A dreamy headline

I WAS ABOUT to wake up this morning, but first I had a dream about writing (or, in this case, rewriting) a headline. It wasn't just any headline; it was one we originally wrote probably 22 or 23 years ago.

Some university (I won't say which, but its mascot is the Gamecocks) had just fired its offensive coordinator, and we had written a generic headline "So-and-so fires offensive coordinator."

A few minutes later, an editor from news side came roaring over and said it was a company policy; we couldn't run an "offensive" headline. I told her that the headline wasn't offensive; if the coordinator had been more offensive, he'd still have a job.

She wasn't amused. We rewrote the headline to something like "So-and-so fires assistant coach," and that was that.

Then this morning I thought of "So-and-so sacks assistant coach." Sacks is a perfect verb here, since defensive people like to sack quarterbacks. And this guy certainly got sacked.

But why would I dream about it? It's not that great a headline.

CONTACT: You can reach me at tgilli52@gmail.com or nc3022@yahoo.com. Also, my Twitter handle is EDITORatWORK.

More EDITOR@WORK blog entries

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

Entries from The Dog Blog

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• YIP! YIP! The stereo-sound huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

Blog entries from The Auto Racing Journal

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing

More blog entries by Tom Gillispie

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer outta there!