Wednesday, August 13, 2008

J-Boogie Gets Plagiarized!!!

There is a post about tonight's Yankee extra-inning victory, but I wanted to give this top-billing. If you scroll down or click here, you'll find that entry. But if you want to read about someone stealing my work and passing it off as their own, read this first.

Wow. I never thought this would happen. I've been plagiarized by a fellow Yankee blogger. Jason from Heartland Pinstripes (great blog, check it out if you're not already) tipped me off that a blog popped up at our old stomping grounds, MLBlogs. It was the "blogger's" first post and he pretty much ripped off a post I did the other day word for word. He even used the same title as I did.

How messed up is that? It's crazy. What's even more crazy is that the "blogger," if you can even call him that, got busted on it in his first post. Jason made sure to point out to him in his comments that he pretty much ripped my post off. Thanks Jason for having my back. Wow. I'm not even sure what to think here. I'm pretty dumbfounded that something like this happened. I wouldn't say I'm upset about it, far from it actually. It's just really, I don't know, odd I guess. I'm a little miffed just on the whole principle of things, but I'm not going to sweat it. If money were involved that would be a whole other story. But seriously. How hard is it to give credit to someone for their opinion, and then lend your own thoughts to it? That would have been the sensible, not to mention the right thing to do.

Sadly, not much will come of something like this. MLBlogs is a free site. The "blogger" can just create a new blog and no one is the wiser. I'm not sure what will become of the "blog." I wouldn't be surprised if it's the one and only post. Actually, I just noticed he updated it, and added this line and is trying to pass it off like it was always there: "Check out what my friend over at Baseball and the boogie down put together..." He then added this comment, "wow... are you both blind?" There's only one word that comes to mind, and that's "douchebag." And dude, whoever you are, we're not friends.

For those that are interested in reading what he wrote, err, I mean stole, here's his post:

With Bonds still available and willing to play at the League minimum i believe the Yankees need to pull the trigger.
why????

If the Yankees were to sign Bonds, they can easily option Christian back to the minors. If i'm Girardi I then park Melky's rump on the bench, move Damon to CF, put Nady in LF, and have Bonds DH. Damon needs a day off? Fine. Put Melky in CF. Nady needs some rest?? put Damon in LF and put Melky in CF. Oh, Abreu tired? Put Nady in RF, Damon in LF, Melky in CF. Melky basically would become the 4th outfielder with the acquisition of Bonds. which truthfully is all he should be.
Lineup:
Damon (CF)
Jeter (SS)
Abreu (RF)
A-Rod (3B)
Bonds (DH)
Giambi (1B)
Nady (LF)
Cano (2B)
Pudge (C)

Talk about a sick Lineup. Even if you shake it up, say move Abreu down, Flip-Flop bonds and A-rod, whatever. It's a billion times better than with Melky in there. If you ask me... It's a really smart move Considering it will only cost the league minimum. Isn't that what we're doing with Sexson anyway? If the Yankees don't do it some other contender will. they'd all be dumb not to.
Sign him before 9/1 and he'll be eligible for the playoffs. Rosters also expand on 9/1, so sending down a guy like Christian who gives you late-inning speed on the bases is only temporary!
Desperate times call for desperate measures!


Sound familiar? It should. It's verbatim from what I wrote a few days ago. And here's how you know he's full of it: I didn't write this part and he credits me for doing it: With Bonds still available and willing to play at the League minimum i believe the Yankees need to pull the trigger.why???? He asked the question, and used my post to answer it. Incidentally, now when you click on the comments, it says page not found. Interesting. Can you say guilty?

Again, one word comes to mind. Danny Mac, the floor is yours.....don't let me down.

