I remember being on a golf course many years ago with some friends, including the pro at the club. We were on the tee of one hole watching Joey, a member of our foursome, prepare for his drive. The pro turned to me and whispered, “Look at him. He looks like the real deal. Nice stance. Nice position. But watch what happens when he swings.” Oops! The guy suddenly became an uncoordinated nerd who obviously couldn’t hit a ball straight if his life depended on it.

This image came to mind this morning while scanning the headlines from TMZ.com in my RSS reader (Shut up. I read what I want to read). Here’s the report that caught my eye, because of the lead sentence:

Chris Rock is under fire from a woman who claims he’s her 13-year-old baby’s daddy, but cops say the woman behind the allegations has been full of s**t for years.

Aside from the fact that I love this line and wish I could’ve used it myself in the news business, there’s the inevitable comparison with Joey. Those who cling to the sacred canons would gasp for air upon hearing or reading such a line. After all, there is a “right” way to swing the club write the news.

But the web isn’t subject to the canons, so this kind of stuff slips through. Did the cops actually say this woman has been full of it for years? Probably, and that’s the refreshing part of it.

We’re going to have to re-write a whole bunch of laws, folks.

Anyway, it was a nice chuckle for a Sunday morning.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 22nd, 2007 at 8:09 am and is filed under Journalism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.