Scandal! The Boston Globe's Shameless YFSF Ripoff

Forget the other scandal (Curt Schilling's effort yesterday) which he blogs about here. We're talking about the fact that the Boston Globe has come up with the brilliant idea of running a Daisuke Matsuzaka-themed Haiku contest.  Normally we wouldn't get too bent out of shape about someone thieving an idea of ours (typically they're nothing special), but this smacks of bald-faced plagiarism.  YFSF's own contest was run months ago, with spectacular results (and even a little Gerb-inspired technology), and it received attention in SI (in a cover story just last week!), across the blogosphere, and even at the Globe itself.  If we had lawyers, we'd call them, though we're not sure what we'd say.  At the very least, we're owed thanks (and perhaps a major apology).

Shame on the Globe for this weak burglary of a truly fantastic endeavor, begun here at YFSF.  No wonder it's now called "old media". Paging Seth Mnookin!

After the jump, a reminder of the great work of our community.

Jury Awards

The Bash-o Prize (first place): Yanks Fan in Boston
hub's opening day
signs read: "we love daisuke"
manny asks, "who's that?"

The Blue Jay Prize (second place): John
Matsuzaka hears
Sox fans on WEEI
Hari kari next

The Iron Chef Prize (third place): Spidey
Dice-K's tummy growls...
too thick and milky! Chowdah
isn't miso-based.

Honorable Mention (sorry no prizes)

Special YFSF Citation for Excellence: Whatever
Big move by Theo
Daisuke delivers. Yes? No?
Gorilla suit waits.

&

The Red Dragon of
high Nation expectations
slays Matsuzaka.

Special YFSF Citation for Excellence II: Rob
D-Mat is to Hub
As Hideki is to Bronx?
Not Godzilla, Toad.

The Proprietor's Cup: SF & Attackgerbil (tie)
durgin park welcomes
but dice balks at the rudeness
baked beans not sushi
(SF)

Curt looks, sees no red
the cameras are elsewhere
Dice grabs the spotlight
(SF)

Grass in Fenway mourns,
"John can't afford turf builder,
bankroll lost to Dice!"
(Gerb)

Curt's nightmare comes true,
Killed, looted in Everquest
by Kei, buffed dark elf.
(Gerb)

Comments

[YF]

Looks like Stephen Glass and Jayson Blair are running things over at the Globe sports section these days.

Next thing you know they'll have a new blog: Soxfan vs Yanksfan.

[dc]

maybe they can get the steroid guy, mitchell?, to investigate, since he doesn't seem too busy these days...

[QuoSF]

The Globe? theft "artists".
No journalistic honor
New York Times is proud.

Steal a great contest
originality out
YFSF rules

[dc]

that's good quo...am i the only one surprised that "murray the rat" didn't get this scoop?...isn't he the guy that sniff's out conspiracies, tampering, and other wrong-doing's?...

[Max]

What to do when your
circulation is way down?
Steal ideas from blogs!

[Hudson]

Meanwhile, check out this weird Shaughnessy quote from today's feature on our second baseman:

Pedroia is only 5 feet 9 inches. Your average sportswriter can eat candy off his head.

Uhhhh... Maybe CHB now stands for "Candy-Head Boyfriend"?

[SF]

I think Dan, who is tall, is calling himself an "average sportswriter", which even in it's modesty might be generous.

The Sports law Blog might be able to advise you...look them up, Michael McCann is there in Boston.

Considering Ron Borges just got suspended for plagiarism by the Globe, you might also want to consider writing to the editors of the Globe and pursuing compensation. After all they make a lot of revenue off of things like that, pop-ups etc.

[Waldomeboy]

Can't wait to see Borges's entry.

[dc]

"...Your average sportswriter can eat candy off his head...."

...anybody else think that's creepy?...

[sf rod]

bradford referenced our little contest about two weeks ago on his blog under "Daisuke Mania!". just like the globe to be two weeks late and lacking originality.

we might be pissed, but the guy's over at redsoxhaiku.com have to be pulling their hair out. they've been haiku-ing for over 5 years now.

[Josh SF (D1)]

Well, the last piece of news on redsoxhaiku.com was New York's 2004 signing of Tony Clark. Something tells me they've left the haiku business.

While douchey and unoriginal, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say there's probably nothing illegal about ripping off a contest idea. Still, a little recognition would have been the honorable thing to do; I'd encourage one of the admins to at least e-mail the Globe's ombudsman and see if he/she's got anything to say on the matter.

[YF]

Admins? Is that all we are to you, D1?

[Josh SF (D1)]

Haha, would you prefer Glorious Leader? Maybe BFF?

[YF]

Glorious Leader. Perfect. Sold.

[yankeemonkey]

Yeah dc, that CHB quote is majorly creepy. I don't want to know what that guy daydreams about...*shudder*

[Tyrel SF]

If it's any solace, I just read the Globe's finalists for the Haiku competition, and they are terrible.

[JDonovan]

On the other hand, the Globe has run a Red Sox-themed haiku content at least once a year for as long as I can remember. Their web site once had an entire haiku section, filled with stuff about the Red Sox. Maybe they should sue YOU for stealing their idea ...