Let RobotsTake Game Recaps. It's Not Sportswriting Anyway.

Are game recaps really as formulaic as the Space Monkey? I took a look at the first NBA.com game recap I saw from last night's slate of games to find out. I didn't cherry pick this one and only chose it because it was the first one on the page.  My sampling isn't not scientific but it should serve my purpose. Read it here.

Now, I'm assuming that a computer-written recap would incorporate data from all publicly available sites.  Need game flow and lineup information?  Need pace numbers or league and personal records? Preseason predictions?  Most valuable players according to the scoreboard?  It's all out there ready to be coded into their programs.

For purposes of illustration, I pulled up my Microsoft Word and highlighted each sentence either green, orange, or red depending on whether it can be easily programmed into an automated recap.  A red highlight signifies statistical information or quotes available to a computer program. If the sentence is green, it needed brains.  Sentences in orange could go either way depending on the sophistication of the program.  Here's the visualization.

There are 41 sentences in all and evidently almost all of them could have been generated from a computer program much like Space Monkey. Quotes take up twenty sentences which equates to about half the article and the other red space is filled by box score regurgitation.  If you've read a game recap recently, this should not shock you.

So if these robots took over, would it be a bad thing for sportswriters? I don't think so.  Newspapers and other media should improve the efficiency of their dollar by programming game recaps and allocating their sportswriter time and creativity to lengthier reporting and editorial pieces -- which, of course, readers value.  This should liberate sportswriters to do what they best.  Media companies shouldn't waste their valuable resources for a handful of green lines and let's not forget that sportswriters need a healthy media to survive.

So go ahead and ignore the sensational headlines portending the end of sportswriting unless you believe sportswriters write game recaps and only game recaps.  I hope I'm not alone in the belief that sportswriting should be more personal, enlightening, and insightful.  Media should ask humans cover the more human side of the game and leave computers to cover the data.