Correction: Virginian-Pilot Super Bowl Sports front

[Blue_Tires]

First, let me get this out of the way. We blew it. Big time. Readers of Monday's Sports front saw the score for the Super Bowl as Colts 31, Saints 17. The mistake was repeated on Page 9. It doesn't get much worse. The whole country watches the Super Bowl, the whole country knows the score, and we get it wrong? Preposterous. Unbelievable. Embarrassing.

How could this happen? Many of you asked that question Monday in e-mails and phone calls to The Pilot. No, the sports department is not filled with Indianapolis Colts fans. Yes, we proof the paper. No, we did not have a Super Bowl party here.

It was, as simply as I can put it, human error. It's hard to believe we can make a mistake like this when at least a half-dozen veteran journalists were involved in producing Monday's Sports section. It's hard to believe we can mess up what is arguably the biggest sporting event of the year, but we did.

The reason I am writing this column and the reason this mistake is so disheartening is that I know it will make you question our credibility and professionalism. I imagine many of you asking, "I f they can't get the score of the Super Bowl right, what can they get right?" My answer to you is that we publish massive amounts of copy every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. We get it right 99.9 percent of the time. But that's not news - the mistakes are news. And as far as errors go, this was a whopper.

We have great people producing the Sports section every day. They've worked tirelessly on our Super Bowl coverage for two weeks. Their track record is unassailable. I am as proud of them today as I have ever been. I met with them Monday, and believe me, they feel awful. But we are human, and we make mistakes.

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/02/correction-super-bowl-score-virginianpilot-sports-front

I'm amused at the fact that this is the same paper that told me on multiple occasions that I wasn't good or experienced enough to work for them...