Hines Ward Signs With Ravens, Reports Pittsburgh TV Station That Fell For Obvious Parody

It’s not clear how this exclusive BroCouncil “report” could have fooled anyone, let alone that intrepid crew of news readers at WPXI-TV, who lamented Ward’s departure for the Steelers’ biggest rival at the top of their 6 a.m. newscast this morning.

Some highlights from BroCouncil’s dogged reporting, bro:

• “The New York Jets were considering making an offer to Ward, but decided against it when they realized they may have a quarterback controversy on their hands if they signed the former Georgia Bulldogs QB.”

• “Ward was ... the first Steelers player to have a stadium named after him.”

• “Team president Art Rooney II didn’t have much to say after hearing the news, but he did say that he was sad to see him go to the Ravens and that ‘Pittsburgh Steeler football may not be the same without him, but his smile was pretty creepy anyway.’”

Totally legit stuff. But here’s the WPXI gang going with it anyway:

And here they are a little less than 20 minutes later acknowledging their mistake:

The station’s news director told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that “tighter measures have been put in place” to prevent something similar from happening in the future. Coming up tomorrow on WPXI news at 6: Sidney Crosby signs with the Flyers.

Hines Ward Signs With Ravens [BroCouncil] Hines Ward Did Not Sign With The Ravens [96.1 KISS] Fake Hines Ward report catches WPXI in oops moment [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]