Scoop Jackson is creative
Published by The Cavalier December 1st, 2006 in Life Discussions, ESPN, Who Shot Mamba?, Orange Roundie, Scoop Jackson
(Pre-note: this post was written before the previous one, but we want this one on top for now.)
Sorry to keep you waiting.
Everyone knows what he did.
Hell, even he knows — perhaps dropping the phrase “Orange Roundie” right in the middle of it was his way of admitting it without admitting it. Who knows what goes on in the mind of someone like Scoop.
Frankly, if he’d left it out, nobody could really say anything — certainly two people on Earth could come up with the idea of the ball being sentient. By vaguely nodding to the source, he points out the whole deal, though.
He stole. He stole a concept, a schtick, a character.
He took it and presented it as his own.
It’s wrong, and people with integrity don’t do it. In any creative industry, it’s like the RULE. It’s the one thing you DON’T DO. He knows it, we know it, everyone else knows it.
(Side note here. We’ve never been huge fans of Scoop the writer — he knows his hoop, but his stuff is a little over-stylized and wordy for us, mainly due to our short attention span. Never did we think he was a bad guy, though. Never did we think he was a hack of this fashion.)
The worst part about this is that no matter how it shakes out, we end up looking bad. Just to be clear, we don’t want apologies, and we certainly don’t care about links or credit from ESPN.
What we want is a time machine, so that we can put the Roundie back in his box until it’s his time to come out. You’ll note the videos stopped — there’s a reason for that. We had a plan, and that plan is now compromised, lest the uninitiated think we draw our ideas from Scoop Jackson. All because he couldn’t come up with his own idea for a column.
Oh, and just to be clear with what this really is all about: we own the copyright on the name and character “Orange Roundie”. (We have no claim on the ball pattern, which is why we have our own being done.)
Do you hear and understand that, ESPN?
NOTE: Another point that’s really clawing at us is that Scoop completely misunderstood and bastardized the humor in “Orange Roundie” and the personality of same. You don’t throw that phrase out there without going back to the source and seeing it in context.
And you certainly don’t try to do a lame imitation of someone else’s character. This is like if someone wrote their own Spider-Man comic and gave him bird powers.
Since we’ve got stealing on the mind, allow us to steal from Seinfeld — this portion of the problem doesn’t offend us as the owner of “Orange Roundie”, it offends us as a comedy writer.
NOTE 2: It’s entirely possible Scoop innocently thought he was throwing the “cute lil’ blog person” a bone by doing this — he could pat us on the head like a small child, all like, “Here’s some candy! Do you like candy?” And we’d be all like, “Wow! Scoop Jackson reads the website! Ooooh!”
Hey Scoop — we’re a professional screenwriter, buddy. We get paid to write, too. You assume too much, especially if you think we’re “wowed” by celebrity of any kind.
NOTE 3: We welcome others to chime in as they please. Send us your links — we’re collecting them. Were not going to war with ESPN…yet. That said, we’ve had it with them — you like our style and material so much (and clearly you do), pay us to do it for you.
(For the newly arriving, click on that Orange Roundie category link up there to see the real history of the actual Orange Roundie.)
UPDATE: Scoop has responded via Deadspin:
“I actually thought I was giving them some love, even though ESPN edited out the part about them being the ball’s favorite site. Just trying to have some fun. Hope you enjoyed the piece; tell YAY I thought their overall ball coverage was brilliant. The ball, on the other hand, had a few issues.”
We appreciate the compliment, Scoop, and that’s exactly what we figured you’d say. “Aww, thanks lil’ blog guy. I’m gonna take your idea and run with it on my own in bog boy land.”
Look, we have the copyright on the “Orange Roundie”. This isn’t about “respect for blogs” or “wahh wahh recognize us”, it’s about a character that we own and commercial plans for, which you have taken and used without permission.
Again, you have every right to have the NBA ball speak in the first person (as questionable as that is to do), but you cannot call it the “Orange Roundie”.
We’re going to hold to our current opinion that this was done out of ignorance and not because you’re a bad person. We imagine we’d get along quite well with you, actually.
As someone said in the comments on your post yesterday, and as you mention above, the truly unfathomable part (for me, at least) is that he makes it clear he stole Orange Roundie from “a Web site” but can’t say what Web site that is… even like as a footnote or something. That’s what I find the most disturbing.
