Mark it down, folks.  The week of January 14, 2008, can officially be known as “The Week of the Escape-goat.”  We already detailed the Titans dropping Norm Chow as an escape-goat for their offensive woes.  And now, turns out that the magazine Golfweek is placing all the blame for its awful cover this week on the editor.

Now, we realize the duties of an editor, but we’re not so sure that this guy necessarily deserves to get the boot.  By now, we’re sure you know of the noose put on the cover of Golfweek, a ploy that many are rightly bashing as a cheap attempt at some publicity regarding the comments by analyst Kelly Tilghman.  And yes, the editor does have close to the final say in what gets in the magazine and what doesn’t.  But there is someone above the editor - the company that owns the publication.

This comment by William P. Kupper Jr., president Turnstile Publishing Co. that owns the magazine, struck us as odd.  He said: “We were trying to convey the controversial issues with a strong and provocative graphic image. It is now obvious that the overall reaction to our cover deeply offended many people. For that, we are deeply apologetic.”

He used the word “we.”  That says to us that his company knew what the cover would look like, and decided to go along with that decision.  So basically, they told the editor that the idea was fine to put a noose on the cover, then when that cover did not go over as expected by the people who gave the OK, they get rid of the editor.

Imagine a defensive coordinator suggesting to the head coach that the team blitz on a key 4th down.  Coach agrees that the blitz is the right idea.  The blitz fails and the opponent scores the game-winner.  Then the team fires the defensive coordinator.  Doesn’t seem right, does it?  Well, that’s essentially what happened here.

We agree that the editor should be held accountable for backing what turned out to be a pretty terrible idea.  But so should Kupper or Turnstile Publishing.  If they thought that cover was a bad idea, we feel certain that it would never have appeared this week.  It’s a different story if the parent company did not know what the magazine was planning.  But in this case it appears they did.

And that’s why we’re calling this “The Week of the Escape-goat.”