How not to write

Update: The current version of the article goes into much more detail, so this appears to be a case of “publish something first to beat the other news outlets, fix it up later so that it actually makes sense.”  An example of poor writing and the effects of the 24-hour news cycle!

For writing assignments I am constantly imploring my students to anticipate questions that readers may have and answer them in the text of their work.  “Don’t assume that the reader knows what you’re talking about,” I tell them.  Maybe the following news story will help them see that I am not making this up (the linked story is from the Denver Post but, as this is from the AP, the same story is repeated with different headlines all over the place).  Can you guess the sport?  The complete text:

Canadian men improve to 8-0, beat US 7-2

By JANIE McCAULEY AP Sports Writer

VANCOUVER, British Columbia—Kevin Martin’s Canadians faced an early deficit against the U.S., then fought right back to keep their Olympic unbeaten streak alive.

The favored Canada foursome (8-0) eliminated the Americans from contention with a shortened 7-2 victory in nine ends Monday. John Shuster’s U.S. team still has one more game Monday night against China in its final day of Olympic competition.

Martin already had secured the No. 1 seed into Thursday’s semifinals, but his team wasn’t nearly as sharp in this one. The Canadians had a bye for Monday night’s session before finishing the round-robin schedule Tuesday against China.