Time to get it right

Mistakes happen, but details are important

One funny aspect of this job is that, especially when writing a column, you’re often put in a position to talk about what others are doing wrong.

In this space, I’ve lambasted many political figures. The list is much shorter than the number of athletes, coaches and executives I’ve called out in my Imperceptive Insight sports column. As public figures, these people all draw my ire, as if I have athletic or management skills at all comparable to theirs.

The truth is, I make mistakes all the time. Come play a round of golf with me if you think I’m stretching the truth. Every other journalist or so-called expert is the same way. We try to minimize our flaws, but they do happen.

Two weeks ago, one of my more spectacular blunders happened in this very column ... though almost nobody realized it. While talking about the wedding-planning process Amber and I are shoulder-deep in, I mentioned that her cousin, Kristin, had taken our engagement photos for us. There’s just one problem.

It wasn’t Kristin, but her sister and Amber’s other cousin, Monica, that set the better part of a day and her own energy and resources toward making an excellent series of photos for us.

I could tell you that Morris Daily Herald photographer Adam Nekola, who was designing that Thursday’s opinion page, was breathing down my neck waiting for my column, which is sort of true. It was written in a hurry, and I was more worried about getting details, like the name of our caterer right, instead of things that should have come easily. Really, what it all comes down to is that I’m a moron, and for this I apologize.

At least none of my sports blunders over the years managed to turn legions of my future in-laws against me, but there have been plenty of them. They seem to appear regularly when I devote either Imperceptive Insight or my blog on morrisdailyherald.com, the Morris Mirror, to making predictions.

Heading into the past couple Major League Baseball and National Football League seasons, I’ve used the Mirror to predict where I see each team finishing, both within its division and in the playoffs. Let’s just say that I predicted that the Chicago Cubs would win the World Series in 2008 ... and as of mid-June, my 2009 projections are on pace to be even more off the mark.

I ripped Chicago Bears General Manager Jerry Angelo for his lack of activity earlier in the offseason. He promptly went out and traded for quarterback Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos in the Trade of the Millennium, or at least the month. I ripped the Chicago Bulls and their coach, Vinny Del Negro, for treading water in the NBA standings down the stretch. They promptly got hot, made the playoffs and nearly pulled off a first-round upset of the defending champion Boston Celtics.

Please refrain from telling me about the time I misspelled a name or got a player’s point total wrong and neglected to mention it here. The point is, I’ve screwed up plenty, and I’ll screw up plenty more in the future. Luckily for me, the columnist, the mantra “let him who is without sin cast the first stone” doesn’t appear in my job description.

Mark Johnson is a sports writer for the Morris Daily Herald. He can be contacted at 815-942-3221, ext. 2065, or via e-mail at mjohnson@morrisdailyherald.com.