The lead that was used in the story by Espn about Brett Favre's future portrayed most of the elements of a hard-news lead.
It included the what, where, when and who, which are essential to hard-news stories.
Plus, it gave the reader a basic understanding of what the story was going to be about.
In the lead Favre said that his return to football next year would be "highly unlikely", which is considered a descriptive fact of the situation. For that part to be considered as a generalized fact Favre would have had to of said that he "didn't know" about his future.
The lead also mentioned the place and event of where the information was obtained. If the person who wrote the story wanted to be general they could have just mentioned the day they received the information, for example.
Good job on the blog, Jon. Keep non-sports coverage in the mix, as you're doing. GG