Great, now I gotta beat the shit out of Scloop in 1-on-1 too
Also, it’s Friday and no one had commented on this post for 30 minutes? Where is everyone? Out playing in the snow?
What? Scoop has candy? Hmm…I’ve been waiting all day for this. Scoop, sir, you are the Master Douche of all douches
It actually just went up - timestamp was from when I started writing.
yeah i remember reading that column, looking for a yaysports shoutout or a note saying that it was co-written by the cavalier, and it never came. only the lame “web-site” reference.
it was a shitty article too. shame on you scoop.
This has crossed my mind though, with all the crap Scoop has been getting…maybe he was trying to get fired? I have a list of links for you Cav I can send to you as we track them
This kind of shit is why I’m boycotting ESPN. First I canceled my Insider subscription. Now I barely even check the site. Fuck them.
The Roundie doesn’t drink, btw. I’m on the phone with him right now and he’s especially offended (and angered) by that part.
Wish keep sending those links, yo. I’m compiling them.
This is really frustrating; I love Page 2 (or at least what it was), and love the YAY too. I guess I feel like Lakers fans during Shaq-Kobe-gate: YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE SAME TEAM! And that, of course, is the team of amusing me and helping me fail out of school by wasting time, without stealing each other’s stuff. Flame on, what can I say?
This is really frustrating; I love Page 2 (or at least what it was), and love the YAY too. I guess I feel like Lakers fans during Shaq-Kobe-gate: YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE ON THE SAME TEAM! And that, of course, is the team of amusing me and helping me fail out of school by wasting time, without stealing each other’s stuff. Flame on, what can I say?
Here’s how it looks now:
A Web site named yaysports.com gave me a nickname. They call me the Orange Roundie. That’s what I learned to do on my downtime, between practices and games. On Oct. 23 they called me a winner. But before that …
It now says, “A Web site named yaysports.com gave me a nickname. They call me the Orange Roundie.”
It’s still total BS. Keep us in the loop as far as your plans for vengeance go…
Yes, while trying to complain about copying, I suddenly realized that my made-up name “ClevelandCharlie” directly copied the comment name in front of me. Sorry, real Charlie. In Dante’s circles of stupidity, I’m the guy who tests his chainsaw on the tree his kid’s treehouse is on, while the kid’s in it. (SMACK)
That’s even worse!
Yeah ClevelandCedric, I’ll have my people call your people about that!
And yes, it is worse, much worse.
Like I said before, Fuck ESPN.
wow. talk about bojangling.
scoop is a hack.
cav 4 life.
p.s. I guess this is just one more reason you should have graced us w/ WSM a little earlier. fuck the haters. give us what we want.
Whee, revisionism!
The best part is now he’s specifically calling out a website whose top story is bashing him.
The ironing is delicious.
“Careful Scoop…..carrrreful.”
It’s still not a complete link, it’s just the text. And it doesn’t go to yaysports.com/nba.
This doesn’t excuse the fact that he completely ripped off the entire idea.
He can’t make up for it with a weak text shout that isn’t even a link. Even a link, at this point, doesn’t excuse his unethical writing behavior.
Scoop Jackson fails at working for a living.
YAY and Scoop, can’t you two see that you’re in love with each other!
Hey guys! Scoop just updated his article! now it says:”A Web site named yaysports.com gave me a nickname…”
I think “Careful Scoop…..carrrreful.” should definitely be one of the next waves of T-shirts from the Yaysports! store of purchasable items.
In fact I want a hoodie!
Fight the good fight, kids.
I think it goes without saying that I would purchase any and all Roundie-related merchandise.
ESPN.com…coming through in the clutch. What idiots. I warned Scoop yesterday….Baby Pandas…He took the warning much too lightly
Deadspin.com is weighing in soon… with reaction from Scoop???
Total bullshit, it makes me sick just thinking about it. BASTARD
Deadspin’s post is up.
Worse yet - sad to see he doesn’t get it.
sigh
Oh Scoop, you dumb bastard
Sir,
I cannot believe that YOU are accusing the illustrious Mr. Jackson of “scooping” “your” concept when in fact, you have clearly stolen it from my noble family. Furthermore, I have in an undisclosed location incontrovertable proof that Mr. Scoopurpolis de Blog Jackson is IN FACT a direct descendant of Loquacious Orangeroundie III.
