Important Headlines

To me, the headline is the most important part of the story. If a story features a good headline, either I end up reading the story, or just reading the headline and moving on. There are bad headings, however. Cliché headlines have got to be the most awful things to appear on a piece of paper (or computer screen). I remember seeing a headline that said, “Her Worst Nightmare: Mother loses child in store.” Come on! This lead is pathetic. Of course it is every mother’s worst nightmare to lose a child (my mom should know), but isn’t it unnecessary to have that as a part of a headline? I don’t think so. Some might say the headlines are unnecessary. I say “nay.” For those who are lazy like me, we all know how important a good headline is. It keeps us from reading the whole story. It takes three seconds and we are done reading! It makes it even better when an author will include a deck. It adds more information to the headline and only increases reading time by a few seconds. To rectify my increasing use of passive voice when I write, I need to make sure that I read my writing after I am finished, but also think about what I am writing when I write it.

I was watching the Arnold Palmer Invitational today when I heard the worst commentator on TV, Johnny Miller, say something that made my ears bleed. He said, and I quote, “Irregardless of the results, Spencer Levin can walk away from this tournament beaming with confidence.”