Bad headline

[SixToe]

Here's what you like to see as the lead story when you click a Web site:

Clickable Headline Goes Here In This Space
Story text goes right here in this two-line space for story text.

 

[Taylee]

Better than seeing a box score in a printed version with the words "Can put game summary here"
between the score and the actual box score.
That's what greeted me today in one of the papers I read.

 

[MilanWall]

The worst example I've heard of that sort of thing was this guy my publisher knew who once put "and some little mother****er I can't remember the name of" at the end of a youth baseball team's caption. Needless to say, it printed and he lost his job.

 

[SteveThePirate]

Yeeeesh. The things you get in trouble for these days.

All kidding aside, once the "F" word makes an appearance it usually isn't going to end well for somebody.

 

[Bob Slydell]

I heard about someone putting "some ****er" in place of a name in a cutline once. Funny.
I accidently had the word **** slip into one of stories once, in the last paragraph off all places. Hard way to find out spellcheck aint catching that.

 

[fishwrapper]

Does this one strike anyone?

 

[Big Buckin' agate_monkey]

In my junior college newspaper, I slipped in "So and So had xx points." Or something like that. Instead of a name, it said "So and So."
No, So Taguchi wasn't attending.

 

[SteveThePirate]

Soccer is fuggin' bull$hit so technically that headline is accurate.

 

[Frank_Ridgeway]

I literally woke up in a sweat this morning. I had a dream that a famous columnist who has never worked at my paper was on staff and I completely butchered his name when I made up his column sig, which is not something I'd be doing, anyway -- called him Lou (Something, I forget the last name). I was completely frantic. Took me a minute or so to realize this was not real.

 

[fishwrapper]

I literally woke up in a sweat this morning. I had a dream that a famous columnist who has never worked at my paper was on staff and I completely butchered his name when I made up his column sig, which is not something I'd be doing, anyway -- called him Lou (Something, I forget the last name). I was completely frantic. Took me a minute or so to realize this was not real.

I hate those dreams/notions. I especially hate when they're right.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

There's a bad headline on ESPN.com's front page right now. It says "Rams boost kick-return game, deal for Chiefs' Hall". This despite the fact that Hall has been average or worse than average in average return per punt/kick for the past two seasons. Both teams averaged almost exactly the same in punt + kick return average last season.

 

[93Devil]

There's a bad headline on ESPN.com's front page right now. It says "Rams boost kick-return game, deal for Chiefs' Hall". This despite the fact that Hall has been average or worse than average in average return per punt/kick for the past two seasons. Both teams averaged almost exactly the same in punt + kick return average last season.

****...

What about anything to do with Spike Dykes?

I once wrote for a paper that covered a school that had a mascot that was a Trojan and the word Beaver was in a few of the schools' names and mascots.

Trojans strike deep into Beaver territory. Every freekin time they played I had to reread for double entendre.

Someday I will type the story of a typesetter that left an s off a key quote.

 

[Taylee]

I heard about someone putting "some ****er" in place of a name in a cutline once. Funny.
I accidently had the word **** slip into one of stories once, in the last paragraph off all places. Hard way to find out spellcheck aint catching that.

I have a copy of that picture in my desk at work.
Guy did lose his job.

 

[I'll never tell]

Does anyone remember the circumstances in Tennessee with the cutline something like ... (THE GIRL'S NAME) scored 100 points, grabbed 75 rebounds and a sports editor's ass.

I think I was told they got the picture before the gamer or something like that. The word was they fired all four of the guys that were working on the desk that night.

 

[Tommy_Dreamer]

While I was in a ... ahe ... far worse place than I am now, our paper's SE was on desk that night and it was Game 7 of the Indians-Marlins World Series. Our paper had a vested interest in the Indians and as the game wore later, deadline approached and nerves frayed a little. Well, said SE, after slapping the gamer into place on the page, sent the page on and went home.

Only he got a call about 10 minutes later that his headline didn't make sense. One of the pressmen who hardly spoke any English came out and told the late check guy "No comprende" and gave him the sheet. The headline read "XXADFASREOYSD" or something like that.

Kinda important not to leave that out. He came back and fixed it. Still kept his job because it didn't run, but funny nonetheless.

I also ran across a guy who was not so sports saavy and was put in charge of doing the desk one night at his paper in East Bumblefrig, Oklahoma. It was the night Magic Johnson announced he had AIDS. This guy, not knowing enough about sports, put the headline down as "Magic Jordan has AIDS"

I still laugh at that one.

 

[Football_Bat]

Hey, I know where East Bumblefrig, Oklahoma is. They and West Bumblefrig are huge rivals.

I've left xx's in cutouts once or twice before, noticed them the next day and slapped my forehead a few times, but have never had any massive hed busts or anything.

But once in our office, somebody put a joke hed on a story file and when our Web site grabbed the story, it went out. Dude was lucky he didn't get fired.

 

[Starman]

While I was in a ... ahe ... far worse place than I am now, our paper's SE was on desk that night and it was Game 7 of the Indians-Marlins World Series. Our paper had a vested interest in the Indians and as the game wore later, deadline approached and nerves frayed a little. Well, said SE, after slapping the gamer into place on the page, sent the page on and went home.

Only he got a call about 10 minutes later that his headline didn't make sense. One of the pressmen who hardly spoke any English came out and told the late check guy "No comprende" and gave him the sheet. The headline read "XXADFASREOYSD" or something like that.

Kinda important not to leave that out. He came back and fixed it. Still kept his job because it didn't run, but funny nonetheless.

I also ran across a guy who was not so sports saavy and was put in charge of doing the desk one night at his paper in East Bumblefrig, Oklahoma. It was the night Magic Johnson announced he had AIDS. This guy, not knowing enough about sports, put the headline down as "Magic Jordan has AIDS"

I still laugh at that one.

Magic Johnson, 15 years after his announcement, shows no signs of AIDS.

==================

Most papers I've worked at have an automatic-firing rule for intentionally sending out a page proof with a profanity on it. Because you know ******* well, somehow or other that file is gonna get sent to camera and printed up.

 

[93Devil]

While I was not affliated with this paper at the time, I remember the Penguins losing to the Panthers in a Game 7 (remember when they used to throw the rats?) and Tom Barrasso was in goal. The page 1 art above the fold showed the game winning goal, but it also had a little quote superimposed dead center of the picture.

""It sucks," Smolinski said" was right over Barasso's mask.

This was back in the cut-and-paste days and I guess the cut and paste guy was a little bit of a Pens fan.

What really pissed the Pens fans off was that they had Lemieux, Jagr and Francis at the top of their games and the powerful RedWings had been knocked off by Colorado. I'm sure every Pittsburgh fan felt that Colorado was no match for the Pens at that time.

Don't know if anyone lost their job on that one. I'm pretty sure no one on the sports desk did.

 

[Bob Loblaw Law Blog]

After years with a spotless track record, I just picked up a copy of my sports section today to be greeted by "cutline goes here, cutline goes here, cutline goes here ..." underneath a photo on 5B. Awesome. And good timing, too.