Even the pros need editing

Here was the beginning of a story I was reading this morning in the Arizona Republic about ASU football.

"Running back Ryan Torain practiced. So did free safety Josh Barrett.
The defensive tackle wore a boot on his left foot because of an injury suffered early against San Diego State on Saturday."

As I quickly read the start of this article, I thought it was Torain wearing the boot on his left foot, and as an ASU football fan, I started to worry about why the starting running back had a boot on his left foot when he missed last week with a sprained right ankle. I also wondered how someone could practice when wearing a boot.

So, I read the opening sentences again, and saw it said, "the defensive tackle wore a boot." Who was the defensive tackle? The next sentence said, "The boot is for precautionary measures, and Marquardt will play Saturday, ASU coach Dennis Erickson said." Finally, I knew who was wearing the boot, but he was never identified by his full name, so unless you followed ASU football, you still wouldn't know who Marquardt was. I'm guessing this story was cut quickly and nobody paid attention to whether the article had complete information, or it was just a poorly written article that did not receive very careful editing. Either way, even though this is just a short story, it did not get the attention it deserved from the paper's editors. That can only lead to readers being confused and frustrated, which can never be a good thing for a newspaper.