Adam, Alex… what’s in a name right? Well… identity for one and an individual deserving of individual respect and recognition.
I grew up knowing when I was in trouble because my mother would holler out Robert… Russell… Richard. I wasn’t in trouble often so I think it shocked my mother that it was me and not my older brothers, who she yelled at a fair amount of time for the stupid stuff they did. It's a common thing for the poor younger kids living in the shadow of the family members, both good and bad, that came before. It is hard to rise to your own name.
I grew up knowing when I was in trouble because my mother would holler out Robert… Russell… Richard. I wasn’t in trouble often so I think it shocked my mother that it was me and not my older brothers, who she yelled at a fair amount of time for the stupid stuff they did. It's a common thing for the poor younger kids living in the shadow of the family members, both good and bad, that came before. It is hard to rise to your own name.
But Adam Reynolds is not his older brother Alex and the only thing he did wrong a couple weeks ago was not listen to his father (or worse he didn’t listen to his coach) when he fielded a short on-side kick instead of staying away from it because it would be a penalty on the other team if it didn't go ten. Adam, not Alex as reported by this reporter, took an onside kick that hadn’t gone ten yards and took it to the house. It worked out and because it did he deserves to get his name right in print.
The family was very kind and used my snafu as a chance for family fun and humor. I appreciate that, but still seek to be and do better. The real test will come in the swimming season when they both are in the same pool, and I was told possibly in the same race.
If I could be given a pass on misnaming a freshman footballer wearing a helmet, I certainly cannot be forgiven when I misspelled a Rocket gridiron legend a few weeks back. My stumbley two-finger typing and hasty read through of my story missed that I named assistant coach John Wiley, John Wylie.
The family was very kind and used my snafu as a chance for family fun and humor. I appreciate that, but still seek to be and do better. The real test will come in the swimming season when they both are in the same pool, and I was told possibly in the same race.
If I could be given a pass on misnaming a freshman footballer wearing a helmet, I certainly cannot be forgiven when I misspelled a Rocket gridiron legend a few weeks back. My stumbley two-finger typing and hasty read through of my story missed that I named assistant coach John Wiley, John Wylie.
Wiley is a well respected former head coach with more wins than an entire football team can count on all its fingers and toes combined. His name is everywhere in the record books and hundreds of articles. Heck, I’ve even mentioned him before in stories where I did get it right. And yet there I was writing about a play he called for in a game and lo and behold I found a way to mess it up.
If I had spelled his name Wily, in that story, I could at least make a case that it was because of his craftiness in finding plays to call that are outside the box.... but that's not what I did.
Mr. Wiley is a very nice man, he deserves the respect, as does everyone, to get his name right in the paper.
He was very kind to me when he pointed it out with a funny story about family lineage.
We make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes, heck, I’m sure I’ll be reading this today printed in the News-Journal and shake my head because of something I got wrong in this column about getting things wrong, but it still bothers me. I've spelled Jaxon Covell Jackson Covel on more than one occasion and auto-correct insist Kameron Mong doesn't know how to spell his own name - and I haven't always caught it.
Every true newspaper person I know is bothered when a mistake, no matter how small, no matter whose fault it (sometimes we get rosters with names incorrectly spelled) ends up in print.
But that right there is the biggest reason we need to save print, it holds us accountable and hopefully… makes us better.
Here’s to getting things right and getting better. My apologies for when I don’t.
If I had spelled his name Wily, in that story, I could at least make a case that it was because of his craftiness in finding plays to call that are outside the box.... but that's not what I did.
Mr. Wiley is a very nice man, he deserves the respect, as does everyone, to get his name right in the paper.
He was very kind to me when he pointed it out with a funny story about family lineage.
We make mistakes, everyone makes mistakes, heck, I’m sure I’ll be reading this today printed in the News-Journal and shake my head because of something I got wrong in this column about getting things wrong, but it still bothers me. I've spelled Jaxon Covell Jackson Covel on more than one occasion and auto-correct insist Kameron Mong doesn't know how to spell his own name - and I haven't always caught it.
Every true newspaper person I know is bothered when a mistake, no matter how small, no matter whose fault it (sometimes we get rosters with names incorrectly spelled) ends up in print.
But that right there is the biggest reason we need to save print, it holds us accountable and hopefully… makes us better.
Here’s to getting things right and getting better. My apologies for when I don’t.