The headline below is from an ABC News story about the outcome of this year's National Spelling Bee.
The problem? The winner's name is Arvind Mahankali, not Arvind Mahankal. There's no 'i' in team, but there sure is in Mahankali. (The report has since been corrected.)
It's impossible to overlook the irony of a news report misspelling the name of a spelling bee champion. Frankly it reads like something straight out of The Onion. Or as Ed Norton once described in a similar scenario on The Honeymooners, "I can just see the headline: Safe Award Driver Winner On Way To Receiving Award Has Accident."
But we are not here to mock. We're here to commiserate and empathize. Work in the media long enough, and you're bound to make a goof that inspires the thought of jumping into a rabbit hole.
Snickering is easy. But maybe the better option is to laugh a little with the full understanding that next embarrassing blunder could be yours.