On behalf of my dear mum, the Duchess of Pork, and my sainted grandfather, the Earl of Pearl, I implore you to acknowledge your debt to my family, the Queen and Mr. Jackson.
Hacktacularly Yours,
William of Orangeroundie
Scoop’s article has been edited yet again, to:
A Web site (YAYSports) gave me a nickname. They call me the Orange Roundie. That’s what I learned to do on my downtime, between practices and games. On Oct. 23 they called me a winner. But before that …
Still no link.
Baby need his wawa? Bitching like females….shits disgusting.
Dude. I had no idea you could copyright a concept like “Orange Roundie”.
Having said that, all power to the Cavalier. Scoop done wrong.
Good god that is the biggest hack move I’ve ever seen. How did he think he wasn’t getting called out for that? It just blows my mind.
Good luck taking on The WWL….and I’m enlisting in the army.
Need some attention Tony? Here ya go.
Dear Scrap,
The only reason I like you is because when you came to ESPN, that meant you stopped ruining SLAM. Now I’m not even sure if that’s a good enough reason.
Love
Sam
It’s not about pride - it’s about money and commercial business interests.
Seems a bit silly to even try to imply that Scoop Jackson stole the concept for his article from this site. It’s not exactly a unique concept and he acknowledged other people doing similar work.
Doug, with all due respect, you’re misunderstanding what the real issue is here.
I don’t care if someone copies me - it happens all the time.
I care about this specific instance because of plans I have for the Orange Roundie.
When the movie comes out people will see the scope
of what I’m trying to do and why this pisses me off so badly - it’s my own fault for being secretive, but so be it.
Do I have to start reading Scoop now, so I can officially stop reading Scoop in protest?
i’m not a fan, but it’s obvious scoop was giving you an homage. and yes, he should’ve named the site, but it’s possible ESPN edited it out and your anger[if you can be angry about getting tons of free exposure] should be directed at them. this is a fiasco about nothing.
A fiasco that will ultimately fail.
Don’t listen to those guys. I hate it when the bigs disrespect blogs. Paul Krugman used to steal from Josh Marshall too without crediting him - it makes perfect sense this stuff would happen in sports too now.
I think his patronizing aside only makes it worse. Unfortunately, I don’t see what real recourse you have, other than the campaign of public ridicule of Scoop Jackson that seems to be growing.
i am having a really hard time understanding how can it be that some of you don’t get it. if you are regular readers of this blog then you must know that scoop did more than just borrow a name, he completely plagiarized a concept from somebody else. it’s about the principle, even if there were no actual financial repercussions. how about if all of the big companies could just take ideas from smaller ones? but i guess that would be ok because the little guys would be getting exposure.
btw, only cav could come up with such an elaborate and complex character for an inanimate object.
i am not sure if that is a sign of brilliant imagination or insanity.
I agree that Scoop should’ve asked you before he wrote the piece, but the editors definitely are at fault here. And he seems genuine when he says he was just paying homage. Plus, why would he blatantly steal a name that is readily available on the Internet. He is a professional writer afterall, I don’t think he’s dumb enough to do that.
And I like blogs a lot more than maintstream coverage, but all this snobbishness from blogs is annoying. Mainstream media are making a genuine effort to recognize blogs. A lot of blog writers have gone on to write for the big boys.
I’d jump on the gravy train, but I don’t ever read Scoop and I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of linking my readers to his site. I read you several times a week and there’s a link to your site on my page. That is all. Keep up the good work.
Big Sh!t! Nobody heard of you before Scoop penned you. Why all the nastyness? If anything he put you on the landscape. Be grateful - you sound like an ingrate.
Whoever this Cavalier guy is he sure sounds like a genuine douchebag. Now I know where all 50 of your readers vent. Bunch of fucking ‘tards…
Go Pistons!
For the record, I hate Scoop’s writing. He belabors his point and tried very hard (w/o success) to be funny.
On the other hand, I try to read yay once every 10 days or so. I like the writing style you guys here have.
But honestly, I think you could have taken the high road on this. I’ve been following the roundie idea and I like it. I agree Scoop’s column was a very dumb/weak imitation. You should’ve called him out for that with a short post and left it at that.
Going postal on him and repeatedly saying you don’t care for ESPN or their linking to you only makes the opposite seem true. Why do you feel belittled by Scoop’s gesture of ‘love’? If you’re bigger than he thinks you are, you should be able to laugh his supposed attempt off.
