Rodman's court gesture
not amusing to Jackson
(By Rich Strom of the Chicago Tribune, on a story about coach Jackson's private meeting with Rodman, who was fined for flashing an obscene gesture at the opposing coach.)

Notoriously wet curve, 4; speeding drivers, 0
(By Bill O'Brien of the Republican-American of Waterbury, Conn.)

Here's the winner of this issue's Double Play Award, citing the best headline-lead combination from the many clips submitted to The Write Stuff:

Year in, year out
50-year partners in calendar firm discover that time really does fly when you're having fun

"For a couple of guys who make calendars for a living, it is ironic that Eli Turchetto and Dante Cortelezzi so easily lost track of the years."
(Head by Mary Ann Whitley, lead by Michael Sangiacomo of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, on a feature about the owners of Star Calendar and Printing Co.)

Here's a lead that could be sung in a familiar jingle:

"Two all-brick stories, special drive-through, awnings, sign, on a Shockhoe Bottom lot."
(By Gordon Hickey, Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch.)

Also from Times-Dispatch:

"Chesterfield County cellular phone owners with Richmond mailing addresses, get your antennas up. You may be getting taxed for something you do not owe."
(By Susan Winiecki.)

How's this for a headline on top of a business story?

North + snow + cold = Florida + tourists2
(By Leigh Hogan, the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune, on the annual influx of visitors to the Sunshine State.)

These leads by Shannon Mullen of the Asbury Park Press (Neptune, N.J.) are brief, but he makes us want to keep on reading the story:

"Theirs is a love story made for TV."
(On a story about a local couple who renewed their marriage vows live on the "Live With Regis & Kathie Lee" television program.)

"Ask people about President's Day and you'll get an education all right."
(On public confusion about the national holiday.)

"You could say Dr. Roy Selby takes his work to heart. Then again, you could say he takes his heart to work - in a Tupperware container."
(By Patty Reinert of the Houston Chronicle, on a heart transplant patient - a retired neurosurgeon - who dissected his original heart for anatomy and physiology students at a Texarkana college.)

Also from Houston, these headlines:

Bye bye birdies
Man taking pigeons from Trafalgar Square eludes police
(By Carol Taylor, on a report that speculates the thief is selling stolen pigeons to London restaurants.)

Canine-one-one
Dog hero uses phone to summon help
(By Bill Gould, over a wire story reporting that an Irish setter, as trained, hit the speed dial buttons after her sleeping owner's oxygen mask came loose, triggering an alarm.)

The alarm has sounded: I need your paper's best headlines and leads for The Write Stuff. Just pull a tear sheet, indicate the author(s) and send it my way.

Cooper is executive editor of the Dubuque (Iowa) Telegraph Herald. E-mail suggestions to him at bcooper@wcinet.com.