To be fair, I read right past it, too

[mediaguy]

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but I'm reading the Letters in this week's SI (Cole Hamels on cover) and I find one that references a great pre-Super Bowl story on the Cardinals' history and their supposed curse from pilfering an NFL title from the Pottsville Maroons. Really enjoyed the story, and remember being impressed that the writer tracked down a living member of the team.

They quoted him as a 94-year-old, and I didn't even do the math. Letter points out in this week's issue that he would have been 10 years old in 1925. Editor's Note explains that he watched the game as a 10-year-old and never played for the team. "SI regrets the error."

Again, I read right past it myself, impressed, but isn't this what the fact-checkers are there for? I'd always heard SI's fact-checkers were super-diligent, but I suppose they could be part of the cutbacks as well ...

 

[Steak Snabler]

Was the guy's name George O'Leary?

 

[Mighty_Wingman]

It's happening everywhere, sadly. The vaunted New Yorker referenced something called the "Cain Mutiny" a few weeks back.

 

[silentbob]

That's a pretty big mistake.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Archive photo of 1925 Pottsville Maroons:

 

[write then drink]

fact checkers became a myth at SI around 2006

the number of mistakes in the mag & on the web site the past couple years - many of them major - is staggering

 

[pseudo]

While we're at it, the Pottsville version of the story itself could use some fact-checking. The Maroons were warned by NFL president Joe Carr that if they played the Notre Dame All-Stars in Philadelphia -- home territory of the Frankfort Yellow Jackets -- they'd forfeit their franchise to the league.
"Three different notices forbidding the Pottsville club to play were given and the management elected to play regardless," Carr told an owners' meeting in February 1926.

Dr. J.G. Striegel was notified that his team was out of the league on Dec. 12, 1925, eight days before the end of the season. No franchise, no championship. Too bad for them.

http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Pottsville_Maroons.pdf

 

[Tom Petty]

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but I'm reading the Letters in this week's SI (Cole Hamels on cover) and I find one that references a great pre-Super Bowl story on the Cardinals' history and their supposed curse from pilfering an NFL title from the Pottsville Maroons. Really enjoyed the story, and remember being impressed that the writer tracked down a living member of the team.

They quoted him as a 94-year-old, and I didn't even do the math. Letter points out in this week's issue that he would have been 10 years old in 1925. Editor's Note explains that he watched the game as a 10-year-old and never played for the team. "SI regrets the error."

Again, I read right past it myself, impressed, but isn't this what the fact-checkers are there for? I'd always heard SI's fact-checkers were super-diligent, but I suppose they could be part of the cutbacks as well ...

for all we know, you are a fact-checker at SI.

 

[BYH]

Archive photo of 1925 Pottsville Maroons:

This really, really made me laugh.

 

[mike311gd]

Archive photo of 1925 Pottsville Maroons:

This really, really made me laugh.

You're sick.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

It's happening everywhere, sadly. The vaunted New Yorker referenced something called the "Cain Mutiny" a few weeks back.

That's horrifying.

But no doubt yet another case of "young and works cheap" vs "experience/institutional memory".

 

[write then drink]

home territory of the Frankfort Yellow Jackets

Frankford Yellow Jackets

just sayin'

dig the layout

 

[Baron Scicluna]

home territory of the Frankfort Yellow Jackets

Frankford Yellow Jackets

just sayin'

dig the layout

Funny stuff. "National League Football". That's how they probably wrote back then, unless it's a hed-bust.

I also like how the Phillies played soccer.

 

[Steak Snabler]

That's probably just how they wrote back then. I've seen several old stories that refer to the "World's Series" as well.

 

[pseudo]

home territory of the Frankfort Yellow Jackets

Frankford Yellow Jackets

just sayin'

Argh. That's what I get for posting past my bedtime ...

 

[ArnoldBabar]

Archive photo of 1925 Pottsville Maroons:

This really, really made me laugh.

Me too. Nice work.

