On Deadline was compiled and edited by Mark Mahoney, editorial page editor of The Post-Star in Glens Falls, N.Y. If you have an innovations or inspiration you'd like to share with American Editor readers, please e-mail it to Mark at mahoney@poststar.com.

Winter 2009 Bad housekeeping seal of approval Teleconference with benefits Party on, congressman dude Hey, we’ll take it One for the good guys Yes, mr. (first name) president Bailout blackout Rotten onion

SPORTS REPORTERS SEEKING TO HOOK into a teleconference with University of Central Florida football coach George O'Leary got a little more action than they bargained for, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune.

When school officials handed out the phone number for reporters to gain access to the teleconference, they were off by one digit. Instead of getting the coach, reporters got another kind of fantasy league. According to a blog by an Orlando Sentinel staffer, the voice on the other line said, "Hi sexy, you've reached the one-on-one fantasy line."

The reporter hung up, rechecked the school news release again to make sure he hadn't typed in the wrong number, and dialed again. Instead, he got the same phone sex hotline, "complete with offers" that the blogger wrote, "I can't really post on this blog."

The culprit was the school's new director of athletic communications, who accidentally listed one digit incorrectly when he released the teleconference contact information. The September teleconference was postponed until the school could come up with a less personal connection.*