At my first reporting job in Flagstaff, Ariz., I worked with a guy whose previous newspaper gig had been in sun-baked Yuma, Ariz.

He used to tell stories about a sports editor there who meant well but lacked a certain spark. One tale stayed with me.

Like in many businesses, newspaper people employ a fair amount of jargon. For intance, we refer to the text beneath a photo as a cutline. To the rest of the world, that would be a caption.

A small-format paper is called a tabloid or tab. Even traditionally configured newspapers such as the S-R often use a tab format for special sections devoted to topics such as golf or fishing. And, in-house, newsroom folks working on those annual or quarterly sections might refer to the "golf tab" or "fishing tab."

Of course, on the front page of these sections, the finished-product label or main headline presented to readers would be something like "Loving the Links" or "Where They're Biting '08."

Well, apparently there came a day where that editor in Yuma couldn't be bothered to try for something fancy. So here's the name he came up with for a special section on one of America's longtime participant sports: "Bowling Tab."

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