An Explanation
Uncategorized July 12th. 2007, 6:32pm
On Monday, we noted that Sports Illustrated NBA writer Ian Thomsen borrowed material from a blog, and to his chagrin, the material was satirical. It appeared to be an egregious mistake, which was a surprising coming from a veteran writer from the NBA community.
In Thomsen’s latest column, he explains the error. Apparently, he was done in by an over-anxious agent looking to pump up his client (at least that’s how we read it).
On the plus side, it is great to know that agents read blogs! Hey Boras, if you’re out there, you suck, buddy. Free agency ruined the game! (Line stolen from the Last Boyscout.)
Note to Our Readers (SI.com)
17 Responses to “An Explanation”
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July 12th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
That’s how I read the column, too…
Brief segue: Has there been a better movie with one liners than The Last Boy Scout?
July 12th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
I’ve never read My Bad but both authors have last names in common with two guys I’ve enjoyed quite a bit in the past.
July 12th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
Yeah, where does Curt Flood get off thinking he can just change teams on a whim! I hope its just a fad that’ll never last, like the Hula Hoop!
July 12th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I believe that’s how you correctly write a ‘My Bad’. The dude is still cool in my book.
July 12th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Why is he apologizing for using it? He should be encouraged to use stuff from blogs. He should just check his facts and give credit where credit is due.
July 12th, 2007 at 7:07 pm
How close are we to a Bengal pulling a gun mid-game, “Last Boy Scout” style?
July 12th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
At least he apologized. On the other hand, he could have avoided this by using that Google thingee.
July 12th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
So he’s not a thief, he’s just incredibly lazy. And he lets a self-promoting clown write his column for him. Now I feel better.
July 12th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Since TBL said Thomsen stole content, shouldn’t TBL also apologize? Certainly he should have done a better job verifying the quote, but had the quote been real, would he still be a thief?
Maybe TBL should do a better job getting its facts straight before accusing writers of unethical behavior.
July 12th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
Not sure that it makes me feel any better that his excuse is “an agent told me he read it on the Internet”… So what, next he’s going to start getting his material from Wikipedia???
Pretty poor journalism, IMO. Same thing just happened with a NASCAR story… WCNC in Charlotte reported a whole story about a boat incident involving Kyle Busch and his boat. Turns out it wasn’t his boat and he wasn’t on it. They said the driver of the boat was one of Busch’s crew, but I’m not even sure that part was true!
July 12th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
The best part is that the guy who pulled the gun was Billie Blanks of Tae-Bo fame.
July 12th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Joe – There was no accusing on our part. All the facts were laid out against Thomsen, including his small note at the end of his last column.
Had Thomsen not explained himself, nobody would have ever known the story.
July 12th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
This is pretty much the thing you bloggers live for, right?
July 12th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
I’m not doubting that Thomsen should have done a better journalistic job (though, in keeping perspective, it’s not like he floated a quote from a NBA GM talking about a major trade; he pulled what he thought was a lighthearted comment from an entertainer to add some color to his intro—mistake, yes; egregious, not so much). But the post earlier this week makes it seem like Thomsen was trolling blogs looking for quotes and that he intentionally stole one. Based on his explanation, he borrowed a quote that the agent said he read online. It doesn’t appear that he read the post or knew that it came from a blog.
I don’t seriously think TBL should apologize. But I think this guy’s getting jumped on just a little too harshly.
July 12th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
The Last Boy Scout is on Cinemax/HBO pretty much every damn night and i still watch it.
July 13th, 2007 at 12:44 am
Hey. That Ian Thomsen is a fool. In his mea culpa he wrote this about the agent who gave him the bad info.” I’ve known Grant for years and he is an exceptionally honest person.” What self-respecting journalist would ever use the word honest person in connection with an agent?
July 13th, 2007 at 1:47 am
“I included the quote because it looked legitimate…”
And you, pal, look like an idiot.
SI should have tossed your ass out onto the street immediately. That they didn’t only further signals the decline of that once august publication and/or the rumor that you have pictures of SI higher-ups in the most compromising of positions.