2018 Tabloid Cover Derby Round 6.01 FINAL ROUND

[Benjamin Grimm]

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Winner of http://www.thecranepool.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27533Round 1.12

Winner of http://www.thecranepool.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27625Round 3.02

Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27799Round 4.01

Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27856Round 5.01

MIDNIGHT BADNESS

New York Daily News, June 3, 2018.

The Cubs score six runs in the 14th inning as another strong outing from Jacob deGrom is wasted.



http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/2018/20180603_NYDN_02.jpg>







Winner of http://www.thecranepool.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27540Round 1.14

Winner of http://www.thecranepool.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27644Round 3.06

Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27834Round 4.04

Winner of http://thecranepool.net/phpBB32/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=27857Round 5.02

SMILE HIGH

Newsday, June 19, 2018.

Brandon Nimmo hits two home runs as the Mets beat the Rockies in Denver.



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Enthusiasm is running high for both covers!



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http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2018/SmileHighHQ.jpg>

[kcmets]

Went with SMILE HIGH!

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

The story of this year was

1) deGrom's starts getting screwed up by the bad offense & ineffective bullpen

2) The horrible May-June stretch, Sandy firing

3) Zimmo's breakout



BADNESS checks two of three boxes while the Zimmo cover just one-- and sort of a second, but only an outlier.



I salute Newsday for taking their own approach to back covers but to me they lack the gravity that the Snooze and Post traditionally carry, in part because they seem to draw from a wider collection of fonts and styles and colors . As Newsday covers go, SMILE HIGH is about as good as they get but not sure they *need* to highlight the pun by coloring it yellow. It's like a comedian laughing their own joke, saying "do you get it?"



BADNESS FTW!!!!1

[cal sharpie]

What Lunchbucket says. MIDNIGHT BADNESS is clearly the better cover.

[seawolf17]

Agree with Bucket. Midnight Badness tells the story of 2018 better than the Nimmo cover does. I'd love for a happy cover to win, but it's not reflective of this season.

[Centerfield]

I agree with Lunchbucket too, though the Smile High girls are pretty hot.



The Badness cover is definitely weak as far as winning covers go. The subheadline is too wordy. The picture isn't great, and Conforto is one of the few Mets that did produce. But head to head against Smile High, it's no contest.



I'm Team Badness. Someone body paint my gut.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Badness.

[Centerfield]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Badness.

Take off your shirt. Stand still. BG is coming over with the paint.

[Benjamin Grimm]

This is Michael Conforto's second trip to the finals, by the way. He also made it in the inaugural year of 2015, with the much more flattering CON4TO cover, which lost to YES-PEDES by a vote of 11 to 8.



And although Jacob deGrom won't appear on the winning cover this year, at least we're sure that his name will be there.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I already got badness tattooed on my chest

[Centerfield]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: This is Michael Conforto's second trip to the finals, by the way. He also made it in the inaugural year of 2015, with the much more flattering CON4TO cover, which lost to YES-PEDES by a vote of 11 to 8. And although Jacob deGrom won't appear on the winning cover this year, at least we're sure that his name will be there.

I found that interesting. And justice will be served if the one where he got screwed wins over the one where he finally got run support.

[seawolf17]

If there's a weakness to BADNESS, it's the MFY content.

[G-Fafif]

SMILE HIGH is a splendid Newsday cover, Newsday being a tabloid in form if not spirit. If Conforto or Rosario or anybody else was grinning, SMILE HIGH wouldn't have worked quite as well. It was very clever and very knowing, but as is generally Newsday's style, it doesn't really get in your face. Nuance is a lovely thing, but the back page ain't necessarily the place for it.



MIDNIGHT BADNESS is quintessential late-period News, true to its tabloidity, and communicates not just the game, but the moment the Mets were in, which is why I found myself breaking for BADNESS. The only thing I don't like (besides any MFY mention, but that comes with the territory) was the phrase "gets shaft". Earlier today, I heard Meat Loaf's "I Would Do Anything For Love," and was struck how, after 25 years, the lyric, "sooner or later, you'll be screwing around" still sounds cheap, crass and hurried. "Gets shaft" hits me the same way, as if they were rushed...which they might have been given the length of the game and the impending deadline, but still.



To paraphrase Bruce (Springsteen, not Jay) from 1984, it wasn't morning in America for the Mets during 2018; it was midnight with a bad moon rising. Might as well document it accurately.

[Centerfield]

MIDNIGHT BADNESS is quintessential late-period News, true to its tabloidity, and communicates not just the game, but the moment the Mets were in, which is why I found myself breaking for BADNESS. The only thing I don't like (besides any MFY mention, but that comes with the territory) was the phrase "gets shaft". Earlier today, I heard Meat Loaf's "I Would Do Anything For Love," and was struck how, after 25 years, the lyric, "sooner or later, you'll be screwing around" still sounds cheap, crass and hurried. "Gets shaft" hits me the same way, as if they were rushed...which they might have been given the length of the game and the impending deadline, but still.

Yeah. That subheadline is terrible. Coulda gone with:



Collapse continues as Mets waste deGrom gem in 14 inning loss.

