I'm glad it wasn't us

I've said before that what separates my line of work from most careers is that when we make mistakes, they are there for thousands to read.

As all people go about their day, both professionally and personally, they make a ton of tiny errors that don't really add up to much. The difference is, when we make those tiny errors on our job, it's right there in black and white for the public to see.

I don't mean this as an excuse, because I'm personally embarrassed when mistakes are made. It's just a statement of fact.

So my feelings were mixed when I found out that there was a BIG mistake made regarding one of our sectional football games. I hated that the wrong information was out there, but I was happy to know it wasn't the staff of the Banner Graphic who made the mistake.

I was off work and out of town on Friday night, but I got a text from Caine saying we had an all-Putnam County sectional final. That meant North Putnam and Greencastle had taken care of business against Monrovia and Cascade, respectively.

So it was much to my dismay when I was on the Internet in the middle of the night to find reports that Cascade had defeated Greencastle 24-21.

That's when I began to squirm. I frantically typed in our website's address. There was Caine's story saying Greencastle won 24-0. However, every other site I use -- the AP Exchange, John Harrell's high school football site, even the IHSAA -- had Cascade winning.

As far as I could tell, only three outlets had it right: us and the Hendricks County Flyer because we had reporters there and the Journal Review because their sports editor called our sports editor last night.

So the joke was on everyone else, and while that was a relief, it made me mad as I wondered what had happened. Did a mad Cascade fan decide to post it somewhere? (And if so, what's really the point?) Did someone at the AP just screw it up? (Very possible) Did someone just think it would be funny to do?

So I sent a few emails and made a few discussion board posts, and by the time I checked this morning, things were starting to get fixed. The only place I can see that it hasn't been fixed is the AP, which is kind of sad since it was their bad information that went out to the most people.

That's just the nature of the beast when you're dealing with that gem of an organization.

But enough of this negativity. Get excited, Putnam County. You get Greencastle at North Putnam for the Sectional 30 trophy at 7 p.m. on Friday. I love our county rivalries, and it's good to see two of our schools butting heads in a big spot.

It's time to get loud, football fans.