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Whoever Leaked This Press Release Might Want To Start Looking For A New Job

In terms of sports, last night will always be remembered as the night of Game 6 of the 2011 World Series. The tension, drama and storybook finish assure the game of instant-classic status (despite it being so sloppy early on that it at times looked like neither team wanted to win). But were October 27, 2011 to be remembered for anything besides a Fall Classic classic, we’d vote for it as the night of news being sent out prematurely. We already talked about the unfortunate news item that “informed” the Dallas area that the Rangers were world champions…but there was a bit of other “accidentally premature news craziness” as well.

And as with so many of the most ridiculous stories in sports right now, this one was about college athletics conference expansion. If you’ve been following the expansion/realignment process (and if you have, our deepest sympathies go out to you), you know that Missouri has appeared on the verge of leaving the Big 12 for the SEC for a while now. They’re “heading down the path.” The school’s SEC application is “imminent.” So far, though, nothing is official…but you wouldn’t have known that from looking at the SEC’s official website last night:

If you try to look at that story now, you get this. The SEC covered its tracks this morning by saying the “Web vendor made [a] mistake,” and that the school and conference currently have “no agreement.” But if you still had any doubt that such an agreement is coming soon, let this leak put those to rest. It’s not even new – it’s dated October 22. Sure, you draft these things in advance, but you also don’t draft them unless you’re pretty sure something’s on the horizon.

And as for whoever published this last night, remember how much we said the person who accidentally sent out the “Rangers win World Series” text alert will be rooting for them to win Game 7 tonight? Let’s just say someone out there is really, really hoping this deal is finalized, and soon.

UPDATE: XOS, the vendor who made the mistake in question, apologized for the leak today, saying that “was prepared so the article could be finalized and posted quickly should Missouri in fact join the SEC” and that “the draft was not intended to be publicly available.” You don’t say.

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