If you listen to an interview and twist the words out of context, you’ll probably get way more hits on your website than just quoting someone verbatim. You have to re-arrange the words so they somehow come together and make sense but you can’t add any additional phrases or sylables in between the quotation marks. It’s like a crossword puzzle in that you have to position the words into the boxes so that they fit in the allotted space, then make sure they work with what the hint was. Even if the words aren’t the same, if it fits, you’ve done your job as journalist…or a crossword-puzzle-doer. It’s actually nothing like a crossword puzzle at all. The crossword reference was just thrown into this article because it’s Thursday and I have a lot of time to kill, so I’m assuming you do too.
Some interviews simply can’t be taken out of context because they’re perfect. Check out Don Frye’s thoughts on Randy Couture and Mark Coleman as they prepare to meet at the main event of UFC 109 this weekend:
“I don’t know. Both of those guys beat the tar out of me on several occasions, so how the hell should I know [laughs]. It’s going to be like sex with a grizzly bear, you know, a lot of scratching and growling on both sides.”
“This might be the first UFC I buy and actually watch in about 10 years, you know? These two guys, it’s going to be one hell of a barnburner. They’re going to show these new guys how to fight.”
If there were an annual award show honoring the year’s best interviews, Don Frye would be presented with a lifetime achievement award and inducted into the hall of fame. He could probably teach Chael Sonnen a thing or two about being a patriotic Republican…and talking smack to foreigners. [Source]