J-Boogie

10am update: The post has disappeared??? Interesting.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have got to be kidding me. Props to your fellow blogger for pointing that out. Your copy-cat is a D-Bag, for sure.
I realize you are not mad. you are probably a little flattered over the whole deal. But you have to immagine that this cat probably reads your blog before work, hits the water cooler around 9:15, and spits out your work verbatum in hopes of sounding smart infront of his fellow coworkers.
You pretty much said it all in your last post, and the "we're not friends" line solidified it.
The fact that he went to the trouble of setting up a blog for the sole purpose of posting your work is sick. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a little "J-Boogie" doll that he sleeps with at night. Hahaha
-Danny Mac

J-Boogie said...

Danny Mac- You knocked it out of the park. That deserves a John sterling-esque HR call:

It is high. It is far. It is gone! Danny Mac. The Mac Attack.

Ok, that was bad.

J-Boogie

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable.

Big round of applause for Jason for noticing and getting straight on the case.

I see that the guy's new first post is sll of 30 words, on which he has commented himself - "Outstanding!!!". I literally don't know what to say.

J-Boogie said...

Yeah, and if you notice in that post, it's pretty much what I said about Nady in mine, just in slightly different words.

Jason from The Heartland said...

Without being self-aggrandizing about this, I'm glad I caught the guy. I'm a historian, and we just don't take kindly to intellectual theft. I definitely don't think it takes being a historian to know that what this guy did was theft and wrong; far from it since we all agree the guy was more than in the wrong. It was just personal to me, being a historian, to have the mindset and background to consider this a blatant affront. It just shapes who I am as a person--tracing the sources, questioning what I read, verifying information. Plus, there are frauds in the profession who concoct and pilfer sources for their own gain. I'm not saying that it took a historian to uncover thus by any means because we all seem to do these things here; only that I, as a historian, was REALLY insulted to see this done, especially to someone I consider a friend, having seen it done before among historians. To me, anyone can be a historian, as I always tell my students. You need to work hard, dig in to sources, always question them, know what was written about them and the subject to make an informed contribution to the issue, and be honest. I stick by that. Anyone can be a historian. It's a subject open to anyone willing to do those things. It's doing those things, combined with the fact and good fortune that I know J-Boogie, just read his work, and recognized the theft this dickhole tried to perpetrate that made me so angry. In sum, it didn't take a historian to uncover an act of plagiarism. It just took an act of such blatant plagiarism to make a historian--and fellow Yankees fan and blogger--this annoyed.

It might sound odd to affix that label intellectual work to a baseball blog, but I don't think so at all. J-Boogie does very good, original work. He was one of the very first fellow Yankees bloggers I got to know over at MLBlogs last year, and we got to chinwag about our Yankees now and again. We developed a friendship over that, solidified by the fact that he lives in Western New York and I am a transplanted Western New Yorker. So, full disclosure, I'm biased. But J-Boogie does good work that is his own, through and through, all of which helps inform us and me especially about how to think about the great game of baseball and especially the Yankees. Whenever Mussina pitches well, I think about what a big Mussina fan J-Boogie is. It was a given that I would call this plagiarizing asshead out for his blatant piracy. I saw it as protecting the integrity of what we all do as Yankees bloggers and fans--chat baseball based upon what we know, what we learn, what we share, and what we attribute. Being a fan is a collective exercise, and the best fans NEVER think they have all the answers. Instead, they refer to and draw upon others who have some good information to help piece together perspectives for all of us to discuss and debate, whether or not we agree. Being a good fan is to know that no one knows everything. We try, but we're human so we don't.

This dolt who plagiarized J-Boogie's post not only tried to have all the answers, but also posed as if he had original questions and ideas. He doesn't. To let such blatant and cowardly thievery pass without a fight would have been wrong and against everything I believe in. Again, I'm biased because I consider J-Boogie a bud. Still, it had to be done, and the whole incident still gets my blood boiling a little. What a dickweed the guy is.

Danny Mac, your comment about the J-Boogie doll had me absolutely rolling. Between that and the water cooler comment, you could be a criminal psychologist. John, you don't miss a trick with this dope's commenting on his own post. Hilarious.

J-Boogie, I got your back.
http://heartlandpinstripes.wordpress.com/