"1st Place REDS hope to stay HOT in second half"...?!

[Kingspoint]

That's the headline at cincinnatireds.com

There's a pure case of propaganda if I've ever seen one.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=cin

They just got swept in a 4-game series where twice they were shutout, and one of the other two games they blew a 6-run 9th inning lead.

They are the opposite of "hot". They are freezing cold. They are going to find in themselves a fortitude that hasn't been asked of them all season because they are so cold.

They are very fortunate that the All-Star break came when it did. It gave everybody 3 days to refocus their energies, and to start a new season and forget about the last 20 innings of baseball (where they were outscored 10-0).

[BigPoppa]

C'mon....drink the kool-aid. It's delicious.

[mrherd05]

They were hot the first half...I would say first place is a hot team...why rip on it.

[Señor Rojo]

I've read that the Reds have the best schedule for the second half of the season for teams currently in first place. I believe they have 25 games against teams with records above .500. Bring on the Pirates and Astros!

[The Voice of IH]

They just got finished with a first place run, going 8 games over .500. I am very excited for the second half, and the extra day of rest should really help this club come out strong. please remember that they have finished a tough road trip, and went 5-6, and put themselves in good position to finish with a great record in July

[Joseph Hanna]

That's the headline at cincinnatireds.com

There's a pure case of propaganda if I've ever seen one.

I'm kinda miffed at this Kingspoint. If your job, your livelihood, the way you fed your family was to "sell" the Cincinnati Reds, how would you have worded this copy differently?

It is after all and like it or not, first and foremost a business.

I mean really..... promoting that it's cold, it's smelly, it's dead and it will make you sick, so won't you please buy it, probably wouldn't fly in the Monday morning post postmortem meeting with the bosses and creative directors.

It' really is decent copy.

[sivman17]

I've read that the Reds have the best schedule for the second half of the season for teams currently in first place. I believe they have 25 games against teams with records above .500. Bring on the Pirates and Astros!

This is true. Reds have the easiest 2nd half schedule in the league. However, the Cards have the 2nd easiest 2nd half schedule.

[flash]

I am enthusiastic, but worried. The Reds have been shutout in 6 of their last 26 games and 7 times in the last 38. That is disturbing. The Reds are going to have to manufacture runs in some fashion to win the 1-0, 3-0 games.

[Kingspoint]

I'm kinda miffed at this Kingspoint. If your job, your livelihood, the way you fed your family was to "sell" the Cincinnati Reds, how would you have worded this copy differently?

It is after all and like it or not, first and foremost a business.

I mean really..... promoting that it's cold, it's smelly, it's dead and it will make you sick, so won't you please buy it, probably wouldn't fly in the Monday morning post postmortem meeting with the bosses and creative directors.

It' really is decent copy.

As a former journalist, I would have had a lot more integrity. I would have used the headline, "REDS Try to Expand on First Half Performance".

Then go on to say that their first half performance ended up with a first place finish in the division, and while a repeat of that performance may only gain them a second place finish in the division and another October without any playoff games (88 wins won't win the Division and that's the pace that they're on if they finish at .544), the team is looking to improve on the great foundation that they laid in the first half.

With help on the way in Edison Volquez, Jared Burton, and the return of Ryan Hanigan, there's an immediate impact that can be felt as the season's second half gets under way.

With Walt Jockety dialing up interest with other clubs to add a strong Veteran bullpen arm and possibly another Veteran bat for the lineup, the REDS are set up well to finish what they started and give the fans of Cincinnati their first home playoff games since 1995, the first season that Cincinnati joined St. Louis in forming the National League Central. The REDS swept Los Angeles that season, but were beaten badly by the Atlanta Braves in their quest to reach the World Series. Since then, they've only had one sniff at the playoffs where they were completely outpitched in the 163rd game of the season when the REDS had to send Steve Paris to go up against the dominating Al Leiter. The REDS couldn't score, and they've failed to finish at .500 ever since.

These next three months are going to be the best Summer in Cincinnati since 1995, and with a little luck, they'll be the talk of October, while the Bengals face a daunting task of starting their season with games against the Patriots, Ravens and @ Carolina, three opponents likely to quiet even the most rabid Who Dey fans. The Bengals could go winless in September, while the REDS win their way into the hearts of every citizen of the Tri-County area.

[Joseph Hanna]

As a former journalist, I would have had a lot more integrity. I would have used the headline, "REDS Try to Expand on First Half Performance".

Then go on to say that their first half performance ended up with a first place finish in the division, and while a repeat of that performance may only gain them a second place finish in the division and another October without any playoff games (88 wins won't win the Division and that's the pace that they're on if they finish at .544), the team is looking to improve on the great foundation that they laid in the first half.

With help on the way in Edison Volquez, Jared Burton, and the return of Ryan Hanigan, there's an immediate impact that can be felt as the season's second half gets under way.

I believe I like your idea's better!!

Still, my point was that it's just promo copy writing and as you're probably aware if you're writing promo copy every blasted day of the week sometimes you just hit a wall. That and after all the very nature of promotional copy is to make the reader or viewer believe something is there, even when it's not. And often in doing so, integrity remains very low on the list of promo priorities!

That said, if I were in charge I'd hire you!