Alyson Murphy Genre Analysis 9-27-13 ENC 1102 Genre Analysis: Play-by-play in the collegiate sports community

In the world of collegiate sports, information and statistics are demanded at a very fast pace. Stats and play calls are needed immediately after every play so they can be given to the public as well as coachs and support staff of the teams. Just like any other community, collegiate sports can be viewed as its own discourse community due to the language, participants and repeated rhetorical situations. Since after every game, statistics and summaries are needed, this has become a repetitive rhetorical situation, causing a genre. In my field of work as a sports videographer and editor, summaries are needed to consolidate specific plays as well as log the footage to use in highlights. That is why there are play-by-play summary sheets written by Sports Information Directors from each collegiate team. Play-by-plays are summarized notes of each play that happens in a football game. Play-by-play include the last name of each player involved in a play, how many yards were gained or lost and what down each play is. Specific fonts, sizes, and bolds are used through out play call sheets to assist those who are not as involved in the collegiate sports community to understand as well as keeps the sheets very organized. For every football game, play-by-play summaries are anywhere from 4-8 pages long, depending on how many plays there were in the game. Play-by-plays look very similar to each game, almost identical except for the specific plays. To help differentiate each games play-by-play summarizes, each game has a bolded title at

Murphy 2 the top of each page, along with what quarter is being covered on the page. (Refer to Appendix A, B and C for example). Also bolded fonts on play-by-plays signify the start of new drives as well as a change of score. To keep the summaries simplified and easy to understand, the beginning of each drive are bolded, which not only helps the reader understand when the possession of the ball changes, but also keeps the summaries very organized and easy on the eyes. Although many aspects of play-by-play sheets are simplified for those outside of the discourse community can understand it, those who do read it need to have a basic understanding of football terms and language. Each play notes whether there was a rush, pass or sack. Readers must also understand 3rd and 4th down conversions, as well as when penalties are called for each penalty and loss of yards is also noted in play-by-play summarizes. When it comes to appeals of play-by-play sheets, they are full of logos. Playby-plays contain specific numbers, names and state basic facts about each play. To keep from favoring any team, play-by-plays contain no pathos whatsoever. Also, only SIDs (Sport Information Directors) are certified to create play-by-play summarizes and make them public. Genre is a typical way of responding to a repeated rhetorical situation that has developed over time (Devitt). Due to the fast need of game information for both the public and those in the discourse community, the repetitive rhetorical situation of football games creates its own genre in play-by-play summaries. The summaries are used as references to everyone from head coaches to video directors. But, play-

Murphy 3 by-plays are also simple enough for anyone outside of the community with basic football knowledge to understand exactly what happened in a game. With the use of logos and bolding through out each summary, a basic knowledge of what happened in a game can be obtained by reading the summaries without any need to see the game or hear radio, this is the overall goal of the genre for all of those who read them.

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Works Cited
University of Central Florida Athletics Association. Play-by-play Summary Akron vs UCF. Aug. 29, 2013. Print. University of Central Florida Athletics Association. Play-by-play Summary UCF vs FIU. Sep. 6, 2013. Print. University of Central Florida Athletics Association. Play-by-play Summary UCF vs Penn State. Sep. 14, 2013. Print. Devitt, Amy J. Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept. College Composition and communication. Vol. 44, No. 4. Dec. 1993. Pp. 573-586. Print.