Two teams that are always good for page views

I'll start with explaining the TSR. West Virginia fans are still pretty bitter about Rich Rodriguez leaving, so I made a point to play up Dave Curtis' Mountaineers question in the blurb. As for the TS, people have such strong feelings for or against Notre Dame that they'll click on anything with an Irish player. So for the blurb, it was just a matter of coming up with something to accurately describe the story (and I thought the headline was decent, too).

A little rest for The King

Here's another screen grab from SN's home page. If, like me, you watch tons of ESPN and have been bombarded by promos for "Kobe Doing Work," then you might find the top story headline clever. I thought it worked especially well in light of the Kobe-LeBron rivalry (and in light of the fact that Kobe's Lakers were at the time having to work unexpectedly hard to put away the Yao-less Rockets).

It looked like it would be good, anyway

Game 7 between the Pen and Caps was supposed to be pretty epic, and we had a good variety of content for the top story package. Our photo editor gave me this nice illustration of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin; unfortunately, they really weren't mentioned in the story we linked to. So I had to kind of write around that in the blurb. Incidentally, the game was pretty anticlimactic -- the Pens are up 5-1 through two periods as I write this.

Media bias!

The most interesting aspect of the Craig Custance story previewing a Caps-Pens game was that he openly admitted he would be cheering for one of the teams, which ordinarily would be considered pretty unprofessional for a journalist. So I wanted to grab readers' attention by including the admission in the blurb and inviting them to read his justification (which was a good one, by the way).

Mr. Swofford goes to Washington

I was having trouble coming up with a headline for this story, which mentions BCS coordinator John Swofford's testimony before Congress. I wanted to convey that what he said about the bowl system was highly debatable and then somehow tie it to what he was doing in Washington, D.C. After our photo editor sent me the art for the package -- of Swofford being sworn in -- the light bulb went on.

Don't quit your day job, Jim Tressel

The top story's lede details several unfunny jokes Jim Tressel told at the press conference after Ohio State's spring game, hence the headline (I requested a photo of Tressel from that press conference but didn't get it). I thought the top story right headline and blurb were clever, as well.

Last call for clean-shaven hockey players

I wanted a top story headline that would remind readers the playoffs were starting without saying something boring, like "Playoff preview." "Begin those beards" refers to the playoff beards players grow until their team is eliminated. It's also alliterative, which makes me merry. The blurb is fairly straightforward.

Rachel Carson meets Jonathan Crompton

The top story warns against getting too excited about college football spring game performances. The headline is a reference to Carson's 1962 book "Silent Spring," which warned of the dangers of pesticides and helped launch the environmental movement. Overhyped spring games and environmental pollutants have about the same social and political import, wouldn't you say?