I'm taking the Ben Maller summary on this one because the only online copy of the story is the LA Times, and they're being a butthead about registration, and being a story about the AP they're going to block it.

An Associated Press dispatch sent out to newspaper sports departments Wednesday contained hundreds of home phone numbers for well-known sports figures. There was just about everyone from Hank Aaron to Barry Zito on the list, including Paul Tagliabue and Bud Selig. Another dispatch stating, "Disregard," soon followed. An AP spokesman called it an "inadvertent transmission."

Folks, I can't figure out if this is the mother lode of fraught, or something not fraught at all, merely a disaster. How else can you simultaneously nuke a well established network of contacts and give all your competitors a leg up (or at worst equal footing). What's the worst part of this?

1. The possibility that EVERY celebrity on that list is getting crank calls tonight. (So far the best/cruelest suggestion I've heard was calling random NBA players at 3am, and saying "Honey, the strip was blue, I'm pregnant." The local sports radio guys were already crank calling OJ, and trying to set up to get Mills Lane's answering machine.)

2. The possibility that you're a celebrity on that list, and you're not getting crank calls. You might as well just flush your Q rating.

3. That this comes out just after they announce cell number portability.