Columbus Dispatch thinks Elway is still playing

I've worked in newspapers for more than a few years. And made my share of mistakes along the way. Still, I am amazed at some of the stuff I see out there.

One our staff (not me, thank goodness) did a few years back was "Former NFL player (Pat Tillman) killed in Iraq" (it was actually Afghanistan). We had about four people proof the page and none of us caught it. Too many wars taking place at the same time, I guess.

 

They caught plenty, but Steve Watson was better than any of them.

 

I remember at Poynter one year they had a copy of the two Denver papers at the time. The Post didn't chase to get the final of a close gubernatorial race, while the RMN had the final results. They showed a slide of the two papers next to each other on the racks. The groan in that room was deafening.

 

Mizzou, as much as anything that's a commentary on just how much quality matters in the marketplace.

 

No question.

But if I'm The Denver Post, and I have the NFL opener in Denver against the Super Bowl Champions, is there anything going on Friday morning that anyone in that city cares more about than what happened in that game? Short of a national tragedy, the answer is no.

I feel bad for The Post employees. They have three sports copy editors left. But a game like this is a big enough deal that you do a "all hands on deck" to make sure that the bulk of the city gets the final score if nothing else...

 

So how many copy editors are left in Columbus, where the mistake occurred?

 

1. With Elway in the 2nd graf - was that AP's fault or did someone at the paper change it? All sorts of fail there.

2. Don't know anything about their deadlines, but wonder if they did move it back only to be screwed because the start of the game was delayed (and then was a long game).

3. Game ended before 10 p.m. MT. Don't know anything about Denver's papers, but sure seems like that's an early enough deadline.

 

The media must've fallen in love with the idea of a 53-year-old man making it back to the NFL after a 15-year absence and throwing 7 TDs in his first game back. Then they found out it was actually Peyton Manning, but ignored it because they couldn't disturb The Narrative™.

 

I get having columns and numbers and all that stuff ready for early editions when you know you're not going to have the final score, but it's a mistake to make specific references to the score or numbers when you know it's not likely to hold. We used to have to do that with baseball all the time. You site specifics without referencing the score or final stats.

 

No idea, but anyone who has been in this business knows how it can work on deadline... Write the hed and send it. If someone fucks up, it sticks...

 

Exactly. That's what makes the Post column the most egregious error.

It's like writing the story of the end of Michael Jordan's career two days before he won his sixth championship, and constantly writing "Jordan and his five championships will go down in history as ..."