[G-Fafif]

"goes unsupported" would fit the "gets shaft again" space. They'd lose the "again" and the sense that this keeps happening, but there's enough bad news already between the hed and deck.

[bmfc1]

I don't think that the champion cover, or any of the covers, has to be indicative of the season. This is simplistic, I know, but I would rather have a beer with "Smile High" so it gets my vote.

[Guest 41Forever]

I love the Smile High cover! Good news about an exciting young player -- the happiest guy in baseball. Show me looking to the brighter future any day!

Edited January 23, 2019 by Guest

[Lefty Specialist]

Badness is how it was most of the time. Smile is how it was occasionally.





I went with optimism. Plus, hey, bikinis.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Speaking for #TeamBadness, I feel that it's clear the Russians have successfully perverted the integrity of the Tabloid Cover Derby election system by infiltrating the forum, and subconsciously influencing voters by sharing pictures of hot, bikini-clad (Russian??) models bearing the image of the "Smile High" cover, while the "Midnight Badness" image gets splayed across a couple chubby guys like it was the paper version of the Truffle Shuffle. I mean, I'm almost 100% half-way certain that the model in pink is Maria Butina. Man, the lighting in the pool is so much better than on CNN. Like, she looks HAWT.



In summary, a vote for "SMILE" is a vote for Putin and is kick straight to the marbles of democracy. You don't want to do that now, do you? Do you?



#Badness2019

[Centerfield]

It's funny that Badness has only six votes, but all six of us have been vocal about it in this thread.



Smile High, meanwhile, has a silent, confident majority.



I agree about the Russian interference. Clear as day.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I voted SMILE HIGH, but I may end up wavering. Some of the arguments for MIDNIGHT BADNESS are compelling.



My only problem with MIDNIGHT BADNESS is the contorted Conforto. (CONTORTO?) It makes for an ugly cover. SMILE HIGH is much more visually appealing, and the look of the cover is as important to me as anything else that it may convey.

[cal sharpie]

The contorto is what makes that cover unique rather than a trotting-around-the-bases shot (with, granted, a nice smile).

[Centerfield]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I voted SMILE HIGH, but I may end up wavering. Some of the arguments for MIDNIGHT BADNESS are compelling. My only problem with MIDNIGHT BADNESS is the contorted Conforto. (CONTORTO?) It makes for an ugly cover. SMILE HIGH is much more visually appealing, and the look of the cover is as important to me as anything else that it may convey.

Yeah. I'm with you on this. The photo itself is not a great one.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

One last plead for BADNESS



* Fun-ness: BADNESS -- funnier photo, deeper backstory, funnier pun. SMILE HIGH works on a couple levels but integration with the photo is difficult because there's nothing to indicate this even took place in Denver. The fans are Met fans. It's close, it's good, but it's not Championship Level Tabloidery.



* Photography: BADNESS -- Yes, Conforto is contorted but in a way humans can only be for a moment, that's what good sports shooting is. His hat has been knocked askew. And the ball he didn't catch is right there! Shooters will tell you that getting a ball in an action shot can be challenging. The timing was so good you can see butt imprints rippling from the fence. Butt ripples! Hat troubles! Free ball! By contrast a photo of Zimmo smiling is about the only kind there is. It's a nice shot and all but the guy's jogging. Nothing is rippling.



* Color: BADNESS -- I love that it's all white and blue, a gloomy, "midnight" blue at that. Newsday is all like, let's make the logo graphics red! and half the headline yellow!



Context: Some voters don't buy the argument above that BADNESS is more reflective of the season, and even though that's true, they don;t need to. But to the extent every day's newspaper tells one out 162 stories, BADNESS places its story in much better context. You can look at that cover in 5 seconds not only understand what happened that night but also in the weeks before. SMILE HIGH only tells you what happened that day. It barely has a sense that it's a stitch in history. It's really just GUY HITS TWO HOMERS. You get the sense that if that happened two days in a row Newsday would graphically render it the same way.



I'm Johnny Lunchbucket and I approve this message

[Benjamin Grimm]

I do like how Conforto looks like he's hitting a target that was painted on the fence.

[Centerfield]

What do those letters spell out?



I like that he's hitting a zero. Which is what the Mets season was.

[A Boy Named Seo]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: * Color: BADNESS -- I love that it's all white and blue, a gloomy, "midnight" blue at that. Newsday is all like, let's make the logo graphics red! and half the headline yellow!

This is a big part of why BADNESS is better. They yellow and red in SMILE serve no purpose to the cover except to make the words try to jump out more which detracts from the photo and the overall cover. The colors don't tie to the Mets, the Rockies or the scene in Colorado.



The BADNESS headline almost looks like it's part of the outfield wall advertising. It's seamless and really works super well with the photo.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I do like how Conforto looks like he's hitting a target that was painted on the fence.

See? It's much more interesting.



Every picture of Zimmo is one of him similing. It's a nice pic but nothing special.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

The better case I make the more votes the inferior cover gets. Friggin Russians

[Benjamin Grimm]

Well, you've convinced me, anyway. I've switched my vote to the dark side.