Woody Paige is lazy and wrong

Wow, who knew that Larry never actually removed me as a contributor on this site.

Anyways, Woody Paige wrote an article about Floyd Little being inducted into the hall of fame (GO BRONCOS) and included this anecdote.

When Floyd played his second season with the Broncos, 1968, he couldn't dream of being in the Hall of Fame. Floyd was "fired" by coach Lou Saban on Nov. 24 after he fumbled, resulting in a go-ahead touchdown by Buffalo. But Floyd defied Saban, returned to the field, and scored the winning touchdown.

Sounds great, yeah? Hollywood ending! Except it's not actually true. Well, it's actually mostly true, except for the last part. He caught a late deep pass, setting up the Broncos for a go-ahead field goal. No winning touchdown... sorry Woody. There's even video of it on teh internets. (I have no idea how to embed this, sorry.)

This isn't even that big of a deal. I just found it to be lazy. It's a good story without the embellishment.

See you all in another year.

update: does woody paige write his own headlines? no, but i'm glad i asked

last sunday i posted about a ridiculously terrible pun in a headline attached to a woody paige article. a couple on-the-ball commenters pointed out that traditionally, writers do not come up with headlines. that's a responsibility left to editors. i know that, of course, but my line of thinking in this particular situation was that the pun was so bad paige must be bucking this trend and cutting the editors out of the process. well, who better to settle the question of whether or not this was the case than woody himself? i emailed him that night, asking for a clarification. his response is nothing short of hilarious. since i thought people might not believe he said what he said if i simply copied and pasted the text, i've decided to post a screen shot. i know it's too small to read as it appears here, so click to enlarge.

so, here's the deal: i was wrong, and now look like even more of an idiot. first i attribute a crime committed by an atlanta falcons DB ten years ago to the wrong guy, and now this! fortunately, woody bails me out by providing a deliciously ironic response to my question. sure, he's trying to be funny and jokingly self-degradating... but i think we can all agree he's actually just unintentionally telling things like they are. thanks woody! it was worth it for me to embarrass myself just to get that little "joke" from you in writing. sports journalism: it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

oh brother

(9/10, 1:30 AM: late edit in response to the diligent commenters who called me out: yes, i know that writers don't come up with their own headlines. but look at it.... is there any way someone besides paige would actually think of that? thanks for keeping me honest, by the way.)

(9/10, 2:00 AM: i am so troubled by this turn of events [i swear, you've got me all wrong! i'm not that stupid! i thought everyone would understand that that headline was so terrible only woody himself could've come up with it.] that i have emailed woody and asked for the source of the headline. i'm confident that if and when he gets around replying to me, i will be exonerated/vindicated. i'm on pins and needles waiting for his barely literate response.)

good to be back in denver for a little while... except for that fact that i now have access to a newspaper that actually pays woody paige to write articles. his headline for today's broncos preview:

Super season for Broncos comes with a side of Rice

recently signed defensive end simeon rice, that is!!!!!!11111 see what he did there?

go play in traffic, woody.

a happy/sad week at fjm

as you may or may not have heard, woody paige is in serious trouble for some sexual harassment-type stuff he allegedly did while working on "around the horn". obviously this is a double edged sword; sure, it would be great if he got fired, but how many other idiots out there can do what woody does in order for us to mock it?

oh yeah, i forgot. many.

at this point he's just rubbing our faces in it

from this bizarre woody paige column, which for a moment (oh, rapture!) makes it sound like he's quitting, but ends up just being a goodbye to a number of former co-workers who have retired:

In the early 1900s Floto was The Denver Post's sports editor and a drunk, barely literate, loud-mouthed columnist (sounds like a description of that guy in my mirror)

yes, yes it does, woody. go ahead and flaunt it.