Patriots win AFC championship, Boston Globe wins the Cliche Bowl

Patriots win AFC championship, Boston Globe wins the Cliche Bowl

ByJosh Bernoff

Sportswriting is hard. You’re writing about things that have happened many times before, and on a deadline. The inevitable result is overblown exaggerations, overused cliches, hackneyed player quotes, and generally flaccid writing. Case in point: the Boston Globe’s coverage of the New England Patriots’ come-from-behind victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in yesterday’s AFC Championship game. We’ve…

Lessons of the steely-eyed squeaker swiper: Christopher L. Gasper’s metaphor overload

Lessons of the steely-eyed squeaker swiper: Christopher L. Gasper’s metaphor overload

ByJosh Bernoff

Christopher L. Gasper is a Boston Globe sportswriter. His metaphors startle the reader, jarring you from the trance of reading and making you say “wha?” Learn from his excesses. I’ve recommended that you avoid cliches in your writing. Don’t say “dumb as a post” if you can say “dopey as Sarah Palin.” But there’s a limit. When…