David Pratt's column about Bob Cole, ...or was it? Options

[Southern_Canuck]

For the record: The Province is ending the column written by TEAM 1040 AM sports talk-show host David Pratt

excerpt:
The column, celebrating the winding down of the long career of Hockey Night In Canada play by play man Bob Cole, contained some clear similarities to the Reilly piece about legendary U.S. college basketball coach and broadcaster Al McGuire published in the Sept. 18, 2000, edition of Sports Illustrated.

The most striking was a passage in Reilly's piece: "They say he was born 72 years ago last Thursday, but don't believe it. McGuire dropped straight out of Guys and Dolls with a martini in one hand and a basketball in the other."

Pratt wrote in Tuesday's column in The Province: "Cole was born 75 years ago, but it's more likely he dropped straight out of Guys and Dolls with a martini in one hand and a puck in the other."

"Plagiarism is an affront to the ethical standards of this newspaper," said Province Editor in Chief Wayne Moriarty. "Our readers have to know that the writing in The Province is either original or attributed to the original source. I personally liked David's work, but as a result of this information we can no longer publish his column."

In an interview, Pratt admitted he had taken material from the Reilly column.


On the one hand he says "it was a mistake" and "I'll make damn sure I'll never do it again", but on the other hand he excuses himself with "we recycle everything".

S_C

[THINKER]

For the record: The Province is ending the column written by TEAM 1040 AM sports talk-show host David Pratt

excerpt:
The column, celebrating the winding down of the long career of Hockey Night In Canada play by play man Bob Cole, contained some clear similarities to the Reilly piece about legendary U.S. college basketball coach and broadcaster Al McGuire published in the Sept. 18, 2000, edition of Sports Illustrated.

The most striking was a passage in Reilly's piece: "They say he was born 72 years ago last Thursday, but don't believe it. McGuire dropped straight out of Guys and Dolls with a martini in one hand and a basketball in the other."

Pratt wrote in Tuesday's column in The Province: "Cole was born 75 years ago, but it's more likely he dropped straight out of Guys and Dolls with a martini in one hand and a puck in the other."

"Plagiarism is an affront to the ethical standards of this newspaper," said Province Editor in Chief Wayne Moriarty. "Our readers have to know that the writing in The Province is either original or attributed to the original source. I personally liked David's work, but as a result of this information we can no longer publish his column."

In an interview, Pratt admitted he had taken material from the Reilly column.
On the one hand he says "it was a mistake" and "I'll make damn sure I'll never do it again", but on the other hand he excuses himself with "we recycle everything".

S_C

Funny how in the world we live in you can BREAK a fellow colleague's neck and END his playing career and leave him with severe concussion problems and somehow manage to get a second (2nd) chance, BUT if you make a mistake in print it's ADIOS MUCHACHO to you ...




THINK ABOUT IT.

This post has been edited by THINKER: Jun 4 2008, 04:21 AM

[Topper]

Funny how in the world we live in you can BREAK a fellow colleague's neck and END his playing career and leave him with severe concussion problems and somehow manage to get a second (2nd) chance, BUT if you make a mistake in print it's ADIOS MUCHACHO to you ...
THINK ABOUT IT.

He should have written a fantasy piece about the neck breaker's wife.

[Hockey Widow]

I think he did make a mistake. It is a pretty well known line , one that has been used many times by many people. And he is right, on air you do stuff like that all the time. If he was going to plagiarize he would not have used something so well known.
Is he guilty of failing to cite his source, yes, but that is a far cry from deliberate plagiarism.

I agree he should be disciplined but I'm not sure if termination is the best result. He just writes like he speaks. He reads or gears something and he loves to repeat it and rant about it. The problem is when you write that way you have to give credit to the source. So I accept his explanation. It was a careless mistake, not a deliberate attempt to steal someones work. Knowing him, he'll be laughing it off.

[black ace]

Funny how in the world we live in you can BREAK a fellow colleague's neck and END his playing career and leave him with severe concussion problems and somehow manage to get a second (2nd) chance, BUT if you make a mistake in print it's ADIOS MUCHACHO to you ...
THINK ABOUT IT.

He is free to get a second chance wherever he can find someone who will pay him to wright a column. Bertuzzi has found several teams willing to give him a chance, perhaps Pratt will do the same.

[Vader]

He is free to get a second chance wherever he can find someone who will pay him to wright a column. Bertuzzi has found several teams willing to give him a chance, perhaps Pratt will do the same.

Maybe you can wright for The Province

[New York Canuck]

I'm not a fan of Dave Pratt, but this is just ridiculous. He used a famous, well-known line, that doesn't need to be credited. If he used, "Do you believe in miracles" without crediting Al Michaels, is that plagiarism? If he used, "Houston, we have a problem" without crediting the astronauts of Apollo 13, is that plagiarism? If he used "To be or not to be" without crediting Shakespeare, is that plagiarism?

