Saturday, January 01, 2005
Tiredest sentence ever
The "dumbest sentence ever" was nothing more than an honest mistake. Alert reader Matt found this link which showed that that AP sports writer R.B. Fallstrom was the author of the Missouri/Gonzaga game recap that opened with this sentence:
Missouri missed its last 10 shots from the field and six of its last eight free throws -- and still managed to hang on against their toughest opponent so far.
Illini Wonk took issue with that assessment and emailed Mr. Fallstrom for an explanation. To his credit, Mr. Fallstrom replied the next day with this:
A bit of a typo, I'm afraid, due to fatigue from a 14-hour day. I meant to say biggest victory to date, not toughest opponent.
Illini Wonk accepts that explanation. Consider this: a LexisNexis search revealed that Mr. Fallstrom has written 103 articles in the last month of 2004. Not last year. Last month. At that rate, Illini Wonk is surpised he had time to reply the email, not surprised by an error. Also, following the "Braggin' Rights" game against Missouri, Fallstrom opened his recap with this sentence:
If No. 1 Illinois keeps this up, the Fighting Illini might be returning to St. Louis to finish the season.
Illini Wonk can't argue with that and hopes that Mr. Fallstrom gets to contribute two more recaps of Illinois basketball games this season in St. Louis.
posted by Illiniwonk at 10:29 PM
Missouri missed its last 10 shots from the field and six of its last eight free throws -- and still managed to hang on against their toughest opponent so far.
Illini Wonk took issue with that assessment and emailed Mr. Fallstrom for an explanation. To his credit, Mr. Fallstrom replied the next day with this:
A bit of a typo, I'm afraid, due to fatigue from a 14-hour day. I meant to say biggest victory to date, not toughest opponent.
Illini Wonk accepts that explanation. Consider this: a LexisNexis search revealed that Mr. Fallstrom has written 103 articles in the last month of 2004. Not last year. Last month. At that rate, Illini Wonk is surpised he had time to reply the email, not surprised by an error. Also, following the "Braggin' Rights" game against Missouri, Fallstrom opened his recap with this sentence:
If No. 1 Illinois keeps this up, the Fighting Illini might be returning to St. Louis to finish the season.
Illini Wonk can't argue with that and hopes that Mr. Fallstrom gets to contribute two more recaps of Illinois basketball games this season in St. Louis.
posted by Illiniwonk at 10:29 PM
