2010021118

Oops! Virginia Newspaper Says Colts Win Superbowl

By Elliott West, The Raleigh Telegram

Week Of Thursday, February 11, 2010

NORFOLK, VIRGINIA - The Monday after the Superbowl, The Virginian-Pilot newspaper evidently got a lot of phone calls.

The newspaper printed the wrong score of the Superbowl, not once but twice, in its coverage of the big game between the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts.

Of course, the Saints won the game by a score of 31 to 17, but the paper had the Colts listed as the winner by the same score.

“First, let me get this out of the way,” said Denis Finley of The Virginian-Pilot on an apology page on the newspaper’s website.

“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.”

Finley tried to assure readers that they were not Colts fans secretly pulling a fast one for their team and also mentioned that the mistake was not the result of some big newspaper Superbowl party.

“The whole country watches the Super Bowl, the whole country knows the score, and we get it wrong?” asked Finley. “Preposterous. Unbelievable. Embarrassing.”

“No, the sports department is not filled with Indianapolis Colts fans,” he said. “Yes, we proof the paper. No, we did not have a Super Bowl party here.”

Many newspaper readers were understanding of the simple error, but many readers were not very understanding, especially some Saints fans.

“People thought the Saints winning the Super Bowl was when hell froze over!,” said one reader. “The Virginian-Pilot, Toyota and the Chinese drywall manufacturers should go into business together, you all would be very successful.”

Others said the newspaper would now be a collectors item, similar to the famous wrong headline that read “Dewey Beats Truman” on the front page of The Chicago Tribune after the 1948 presidential elections.

“I was born in New Orleans and have spent my entire life here,” said another reader. “The misprint has made that edition of your newspaper a much sought after souvenir. No offence taken, we love it!!!!”

One North Carolina newspaper publisher said he was trying to find a copy of the incorrect edition as a souvenir.

Despite the error, the Virginian-Pilot said that readers could buy a corrected version of the sports front page printed on high-quality glossy paper for only $39.95.

Of course, some Saints fans were also not pleased with that offer to sell them a correct version.

“Are you REALLY charging for a new correct copy?” said a reader called WhoDatWeDat.

“Seriously? I have been a Saints fan for many years, this is history, and you want to make fans pay $40 -$80 to get a correct copy? Your [sic] out of your mind.”

Click below to read the correction notice on the Virginian-Pilot newspaper website:

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

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