Granted, each of the foregoing lines are more widely known than the line Pratt took from the SI article, but sports journalists and people with interest in sports journalism would have identified the line right away.

If I were Pratt, I wouldn't have apologized for a thing because that, in effect, is an admission that what he did was wrong. Rather, I would have simply advised him to say it was an allusion and a nod to Rick Reilly's piece on McGuire, which it may very well have been. No idiot -- even one as big as Pratt -- would have been stupid enough to pilfer a line from a well-known SI article without believing that a lot of people would recognize it immediately.

[Sudsy]

Why even hold sports writers to journalistic standards? They aren't real journalists. They can make things up at random, they have to kiss ass to the people they write about to get access to them, Gallagher and McIntyre wrote the book on this. Political and business writers actually have to follow rules, sports guys are merely bloggers with a press pass. Basically, as I have always said, "If you steal from one author it is plagiarism, if you steal from two it called research." I just made that up, a Sudsy original, you can use it if you wish. Pratt s a goof and it is no surprise that a slippery guy like himself is either too dumb or too lazy to not credit a source.

[Mr.Miyagi]

If you ask me this is a feeble attempt by The Province to "wipe their hands clean" of any wrong doing. I have to wonder if they weren't approached or threatened by Sports Illustrated with some sort of legal circumstances.

If that is the case, then shame on SI. I am a subscriber and if I wanted to I could recall several recycled quotes that they have used and have made no reference to the original author.

I really doubt that is the case, though. SI has just a little bit more money than The Province, and would have absolutely no competition coming from (no offense) a little local Vancouver newspaper.
I think that this is a knee jerk reaction by the Province trying to cover their own ass. Too bad, really... I actually enjoyed what Pratt had to say most of the time.

That being said, plagirism is what it is.I am glad Pratt acknowledged it publicly and should have to write some sort of apology/acknowledgement in his next column. I dont think it should be removed all together.

[New York Canuck]

I really doubt that is the case, though. SI has just a little bit more money than The Province, and would have absolutely no competition coming from (no offense) a little local Vancouver newspaper.
I think that this is a knee jerk reaction by the Province trying to cover their own ass. Too bad, really... I actually enjoyed what Pratt had to say most of the time.

I'm not sure the Vancouver Province would be so worried about SI. It -- like virtually every other paper in the country apart from the Globe -- is owned by Canwest which generated, oh, around $3 billion in revenues last year.

[Scoot]

Pratt writes how he speaks - boisterously and obnoxiously.

[Arachnid]

Funny how in the world we live in you can BREAK a fellow colleague's neck and END his playing career and leave him with severe concussion problems and somehow manage to get a second (2nd) chance, BUT if you make a mistake in print it's ADIOS MUCHACHO to you ...
THINK ABOUT IT.

Don't worry stinker, you're ass unoriginal as they come but we won't ban you


ArachOhPrattWeHardlyWantedToKnowYou

[mrJuggalo]

Good. Personally I think Pratt is a useless serf, and does not contribute anything original to be honest to the sports media. Often times all he does is read the CP rhetoric which I guess any media newscaster would do, however as a talk show host he is obligated to have an original opinion and present ideas that move in a step forward, his "opinions" are what he thinks, and that he's right. He never claims that, but you can hear it every single time in his tone of voice, it is inferred. So fuck you David Pratt, I hope 1040 gives you the boot too. Like the Sedin's were to Anson Carter, so too Don Taylor is to David Pratt.

[djwaiterguy]

I'm not a fan of Dave Pratt, but this is just ridiculous. He used a famous, well-known line, that doesn't need to be credited. If he used, "Do you believe in miracles" without crediting Al Michaels, is that plagiarism? If he used, "Houston, we have a problem" without crediting the astronauts of Apollo 13, is that plagiarism? If he used "To be or not to be" without crediting Shakespeare, is that plagiarism?

Granted, each of the foregoing lines are more widely known than the line Pratt took from the SI article, but sports journalists and people with interest in sports journalism would have identified the line right away.

If I were Pratt, I wouldn't have apologized for a thing because that, in effect, is an admission that what he did was wrong. Rather, I would have simply advised him to say it was an allusion and a nod to Rick Reilly's piece on McGuire, which it may very well have been. No idiot -- even one as big as Pratt -- would have been stupid enough to pilfer a line from a well-known SI article without believing that a lot of people would recognize it immediately.

did you read the original post?

that quote was not the only part he used, that was just the most noticeable

as stated in the original post

contained some clear similarities to the Reilly piece about legendary U.S. college basketball coach and broadcaster Al McGuire published in the Sept. 18, 2000, edition of Sports Illustrated.

The most striking was a passage in Reilly's piece

If he had only used that one part i would likely agree with you.

[Dado]

Seems like an overblown reaction, which suggests the employer was already looking for a way to dump his sorry ass.