From the sidelines
Mistakes happen.
No matter how many times someone tells you it's OK, you still feel bad.
However, if one is afraid to make a mistake, journalism should not be his or her chosen profession.
Weatherman maybe. Journalist definitely not.
Still, as anyone could imagine, last week your humble sports editor was shocked to see the Athlete of the Week picture. (As I'm sure most readers were). Instead of a smiling Toni Gordon, it was an extreme close-up of her face.
I don't know who was more embarrassed; her or me.
Obviously it was an honest mistake, and proof that no matter how good modern technology becomes, it isn't perfect. But it still is in print for everyone to see. On purpose or not, it happened.
Toni shrugged it off with a laugh, but I thought about it all week, just waiting for today's issue so the real picture could run.
Just like watching games, interviewing coaches, and writing stories, mistakes are part of the job.
Green reporters are told a million times, "You will make mistakes, everyone does."
It never sinks in until you make that first really big one. First. As in there will be a second, third, fourth, and so on.
They say you always remember the first big one, while hoping the affected person does not.
All Toni did was have a great week of basketball and pose for a picture. Now, she may never trust a cameraman, or journalist for that matter, ever again.
So all I can do is tell Toni I'm sorry, and face the mistake.
