A few months ago, Steve Harvey made headlines for all of the wrong reasons. As host of the Miss Universe pageant, it was his job to announce the winner, and he announced the wrong person. They put the crown on her head. They put the sash around on her shoulder. She was making her victory walk. Then, Steve Harvey came out and said he had made a mistake.
(Sidenote: I do not know how you can hold a Miss Universe pageant without including the green women from Star Trek. They would win all of the time.)
It was a huge mistake that will follow Steve Harvey for the rest of his career.
Tonight, we held the awards banquet for the School of Humanities, Education and the Arts, which we affectionately call SHEA. This meant that it was time to pass out the awards for the best students of History.
This morning, I went to my cohort’s office to confirm what awards I would be presenting. He explained that I would present two awards. I heard what he said, but, apparently, that is not what he really said.
As the day progressed, I prepared for my presentation. I listed the awards and what they signified. I wrote down a few things about the recipients. In other words, I was ready to go.
The first award went smoothly except for the fact that the kid did not show up to receive it. I have often wondered why that happens. If you are honored with an award, then you should make an appearance. After all, they are not Marlon Brando or George C. Scott turning down an Oscar.
The second award also went smoothly. I talked about the award. I talked about the recipient in glowing terms. Then, the award was handed to me, and I saw that it was a different one. I called out the right name, but I tried to give the wrong award to him. He was supposed to get something else.
This meant that my cohort had to ad-lib and announce the wrong award to give to the next student. In other words, it was a mess. Luckily, we were all smooth enough that the audience did not realize what had happened. The only people wise to the situation were me, my cohort, the two students and the lady handed the awards to us. Well, I guess you all know it since I have written to post about the entire thing.
I am just glad that we did not have to go out and rip off their crowns and sashes.
SBI: A Thinning Crowd 
Not quite as big of an audience, but I have embarrassed myself by laying out the huge lesson “maps” on the conference table for classes 1 and 2 when the instructor was scheduled to teach classes 3 and 4. Duh. I felt stupid. I try to NEVER screw up, but even perfect people buy pencils with erasers.
I’m pretty good at not screwing up, but this time was a doozy.
Things like this are created by the Universe to keep us humble. Garry had most of his moments on TV … and some of them, we still have on DVD. Always good for the laugh, all these years later.
How often do you go back and watch them?
Some years ago my son and I were members of the same golf club. He is a much better golfer than me and won a major competition. On awards night they presented the prize to me by mistake. A cut glass decanter that I still display proudly at home!
So, you kept it.
Yes, I did. Is that bad?
I take it the student who did not appear didn’t send someone to collect the award on his/her behalf?
When I first read about Steve Harvey’s gaffe, I wondered why he didn’t go all the way and lead the sash and crown to be put on the “right” girl but whom he called the wrong name. But, that kind of error wouldn’t have been nearly as embarrassing nor raise as much “oh-mai-gawd” reactions from the interwebs.
The missing kid did not have a representative.
Harvey explained why all that happened. But … that would be tough all the way around.
It could not have been a good feeling.
“I am just glad that we did not have to go out and rip off their crowns and sashes.”
That would have been funny.
Yeah, I wonder what they would have done.