One of the worst days of my life

I was fairly new as SE at a previous stop and was putting out the basketball preview.

I grab a file photo of a returning player for Podunk High, and in the cutline, I write something about how John Doe is being guarded by Bill Smith of Apple Alley. Smith will return for his senior season this year.

Found out later that Bill Smith was killed in a car accident.

I felt the need to call his mother. Figured I owed it to her to hear it from me first. After 10 minutes of her wailing and me teary-eyed, I had to call his father, too, because they were divorced.

You live and learn.

 

The word "doused" was replaced in a story by the word "douched."
Wouldn't have been that bad, but it made The Tonight Show and Leno's Headlines last night.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/202346/the-tonight-show-with-jay-leno-mon-dec-20-2010

EDIT: it's the second segment on the link. This really wouldn't have been a big deal had it not made Leno.

 

This happened to my first sports editor (RIP) when he was moved over into the managing editor's chair. His wife's sorority puts on a big event around Valentine's Day, the Sweetheart's Ball. This particular year, we did a big color presentation for it, including photos of the women being honored. Look really great. Wasn't until the next day that someone happened to notice the headline: "Sweatheart's Ball."

Weeks later, we'd still ask if he was still sleeping on the couch over that one. By the next year, he'd left for another paper, but the other desker proudly proclaimed: "I checked it 10 times ... Sweetheart's Ball."

 

Another error that I remember. Years ago, I saw a paper that had this long editorial about how parents need to get involved in their kid's education. Good, solid points made.

Except for one part. The editorial writer put in (paraphrasing here) "If a kid is in school for eight hours, they are at home for 17 hours. Parents have plenty of time to be involved."

Of course, 8 plus 17 is 25 hours, meaning that somehow, there's an extra hour in the day. I found it funny that in an editorial on education, the writer didn't get the basic math right.

And to cross-thread on Sports and News, there's a thread on the 15th anniversary of one of the most embarrassing TV sportscasts of all time. Mostly it was the production crew that screwed up, but of course, the kid sportscaster was made to look silly.

Yet, 15 years later, the kid anchor is at an NBC affiliate as a co-anchor in Boston. So obviously, the bad day didnt' ruin his career.

 

I'll echo what others have said and advise you to not worry about this mistake. You'll look back and laugh, but you're blessed with video evidence!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/202317/the-tonight-show-with-jay-leno-headlines-dec-20-2010-part-1

 

My first week at the same gig, I ran side by side stories of the two rival major colleges in the area, and managed to put the wrong logo with the wrong story.

So it would be like running the Yankees and Red Sox next to each other, but switching the logos.

 

If something I wrote could have ever ended up on a national talk show, for whatever reason, I would consider the video one of my greatest keepsakes in life. Of course, the fact that Leno is getting us all to laugh about the word "douche" ... is that irony, paradox or just coincidence? I get confused.

 

Since I'm not wasting my time googling some guy I don't know and reading his tweets about some minor error that is ruining his life, could somebody please telll me what he did.

 

If you read the thread, you'll know. It's been linked.

 

Expect Drippy along any time to chastise on using an old joke again.

 

How much time does it take to Google a name? Probably less than it took to ask the question.

 

Maybe my day wasn't as bad as Aaron's, but it still sucked and those two made me laugh out loud.

Thanks.