Buster Olney Cryptically Accusses a ‘Web Site’ of Cheating for Scoops by Backdating Time Stamps
Baseball, ESPN, Media Gossip/Musings July 30th. 2008, 1:30pm
Nerd alert: This is probably too inside baseball for many people to care, but we find it interesting. A reader sent in an interesting nugget from Buster Olney’s column today:
The competition is part of what makes this fun, but this year, there have been times when a particular Web site will backdate its time stamp on the story to make it appear as if that site broke the news first. Happened again on Tuesday, in the aftermath of the Teixeira trade. Something to watch for.
Here’s how we saw the Tex deal go down: Reader Cortes sent us an email saying that Will Carroll at Baseball Prospectus wrote something about Kotchman being yanked off the field in Boston, perhaps because he had been dealt. But we couldn’t find this link on BP, so we punched in Tex’s name into a google news search, and Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports popped up with the first report of the trade, shortly before 6 p.m. (We quickly posted the link in the comments section.) Then, the 6 p.m. Sportscenter came on and ESPN opened with Keith Law reporting the deal.
To the best of our surfing, we couldn’t find anywhere else reporting the trade. Anyone? The whole ‘website’ thing is throwing us off, though. Would he really refer to Fox Sports as a website, instead of a news outlet or a competitor? But if he’s not talking about Fox Sports, then what website is he mentioning?
43 Responses to “Buster Olney Cryptically Accusses a ‘Web Site’ of Cheating for Scoops by Backdating Time Stamps”
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July 30th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
If everyone’s reporting it within minutes, does it really matter who broke the news first?
Also..FIRST
July 30th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Poor Buster. He’s still reeling after predicting A-Rod would sign with the Marlins during last years contract fiasco. Yeah Buster, you thought I forgot about that?
/Jumped the shark.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
YES!!!!!!!
July 30th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Buster Olney is great one of the best national baseball reporters out there.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Very interesting stuff, for real.
I trust Buster; there’s no reason to doubt his serious claim. I also smelled something fishy yesterday. Boston.com (The Boston Globe) posted a blog entry about Keith Law reporting on the trade.
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2008/07/a_few_things_42.html
This was from 5:39p, but was originally posted well before that as just:
The other info was added on at the 5:39p post.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Who broke the story? Does anyone care about this shit. If we are talking about real investigative journalism, I could see where it has some merit, but this whining is pathetic.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Yes! It’s like being the second man to discover a comet. The first man gets all the glory and adulation and gets the comet named after him. In the case of breaking trade news, everyon that doesn’t have inside sources has to say according to so-and-so
/slightly sarcastic, but there is a pride aspect to it all, I imagine
July 30th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Buster Olney is great… one of the best national baseball reporters out there.
/staving off the grammar nazis
July 30th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
i’m thinking he might be accusing SI.COM, heyman? verducci?
yes, i’m too lazy to actually look at when si.com had the trade posted
July 30th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
It just doesn’t matter. These guys are still operating like old time competing newspapers trying to print the news first and get their newsboys on the streets quicker than their rivals to boost sales.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I like Buster’s writing/reporting, but he must be kidding with this gripe. Maybe he forgets that his employer, ESPN, uses its bottom line to report EVERY story as though it were its own. We could learn about a trade from 10 different outlets, and ESPN would still tells us that “…Buster Olney from ESPN the Mag, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, Baseball Tonight (or whatever cross promotion they deem important at the moment) reports”
July 30th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
WHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
/Buster Olney
July 30th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
“If everyone’s reporting it within minutes, does it really matter who broke the news first?
YES!!!!!!!” CRM
Ditto.
–
Doesn’t most everyone assume that breaking stories are copied and back timestamped all the time? Thus, making the point of who was first pointless? It is a stupid trade that everyone is going to know about. If it was some sort of investigative story, I would understand, but a trade?
July 30th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
@Elatt
I agree, ESPN is the king mother of not giving credit to who actually breaks news.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Whatever, he’s John Heyman’s bitch…probably not, but I like Heyman better.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Seth Everett was on Philly radio today. He says the Angels are toast. They will clinch the division way early and have nothing to play for in September. Therefore it will be too hard to “turn the switch on” in the playoffs. Mark at first base apparently will not make a difference. These baseball reporters have really jumped the shark. They make it seem like mental capacity beats talent.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Billy…Buster has been Heyman’s bitch ever since they both were NY only writers…and all of this is ridiculous anyway…I reported the Tex trade on MLJ back on June 3rd 1999…check the timestamp
July 30th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
It’s not like the Braves and Angels were trying to keep the trade from becoming public knowledge and good old Buster blew the lid off it Watergate style.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
And the first person can enjoy a burger in peace while the guy who helped is made to feel like an asshole for not earning his burger.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
RWH…I’m glad to hear that’s always been the situation. I’m sadly too young to remember almost all of these people for their actual writing abilities wherever they got their start.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Throwing this out there, me and some buddies are heading down to Washington for the Phils-Nats game, is it true that parking is an absolute disaster and the Metro is the way to go?
July 30th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
+11 Jew Stars to Cuz. I love that commercial.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
@Billy – living in DC w/o a car for the summer, so I can’t speak for the parking situation. But the Metro drops you one block from the park. it was crowded, but it worked and was cheap
July 30th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Thor…Many thanks. My dad went to a game a couple weeks ago, and suggested the same thing. So that sounds like the way to go. I just wanted to make sure all the rumors of nearly homicidal parking issues weren’t a lie.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I don’t trust my father neither, Billy Bucks.
/Luke Skywalker
July 30th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
@Billy:
FWIW: I was told by my friends there if you have low tolerance for crowds and foul smells to NOT take the metro to/from the game and to bring your car instead.
July 30th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I go to a lot of Phillies games, how could my tolerance possibly be low?
July 30th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
And I haven’t trusted my father ever since he said teh Easter Bunny wasn’t real…bastard.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:08 pm
How important could it have been when the top of the hour SportsCenter still led off with 10 minutes of Farve bullshit?
July 30th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
TBL uses this same technique with deadspin breaking news…from the horse’s mouth
July 30th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
[ed: horse's mouth = CRM]
July 30th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
SportsCenter will always lead with 10 minutes of Favre/Yankees/Cowboys bullshit.
The only real question here is if some site actually back dated it’s post to make it appear it was first, when it was not first. If so, that is a very, very douche move.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Mr. Buster, Where the fuck you at? Can’t scrap a lick, So I know you got your gatt!
July 30th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
What’d you just call me?
July 30th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
The best part of the Favre saga is it allows Aaron Kampman to say things about Rodgers like “he’s got some special stuff inside of him.” Keep in mind Kampman is Rodgers’ roommate at camp.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
dont even respect your ass
July 30th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Rodgers will be fine. 10 wins at least for the Pack.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
sorry about that. i read a line from Dre day and had to
July 30th, 2008 at 2:21 pm
there is never a need to apologize for dre love…
July 30th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
I think bitching about a matter of minutes is ridiculous. As one has already noted, ESPN always claims scoops as their own so this is the pot calling the kettle black. Buster needs to grow up.
July 30th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
These guys get paid based on getting things first. So I wouldn’t say its ridiculous. How would you like it if someone cheated you out of dough?
July 30th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Quick. Who broke the Sabathia trade? Bueller? Bueller?
My point exactly…
July 30th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
@wally: i did