I knew it was going to be a bad day even before I took my first sip of coffee. My wife, a diehard Duck fan, got to the paper first Monday morning and lobbed the first shot over my bow. She was far more civil than the look in her eyes suggested, showing uncommon restraint. while pointing out a slight inaccuracy in our paper. A news photo spread about the events of 2008 had a picture from the Civil War football game. It was of a Beaver, and the accompanying caption said Oregon State won the November game. Actually, the Ducks had a resounding triumph, 65-38, and the readers have responded in a resounding manner about our screw-up.
I won’t throw anyone under the bus. I don’t know who wrote it, but I know I’ve been in that situation more times than I care to admit and no one feels worse than the person who makes a mistake for tens of thousands of people to see. He’ll hear about it soon enough and often enough.
A correction will run in the news pages Tuesday. I don’t think they plan to run a photo of the Ducks, even though some have suggested strongly that it would be appropriate. I’ll put a pic here. And, Duck fans can read again about their overwhelming victory here.
Several voice messages were on my machine today. One was from our new front-desk person, who had also received some. I assume she ran interference for us a bit. There were other messages spread throughout sports and elsewhere in the newsroom, as well as e-mails.
Here are some of the e-mails:
“Noble sportsmen, your loyal Duck fans ask more than a buried one-liner correction for the sins of your news photo people in today’s year-end photo gallery. We seek a photo of similar size to draw attention to the washing away of this sin. I know there are many good photos from the Civil War, because, after all, the Ducks did eclipse the record number of points ever scored in Cow-vallis. So that I can be part of the solution and not the problem, I’m offering a couple AP photos from by desktop. I know that you will set the record straight. A better year-end story might have been the Beavers perfect 0-18 Pac-10 basketball campaign in 2008.”
And …
“I sure was disappointed to see that Oregon State beat Oregon in the Civil War this year (Section C, Page 1). I guess it must have been a dream or just wishful thinking, but I sure remember the score being 65-38 in favor of Oregon, crushing the Beavers’ Rose Bowl hopes. I guess April Fool’s Day came twice this year.”
And …
“MAJOR MESS-UP!! In today’s (Dec. 29, 2008) newspaper with news/photo events of the year. A photo of an Oregon State football player is shown with the comment about Oregon State winning over the University of Oregon. How could anyone in the state of Oregon not know that the game was a U of O blowout over OSU. Please correct the story and show a U of O photo feature!”
And …
“Tim, I know you’re a Beaver, but can’t you help your news staff get their stories right. OSU beat Oregon in the Civil War game? Page One, Section C.”
And …
“My nomination for the worst captioned photo by the Mail Trib. in 2008: “…during Oregon State
University’s [football] win over the University of Oregon in November.” 12/29/08; Page 3C.”
And …
“Ducks won the Civil War game not Beavers! Nice try..GO DUCKS!”
