One Cross-Country Gal's Surname Must Be A Nightmare For Headline Writers

There's a high school cross country runner named Madz Negro who keeps making news due to her running prowess. This results in headlines from the Springfield, Ill. State Journal-Register like this. Or like this.

I always wonder why newspaper editors still insist on throwing these headlines up online, fully aware that their best intentions at serious newspaperdom will eventually be undermined by readers who send them to idiots like us. Headline writers see what it looks like on the page and know by now how it comes across people's RSS feeds. Regardless of the space issue, there are plenty of other options to go with here, even if her name is pronounced NEG-ro as in Vinny Del. But we do often see this, say, anytime Rudy or Tyson Gay make headlines. Chien-Men Wang will never be able to have his achievements appreciated in print due to his unfortunate last name. (Playing for the Yankees doesn't help either. How many "Yanks' Wang" heds have been published at this point?)

But, then again, if newspapers start purposely avoiding Madz's last name, it could possibly offend generations of of proud Negros who've been able to move past this issue and who only hope to be treated as equally as the rest of society.