Sometimes you post something on social media before you really give it a second thought (or a first fact-check).
We’ve all been there.
So we can relate to whomever is running ESPN’s Facebook account. In teasing to a Bill Barnwell offseason report card story (Vikings get an A-minus, by the way), ESPN asserted that, “The Green Bay Packers are defending NFC North champs. The Minnesota Vikings’ offseason could change that.” As of the publication of this post, it was still live.
Whoops. The Vikings, as many of you around here probably know, won the NFC North by virtue of beating Green Bay in the regular-season finale at Lambeau Field.
Vikings fans on Facebook were all over ESPN, tossing around words like “idiots” and “disrespectful.”
The miscue was more tactfully and helpfully pointed out by Adam Carlson, who tweeted about it and brought it to the attention of the Vikings. Rather than just letting it slide by, whomever runs the Vikings’ Twitter feed put some thought into it and came up with just the right reply: a photo of the 2015 NFC North banner with the words, “Guess we should probably return this then, right @ESPN?”
.@MNVikingZombie Guess we should probably return this then, right @ESPN? pic.twitter.com/qhGaW1EZGe
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) May 17, 2016
