The joke never outranks the fact.
The factual, tonal, and safety rules governing every article at The Overreaction Desk.
Factual opening
The opening identifies what happened in plain language. A funny headline cannot obscure the result, transaction, decision, or source status. Opinion is labelled. Rumors remain rumors.
Banter boundaries
Humor may target sporting performance, coaching decisions, team management, franchise history, rivalry, media narratives, and harmless fan expectations. It may not target protected characteristics, family, death, tragedy, addiction, mental illness, disability, serious injury, children, crime victims, or private individuals.
The publication never celebrates an injury, fabricates a quotation, directs degrading abuse at an athlete, or turns a serious story into entertainment.
Team voices
Each team is covered with a consistent comic identity, recurring themes, clear limits, and prohibited subjects. A sharper voice never loosens verification.
Publication restraint
The desk publishes only when a story is important, current, verified, materially distinct from existing coverage, and useful beyond its headline. When reliable sources still disagree, we wait rather than state an uncertain claim as fact.