Reporting by Computer: Just the Stats

Imagine a world without sportswriters, a world so computerized that its sports pages are entirely produced by someone stroking an “Enter” key.

Morning Briefing, for example, turned out by some software program. Frightening.

Get ready for SportsWriter, software that can turn facts, statistics and quotes about a high school sports event into your basic, bare-bones newspaper story.

Roger Helms, a Rochester, Minn., hacker who invented SportsWriter, said 82 newspapers, mainly small weeklies, have bought his product since 1991.

The system works like this: A fact-gathering form comes with the program. Newspapers give the form to high school coaches, who fill in the blanks with top performances, check a few boxes and provide a few quotes. A newspaper employee then types the information into the computer system.

In seconds, a story is created.

“One of the biggest problems is you’re so dependent on the source,” said Mike O’Malley, executive sports editor of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which doesn’t use SportsWriter.

“You’re kind of wondering how the coach will reflect what happens. The coach may not volunteer that, by the way, there was a free-for-all midway through the third quarter and that eight players were ejected.

“The whole thing makes you a little uncomfortable. I mean, if Nixon had called in the Watergate results, I’m not sure he would have provided all the details.”

Trivia time: What is the name of the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes’ baseball team’s mascot? Going my way?In the spirit of what the United States is all about, Florida Citrus Bowl officials in Orlando are erecting 91 new “No Parking” signs around the stadium in anticipation of next month’s World Cup.

People attending the game virtually will be forced to take a park-and-ride service from three locations several miles away from the event and be dropped off no closer than a quarter-mile away.

The shuttle is also in operation for the Jan. 1 Florida Citrus Bowl football game.

The Jan. 1 cost: $3.

The World Cup shuttle is a welcome-to-our-fair-city price of $10.

Cal count: When Cal Ripken Jr. hit his 300th home run for the Orioles Tuesday, it came in his 1,939th consecutive game.

If his playing streak remains intact, he’ll tie Lou Gehrig’s 55-year-old record of 2,130 in Baltimore’s 71st game next season. The Orioles have asked the American League to give them home games for next season’s 71st and 72nd games.

Ripken, batting .298 with 34 RBIs after Tuesday’s game, joined two other Orioles in the 300-homer club: Eddie Murray (330) and Boog Powell (303).

Crowd counts: For decades, the California League was a collection of Class-A pro baseball teams primarily located in the San Joaquin Valley.

Now, however, there are five Southern California teams--enough to play in their own division--and two of them are setting attendance records.

The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, in their 6,100-seat, two-year-old Epicenter, are averaging 5,650 a game. The Lake Elsinore Storm, in its new 6,816-seat Diamond, is averaging 4,653. The remaining three Southern Division teams: Riverside Pilots, High Desert (Adelanto) Mavericks, San Bernardino Spirit.

Trivia answer: Tremor. Uniform number: 4.8.

Quotebook: Tom Keegan of the Baltimore Sun, after the Milwaukee Brewers lost their 14th game in a row Wednesday: “The Milwaukee Brewers are guaranteed of having their most productive day in more than two weeks Thursday. They are idle.”