On Sports Center yesterday, ESPN reported that both Mike Green and Donald Brashear of the Capitals had been suspended. Everyone in DC scrambled to confirm the story for the next hour, but ESPN suddenly retracted their original report by saying just Brashear had been suspended. However, that wasn't the end of it. From there, Sports Center aired two more retractions before finally saying that just Brashear would be heading to a hearing at 1pm. You can read about the whole day at the Capitals Outsider.
Crazy day for Sports Center but it's not necessarily their fault. They were prank called by someone posing as a Washington Post reporter, and went with the information provided by the prankster....
"I was on my way to the rink this morning and my buddy called me and was a little upset I was missing Game 7," said Capitals defenseman Mike Green, a finalist for the Norris Trophy given to the NHL's top defenseman.That's just so random. In the pantheon of prank calls, that's probably the worst one ever. Why someone would pose as a Washington Post reporter for kicks is beyond me, but whatever makes you happy.
"I had no idea what for. It kind of caught me off guard."
ESPN SportsCenter hosts Josh Elliot and Hannah Storm relayed that Green and teammate Donald Brashear were suspended under a "Breaking News" banner Monday at 9:52 a.m.
Within a half hour, ESPN retracted the story.
"Our news desk received the call from someone representing themselves as a Washington Post reporter," ESPN spokesman Dan Quinn said.
"We didn't follow our own fact-checking procedures and mistakenly reported the story.
"We apologize for the error."
Prankster dupes ESPN with bogus report on NHL suspension (USA Today)
Original Story:
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