No runs, no hits, but tons of errors

ROGER CARLSON

Having witnessed virtually every minute of the baseball playoffs

though television this fall, from Florida’s great victory over Barry

Bonds, Inc. to the sad collapse of the Cubs, to the Don Zimmer moment

and Roger Clemens’ last strikeout, I think one of the most lasting

memories for myself will always be the New York Post editorial which

lamented the New York Yankees’ loss to Boston in Game 7 of the

American League Championship Series, and the ensuing explanation that

it was a “computer glitch.”

In the world of newspapers, the New York Post is about as close as

you can get to the National Inquirer in terms of quality content, but

nevertheless I continue to find myself amazed at the basic lack of

integrity and honesty within newspaper people, who like to advertise

themselves as the beacons of truth.

A computer glitch?

The morning edition of the Post lamented the fact the Yankees had

blown a 3-2 lead in their “loss” to Boston and that it was a shame

Roger Clemens had to see the finish of his baseball career come with

a losing decision.

That’s not a computer glitch. It’s a brain glitch by the fool who

let the morning edition’s presses roll, probably around midnight,

when Boston appeared to have the game in hand, only to see it all

fall apart with the Yankees’ rally to tie in the eighth inning, and

eventually claim a 6-5 thriller in the bottom of the 11th inning

around 1:14 a.m.

Presumption promises just one thing: Sooner or later, you’ll be

burned.

Later it was explained away that the story was one of two and the

wrong one was published. In any event, “computer error” it was not.

If there were two stories, one would be that the game hadn’t

finished yet, that the Yanks were trailing; and the second would be a

story with an actual, factual, score.

They got it right for their afternoon edition, but the morning

snafu, well, it’s sort of like when Thomas Dewey was proclaimed the

winner of the 1948 presidential election by the Chicago Tribune in

early November of 1947, which stated with a banner headline: “Dewey

defeats Truman,” to the delight of Truman.

Yogi Berra knows what he’s talking about. It’s not over until it’s

over!

And then the Post compounds its stupidity with a stupid

explanation that it was a “computer glitch,” or mix-up of stories.

Someone guessed, and guessed wrong.

There is a haunting drive in terms of the printed error and I’m

reminded of some of my own shortcomings.

I still remember those days in the early ‘70s when not once, but

twice, I made the mistake of writing of the accomplishments of

Estancia’s Mike Magner, but used his older brother’s first name,

Gary, in the article.

I don’t recall any particular complaint forthcoming from the

Magners, or Estancia, but the fact I had worked for hours and hours

putting together an all-league team with input from every coach in

the league, well, I can tell you I was destroyed by my mistake. And

then, not two weeks later, did it again.

Gary, had been one of Mater Dei High’s best, and when his younger

brother came along, there was definitely a “mind glitch” for me, but

I found it hard to blame my typewriter for the mistake.

Then, of course, there was the Corona del Mar baseball caper when

I described the Sea Kings’ CIF playoff finalists as an eight-player

team in a preview of the team, omitting second baseman Chris White in

1981.

I had no idea I had made the mistake until when entering the

winning locker room the joyous Sea Kings grabbed me and introduced me

to their second baseman, who singled and scored a run in their 3-2

victory over Santa Fe at Anaheim Stadium for the CIF 2-A crown.

I stood there like a dork as they happily teased me, but at no

time did I consider conjuring up an excuse for the misdeed, such as

blaming another employee for “dropping a paragraph,” which sometimes

could happen when “exacto” knives were used to splice the copy from

one column to another, or one page to a jump page.

A third fiasco comes to mind, and I am by no means suggesting

there were in fact just three times over the years that I came up

short, was the Bill Sumner affair.

This one was probably the worst of them all, when Sumner’s boys

cross country team of 1996 swept to the state championship at

Woodward Park in Fresno. A terrific feat.

Logistics were such that I was doing the story for Monday’s paper

on a lonely Sunday (we had no Sunday edition at the time).

It was a story which materialized from a phone call from Sumner,

with a complete report and full of his observations.

There was just one item that did not work: I mangled Sumner’s

name, repeatedly, with former CdM cross country coach Jim Tomlin

working into the mix.

Tomlin was a longtime running coach at CdM while I was a

sportswriter and Sumner was his assistant before I moved into the

sports editor role, and for me, the wheels just didn’t click that

fateful day. Jim Sumner, Bill Tomlin, just about anything that was

incorrect, destroyed the article.

The story ran on the paper’s lead page, and to suggest my ego, my

reputation and my soul, let alone the newspaper’s integrity, had not

been beaten into the ground, would have been the misstatement of the

year.

However, we did have computers, and looking back now, I realize,

not once did I find myself considering that I might have somehow just

explained it away as a “computer glitch.”

The only time there was ever an error under my own hand which I

was innocent came in the ‘90s when I wrote a story of Orange Coast

College’s football team with an upset victory over a San Diego

County-based foe. I think it was Palomar.

A well-meaning news editor, on the other side of the room, somehow

saw my story on the proof sheets, and took it upon himself to

(erroneously) insert into the copy that the victory was over the

defending national champion. Obviously, he was certain he was right

and thought he was doing me a favor, but he was wrong.

I had to write a correction the following day.

Meanwhile, the Orange County edition of the Los Angeles Times

picked up the original erroneous story and printed it the day I was

writing the correction, and then had to come back a day later and

correct its story.

Word was that everyone at the mighty Times, which took the

original story at face value and printed it virtually verbatim,

blamed me for their stupidity.

First, it wasn’t me, but the guy on newsside who was mistaken.

Secondly, the Times, a day late with the story in the first place,

copied the erroneous story as fact and printed it, obviously without

checking a thing. Then they had to run a correction, also a day late.

Nevertheless, their reasoning pointed the finger of blame at me.

There’s something about the printed mistake that is never

completely erased.

I can recall as a 15-year-old the Pasadena Star News called 1951

Monrovia-Arcadia-Duarte High fullback Roy Gaebel, “Ray Goebel.” I was

convinced the Pasadena paper was staffed with morons.

Little did I know what awaited down the road.

Hey! See you next Sunday!

* ROGER CARLSON is the former sports editor for the Daily Pilot.

His column appears on Sundays. He can be reached by e-mail at

[email protected]