drive
  • outfielder
  • pinch hitter
  • passed ball
  • walk-off
  • sacrifice fly
  • strike zone

Basketball

Backcourt/ Frontcourt- both are one word

  • alley-oop
  • backboard
  • foul line/free-throw line
  • goaltending
  • layup
  • tip off (v.)
  • tipoff (n.)
  • 3-pointer, 3-point line

Collective nouns: Nouns that denote a unit, team, class or group take a singular verb and pronoun

  • Ex:  WKU is looking for its 10th straight win.
  • The Hilltoppers will seek to win their fourth game in a row.
  • WKU is favored against Louisiana Tech
  • The Hilltoppers are favored

corps-  not core

  • Ex: Receiving corps

 Track and field/ Cross-country (always hyphenated)

  • 100-meter run
  • spell out time and seconds on first reference

                Ex: “Morris ran a time of 3 minutes and 26 seconds”

  • Scoring: 5:25.34 (five minutes, 25 seconds and 34 tenths of a second)

                Ex: “Morris ran a time of 5:34.13 in Saturday’s event.”

  • marathons: hours, minutes, seconds, tenths of seconds

                Ex: 2 hours, 10 minutes, 34.01 seconds

  • in running events, first event should be spelled out
  • “men’s 100-meter”,  phrases such as “the 100” can be used on second reference
  • in hurdle events” “the women’s 400-meter hurdles” on first reference; “400 hurdles” on second

Day to day:

  • “Smith has been listed as day to day.”
  • “Smith is being treated on a day-to-day basis.”

FBS and FCS- Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Championship Subdivision

  • abbreviations used on second reference

Football

  • fair catch
  • end zone
  • fourth-and-1 (adj.) Ex: “On a fourth-and-1 play…”
  • touchdown (TD acceptable as well)
  • fourth down, fourth and three (n.) “On first and five, White threw…”
  • use figures for yardage: “5-yard line”, “12-yard line”, “8-yard pass play”, “ran the ball from the 34 to the 48”, “White threw it 8 yards downfield”, “fourth-and-2 play”
  • O-line, D-line acceptable

Fractions: 2/3, 1 ½

  • “JJ Watt had 2 ½ sacks”, “Cain pitched 2/3 of the sixth inning before being pulled”

Game plan not gameplan  

Halftime

Height- 6-10,

  • “Davis, a 6-5, guard…”
  • “Mitchell Robinson is 7 feet tall”
  • “Robinson, a 7-footer, is…”

Intrasquad, intramural– not inner-squad, inner-mural, inner squad, innersquad

Midcourt, midfield

MVP- acceptable abbreviation

Numerals

  • One through nine, 10 and up
  • one touchdown, 12 rushes
  • First through Ninth, 10th and up
  • first quarter, fourth-quarter comeback

Fractions: 2/3, 1 ½

  • Ex: “JJ Watt had 2 ½ sacks”, “Cain pitched 2/3 of the sixth inning before being pulled”
  • fourth-and-1 (adj.) Ex: “On a fourth-and-1 play…”
  • use figures for yardage: “5-yard line”, “12-yard line”, “8-yard pass play”, “ran the ball from the 34 to the 48”, “White threw it 8 yards downfield”, “fourth-and-2 play”
  • Scoring for cross-country: 5:25.34 (five minutes, 25 seconds and 34 tenths of a second)
  • Ex: “Morris ran a time of 5:34.13 in Saturday’s event.”
  • 3-pointer, 3-point line
  • Of: “White threw for 345 yards on 8-of-9 passing.”, “Edmond scored 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting”
  • For: “White finished 8 for 9 for 345 yards”, “Edmond was 3 for 4 from the free-throw line”
  • Week 1, Week 12-  this can be used in reference to certain parts of a season, specifically football season.
  • Ex: “WKU will be looking to improve upon its failures in Week 1.”

Overtime-  double overtime, triple overtime, quadruple overtime, five overtimes, six overtimes etc.

Playoff

Percent- always spelled out, never use %.

  • Ex: “Davis is shooting 50 percent from the free-throw line.”

Postgame, pregame

Postseason, preseason

“per game” stats (PPG)- on first reference spell out “yards per game/points per game”. Abbreviations acceptable on second reference

  • Ex: PPG, YPG

 Soccer

  • Defender, not defenseman
  • forward or striker
  • offside
  • hand ball
  • free kick
  • red card, yellow card
  • sideline
  • throw-in

Sports Editor- capitalize as a formal title before a name

  • “Sports Editor Evan Heichelbech”

sports writer- two words

Writing tips:

  • Avoid using “However”
  • always attribute quotes with “source said” not “said source” or “exclaimed, shared, finalized”
  • “added” and “continued” are acceptable sometimes. In feature writing, this is a bit more flexible.
  • Ex: “We’re good at football,” Sanford said.