ABSTRACT
Based on a (mostly) true story. A novice reporter was assigned to cover the South High vs. North High baseball game. Understanding it was a heated rivalry, he did the necessary pre-reporting and memorization of each team’s statistics. The reporter arrived a half-hour before the game, established himself in the bleachers behind home plate, and intently watched as players warmed up. With the 3-inch, No. 2 pencil he lifted from the golf course during last week’s tournament, he tallied every ball, strike, hit, out and error in his spiral-bound Rawlings scorebook. As the game droned on and South began to dominate, the reporter’s enthusiasm waned. This year’s rivalry was a dud.
