Published October 18, 2025
Perhaps to prove I can pet some peeves with the best and worst of them, I want to talk about the overuse of “official” and “officially” in American sports writing. I promise this was planned (and written) before Portland’s WNBA team mishandled the announcement of its new coach, prompting “official” and “officially” to be sprinkled all over everything like hot sauce.
Those words lost their meaning a long time ago, probably around the time when you first heard “Coors, official sponsor of (your favorite rock band’s tour).” Some 40ish years ago.
After that, everything became, for fun, the official whatever of the whatever. And then the business world caught on, and now it’s just a way of life here in late-stage capitalism.
But let me walk you through how absurd it gets when sports writers overuse “officially.”
My collection of evidence
Let’s use the Mountain West Conference as the home for my many examples. Imagine a college has joined the conference and is in its first year as a full member.
“State U’s athletic director is at the spring meetings, making State U officially a member of the Mountain West Conference.”
“Mountain West Conference Media Day is today, the official start of State U’s first year as a full-fledged member of the league.”
“The State U football team starts fall two-a-day practices this morning, officially beginning its first season in the Mountain West Conference.”
“City Tech hosts State U tonight, the official start of State’s first football season in the Mountain West.”
“After a 2-1 nonconference start, State U welcomes Poly Sci to Hamlet Field at Shakespeare Stadium at 7 p.m., officially beginning its Mountain West Conference schedule.”
I mean, my giddy aunt. That’s a lot of official starts.
Just say what happened
My favorite is when I read that someone “officially signed his contract.” Did he unofficially sign it before that?
It’s best to report what happened each step of the way.
They agreed in principle. He signed an offer sheet. They came to terms. Whatever the case may be. They announced that they hired him. She signed.
I suspect some writers want you to know they previously reported that a deal was all but done, so “officially signed” is their reluctant qualifier. Just say what happened, and if you want to mention what led to it, make sure it’s of some consequence to merit inclusion in your story.
Sometimes it serves a purpose
There are times when you have to roll with it. A good writer can have fun with “official” and “officially” in all sorts of ways.
It’s harder to do when overuse has beaten the life out of those words.
What’s funny to me is that I’ve worked with — and for — people who hate certain words and cliches but have no problem with an “official” or “officially” or 10 falling out of the cabinets when you open them to look for a coffee filter. They can’t imagine why I don’t hate the words they hate.
C’est la vie.
Sometimes people say “officially” because someone jumps the gun, as with the just-concluded, messy Portland Fire coaching search. The story I’ve linked to there is from the day before the “official” announcement. Here’s another.
On LinkedIn, the Portland Fire introduced a Cleveland Cavaliers assistant as their first head coach. Then they deleted the post.
— The Oregonian (@oregonian.com) October 14, 2025 at 9:30 PM
everything I’ve seen from the Portland Fire could come from the linkedin profile of someone calling themselves a professional disruptor
Also:
What a year to have just named a sports team the Portland Fire.
— Universal Public Monster (@burritomadness.bsky.social) October 15, 2025 at 8:44 AM
The timing sucks as much as the timing of my having planned this post days ago, before the Portland Fire screwed up the hiring announcement and prompted a lot of people to repeat the word “officially.” Thanks, Fire. Thanks.
(Seriously, though, this was a great occasion for making fun of all of the officialness in the officialdom.)
Here is my piece on today’s big story – no, its not Tuesday, you’re not stuck in a Groundhog Day time loop – Alex Sarama is the new head coach of the Portland Fire.
For real, this time. Officially official.
portlandsupporter.com/officially-o…
— Matt Bagley (@bagleysports.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Sending love. Protect your peace.
♥
Early returns are unflattering
Speaking of the Portland Fire, a lot of fans are unhappy.
Looks like it’s official. The Portland Fire have formally announced their mediocre male coach. Already starting off on the wrong foot. So many talented Black women out there, and this is who they chose. Wonder if he’s also getting paid more than Becky Hammon and Cheryl Reeve? 😒 #WNBA #PortlandFire
— Shameka 🏀 (@shameka23.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Please go join the party and raid the comments of the Portland Fire coaching announcement. They have got to hear from disappointed fans or this will continue to happen. #WNBA
— Shameka 🏀 (@shameka23.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 9:30 AM
the Portland Fire – OFFICIALLY BORE ME!
#WNBA #PORTLANDFIRE #welcometothew— Along Came Poly-4-The-W (@alongcamepoly4thew.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 7:25 AM
The Portland Fire really made this process a lot more difficult and publicly embarrassing than it needed it to be.
www.espn.com/wnba/story/_…— busy ☝️☝️☝️⛈️ (@busyxb.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 6:55 AM
The Athletic’s stories are behind a paywall, which is why I don’t generally boost them on social media (people get really angry if you share a story link that isn’t a free read). But here’s a backgrounder on the new coach.
Cavs assistant Alex Sarama is now officially the head coach of the Portland Fire
There’s going to be a lot of talk about his “approach” in the future
No one has documented it better than @jaredweissnba.bsky.social
who wrote a deeply reported story just weeks ago:
nytimes.com/athletic/666…— Ben Pickman (@benpickman.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 7:13 AM
And the hiring story is part of a quote-post thing here.
Following the hiring of head coach Alex Sarama, the Portland Fire released a press statement that used the word “innovation” four times, “transform” three times and “win” zero times.
fire.wnba.com/news/portlan…
#WNBA
— Magnus Lehnsherr (@i-magnus.bsky.social) October 17, 2025 at 12:10 PM
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