The NFL's technology went all HAL-9000 on them Wednesday afternoon as they prepared for this weekend's draft, creating a momentary shock for the Panthers.
The league was testing its computer programs for its website, which will be flooded by fans this weekend. But while running some options in what they thought was a "test mode," they came to find out they had inadvertently given the Panthers 45th overall pick in the second round to Arizona on the live version of their "Draft Tracker." They were running "trades" to check the system, and one of them snuck out into the ether.
Upon realization of the mix-up, a quick round of calls to Panthers and Cardinals officials was made to figure out what was going on, and they called league officials, who explained the mix-up and quickly corrected it.
All told, the 45th pick was shown to belong to the Cards for about an hour. There were no corresponding Cardinals picks shown headed to the Panthers.
Unless the simulation included Arizona sending Anquan Boldin or Adrian Wilson or Karlos Dansby this way, there's no way the Panthers would give up their second-rounder this weekend.
The contest was fun last
The contest was fun last year, even though I never got my prize!