Not to Pile on Myron but...

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I hate jumping on the Myron shouldn't be the Strib's beat writer bandwagon but this error is a bit too glaring. I was skimming his top 25 in the Strib today and wanted to read his pros/cons for the teams around us. Gophs are #22 in the ranking and directly ahead of them is Dayton. Here is the writeup for Dayton:

Pros: Last season, the Flyers made it to their first NCAA tournament in nearly two decades. Four starters from that team return, including get-to-know-me-now forward Chris Wright, who will probably bolt for the NBA after this season. Cons: A losing season followed their previous NCAA tournament run.
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I remembered Dayton burning me as a #4 seed in an NCAA pool in the not so distant past so I did a simple google search. Turns out they made the dance in 2000, 2003 and 2004... whoops. It'd be interesting to see if that's the only error but than again I don't really have an interest to read the whole article.
 

Thats on Myron but more so on the sports editors of the Strib. I've said many times that they suck. Its their job to do fact checking and making sure what they put out is correct and they consistently fail at that
 


oleboy41 said:
Thats on Myron but more so on the sports editors of the Strib. I've said many times that they suck. Its their job to do fact checking and making sure what they put out is correct and they consistently fail at that
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Couldn't agree more...They print so much stuff that is obviously false (just from what I know off the top of my head) it is unbelievable.
 

oleboy41 said:
Thats on Myron but more so on the sports editors of the Strib. I've said many times that they suck. Its their job to do fact checking and making sure what they put out is correct and they consistently fail at that
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This is kind of true, but not totally. The job of the copy editor is to make sure there are no typos, grammatical errors, sentence flow problems, etc. Sure, they need to do some fact checking when something seems really out of whack or not quite right, but for the most part, the facts are the job of the reporter. The copy editor is just making sure the story reads okay and is properly punctuated, spelled, etc.

In this particular case, the responsibility falls almost entirely onto Myron. It is not the copy editor's job to fact check these kind of stats. That is on the reporter/writer. A copy editor is literally reading thousands of words per night and checking for basic writing mistakes, not factual errors (although they try to find them, too). They simply cannot do a "fact check" on every stat in every story, there simply is not enough time. Getting the basic stats and facts correct is the job of the writer/reproter and a copy editor has to assume the reporter has done his job in regard to fact-finding. Now, many times a copy editor will catch a factual mistake and that is a bonus. The writer/reporter has to have the facts correct. That's their basic job. Just the facts, man.
 


Well, it looks like the strib is trying to fix the mistake. Now it reads:

Last season, the Flyers made it to the NCAA tournament's second round in nearly two decades.

One more trip through that paragraph by the editors and we should have something both factual and readable!:clap:
 

Might have meant the Flyers won their first NCAA tournament game in nearly two decades...
 

skoalvikings said:
Well, it looks like the strib is trying to fix the mistake. Now it reads:

Last season, the Flyers made it to the NCAA tournament's second round in nearly two decades.

One more trip through that paragraph by the editors and we should have something both factual and readable!:clap:
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I'm sorry, but LOL @ that. How are you going to fix it, but then botch up the fix? haha
 

Not to pile on even more, but from his chat this afternoon

"12:16 [Comment From MarkMark: ]
Are the gophers playing in any tournaments over the holidays?
Thursday November 12, 2009 12:16 Mark
12:16 Myron P. Medcalf: Maybe, video game tournaments. No basketball-related tournaments.

Oy...
 




From the Barn said:
Not to pile on even more, but from his chat this afternoon

"12:16 [Comment From MarkMark: ]
Are the gophers playing in any tournaments over the holidays?
Thursday November 12, 2009 12:16 Mark
12:16 Myron P. Medcalf: Maybe, video game tournaments. No basketball-related tournaments.

Oy...
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Yikes. Apparently playing in a tourney ON Thanksgiving Day doesn't constitute playing on a holiday??? He must have been thinking only Christmas.
 

He said later in the chat he thought he meant Christmas.
 

Monty519 said:
He said later in the chat he thought he meant Christmas.
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Which would maybe be acceptable if he wasn't a college basketball beat writer and Thanksgiving hadn't become synonymous with college basketball tournaments.
 



From the Barn said:
Which would maybe be acceptable if he wasn't a college basketball beat writer and Thanksgiving hadn't become synonymous with college basketball tournaments.
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Exactly. College basketball "holiday" tournaments are played over the Thanksgiving holidays, not Xmas. Heck, we're into Big Ten Conference play 3-4 days after Xmas. There will not be any tourneys then. If someone asks about a "holiday tourney," he should know it is Turkey Day.
 

skoalvikings said:
Well, it looks like the strib is trying to fix the mistake. Now it reads:

Last season, the Flyers made it to the NCAA tournament's second round in nearly two decades.

One more trip through that paragraph by the editors and we should have something both factual and readable!:clap:
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Brilliant!
 

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