 

[Keystone]

While we're at it, the Pottsville version of the story itself could use some fact-checking. The Maroons were warned by NFL president Joe Carr that if they played the Notre Dame All-Stars in Philadelphia -- home territory of the Frankfort Yellow Jackets -- they'd forfeit their franchise to the league.
"Three different notices forbidding the Pottsville club to play were given and the management elected to play regardless," Carr told an owners' meeting in February 1926.

Dr. J.G. Striegel was notified that his team was out of the league on Dec. 12, 1925, eight days before the end of the season. No franchise, no championship. Too bad for them.

http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Pottsville_Maroons.pdf

The NFL made the Cardinals play two extra games (to boost their winning percentage ahead of Pottsville's) against teams that had disbanded for the season. One team even used high school players and was kicked out of the league.

Those games were bogus and the Cardinals' ownership at the time acknowledged it. They wouldn't accept the champions title.
It was when the Bidwills took over the team that the Cards changed their minds. After years (with the exception of a couple seasons in the 1940s), the claim to the '25 title was about all the organization had. The elder Bidwill fought hard against any recognition for Pottsville, including writing an insulting letter about the city's contribution to a Civil War battle lost by the North.
Yes, the Maroons made a mistake playing Notre Dame, but the Cards aren't exactly innocent victims.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Sorry if this has already been mentioned, but I'm reading the Letters in this week's SI (Cole Hamels on cover) and I find one that references a great pre-Super Bowl story on the Cardinals' history and their supposed curse from pilfering an NFL title from the Pottsville Maroons. Really enjoyed the story, and remember being impressed that the writer tracked down a living member of the team.

They quoted him as a 94-year-old, and I didn't even do the math. Letter points out in this week's issue that he would have been 10 years old in 1925. Editor's Note explains that he watched the game as a 10-year-old and never played for the team. "SI regrets the error."

Again, I read right past it myself, impressed, but isn't this what the fact-checkers are there for? I'd always heard SI's fact-checkers were super-diligent, but I suppose they could be part of the cutbacks as well ...

for all we know, you were a fact-checker at SI.

 

[Walter Burns]

While we're at it, the Pottsville version of the story itself could use some fact-checking. The Maroons were warned by NFL president Joe Carr that if they played the Notre Dame All-Stars in Philadelphia -- home territory of the Frankfort Yellow Jackets -- they'd forfeit their franchise to the league.
"Three different notices forbidding the Pottsville club to play were given and the management elected to play regardless," Carr told an owners' meeting in February 1926.

Dr. J.G. Striegel was notified that his team was out of the league on Dec. 12, 1925, eight days before the end of the season. No franchise, no championship. Too bad for them.

http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/Pottsville_Maroons.pdf

The NFL made the Cardinals play two extra games (to boost their winning percentage ahead of Pottsville's) against teams that had disbanded for the season. One team even used high school players and was kicked out of the league.

Those games were bogus and the Cardinals' ownership at the time acknowledged it. They wouldn't accept the champions title.
It was when the Bidwills took over the team that the Cards changed their minds. After years (with the exception of a couple seasons in the 1940s), the claim to the '25 title was about all the organization had. The elder Bidwill fought hard against any recognition for Pottsville, including writing an insulting letter about the city's contribution to a Civil War battle lost by the North.
Yes, the Maroons made a mistake playing Notre Dame, but the Cards aren't exactly innocent victims.

I take it you just read "Breaker Boys" too?
I didn't see it get a lot of traction in the week leading up to the Super Bowl, but more than one person wrote a story about a "Curse of the Maroons" on the Cards.

 

[Moderator1]

Years ago, SI did a major profile of the coach I was covering at the time.
The SID told me the fact-checker called and kept him on the phone for two hours.
So the story comes out and it is a very good story. Except the name of the coach's wife is wrong. The coach was quoted calling her by the wrong name. Writer obviously heard it wrong and didn't bother to look it up.

"Two hours they have me on the phone," the SID tells me. "TWO hours. Went over every line, everything. And they never once asked me her name. Never once asked me about anything that was in a quote."

Uh, quotes need to be checked, too.