Saying You're Sorry Before You Sued

Boston Herald Eats Crow for Screwing Up Story on Patriots Taping Opponent's Practice Session

When you're the second-place paper in what has become a desultory newspaper town, you need to do anything to get attention. Including, as the Boston Herald proves, admitting your mistakes. This one was a whopper, as things in Beantown go.

Turns out the Feb. 2 accusation in the Herald that the Patriots illegally taped a practice by the St. Louis Rams in 2002 before upsetting them in the Super Bowl was unfounded, according to the NFL. Oops.

Cue the butt-kissing.

Prior to the publication of its Feb. 2, 2008, article, the Boston Herald neither possessed nor viewed a tape of the Rams’ walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI, nor did we speak to anyone who had. We should not have published the allegation in the absence of firmer verification.

Ya think?

Looks like the Patriots are happy with the Herald flogging itself for what the team calls a "completely false and unsubstantiated" story.

At the very least, it's good the Herald owned up to its mistake, something its tabloid brethren in New York are almost always loath to do.