I agree with a previous commenter that the blogworld is getting pretty snobbish, especially when many of the same bloggers were pumping their fists when they got linked to ESPN in the preseason coverage (the tattoo question and all that).
Bottom line: you guys were doing a great job UNTIL this happened.
CAVALIER:
I read your blog everyday, I have to admit that I am also a big time Scoop fan. I usually don’t miss his pieces. I agree he did some wrong, but knowing Scoop I can assure u he didn’t mean no harm.
He took your idea and run with it, expanding it, give it some exposure so as next time when u use it a bigger audience knows exactly whats the deal. I think u got yourself a free promo, u can actually turn it into a positive.
Shout outs to Scoop.
I agree he did this with the best intentions, but permission should have been asked - even a small - “Hey, I like that thing you do - mind if I run with it a bit?”
Here’s the thing that nobody understands, and maybe it’s a quirk of mine I need to fix or something.
I feel so strongly about using other people’s ideas or even being influenced by others ideas, that I’ll probably never be able to allow myself to use Orange Roundie again.
If even one person thought I took the name and/or concept from Scoop or didn’t think of it myself, I’d be crushed.
That’s why when I see people take material from others it’s really a lot to handle. As a creative person, it’s a mindset I have.
You see it all the time in the industry out here, and each and every story I hear, I just can’t concieve of how someone could even consider considering something like that.
Hmm:
The links on ESPN with the tattoo question are completely different than this situation. When quoted on ESPN, each blogger was specifically attributed to with their name AND their site’s url. It could not have been more clear that the material of that section of the Daily Dime came straight from bloggers. This article had neither, and that’s stealing, a clear violation of both law and journalism ethics.
The snobbery argument bothers me incredibly. Let’s say that you had an invention and patented it. Wouldn’t you be angry if someone else took credit for your invention? Wouldn’t you want to tell everyone you could about the injustice you received? I severely doubt that you would just drop the issue. Not only that, but if you did drop the issue, what’s to stop this company from doing it again? How will things ever become right if the victim does nothing about it?
Quite simply, the sports blogosphere (and the blogosphere in general) should be standing in solidarity with Cavalier. If this was one of your friends, I’m sure you’d feel the need to lend him support. Like it or not, the sports blogosphere offers a community, and we stand up for each other. If that makes us snobby, so be it.
We’re not restricting anyone from this or even telling everyone what to believe. The very discussion that is occuring here is an example of the tolerance of this blog to differing points of view. So I don’t understand where the argument of snobbery holds water.
Like I said, if you believe that it is snobby of fellow blogs to support Cavalier and their own rights, then you don’t have any concept of how this injustice can be remedied. When there’s an injustice, we have a duty to do everything possible to prevent it from happening again. If this is snobbery, so be it.
Matt B (formerly of the Perkolators) said it very well:
The problem is that ESPN thinks it’s doing yaysports a favor by using it’s material, like you should be flattered instead of piss’d off.
Beyond the moral side is the legal one - “Orange Roundie” is mine. I own it, and have (had?) future commericial interests in it.
Make the ball talk all you want, but you can’t call it the Orange Roundie. It’s a pretty black and white issue.
The bottom line on this is that Scoop copied an entire idea from someone and published it with no initial attribution to his source.
That’s grounds for expulsion from any many journalism school. He’s pulling in a hefty salary from ESPN.com to deliver original content, and he blatantly plagiarized. If you do that on a term paper, you get a 0. Why do we lower the standards when he’s getting paid so much more? Scoop or the editor or whoever should resign immediately. There is no real debate on this.
Let’s say ESPN.com had a gimmick where they spend dozens of pages on it’s website, printed up some T-shirts and other stuff for sale and was going to use it in one of their upcoming TV movies, then CBS uses the exact same concept with the exact same name.
WWESPND? They’d lawyer up in a heartbeat.
Scoop is an idiot, read firethisperson.com about the reasons he should be fired.
email, marshall@firethisperson.com for responses toward the subject. comments section coming soon. Hey YAY, you’re the shizzle, keep passing 411 to the masses.
Cavalier,
This page is now gaining momentum when you search Scoop Jackson in Google.
I wish I hadn’t read Scoops response on Deadspin, it just makes matters worse. Fight the good fight friend, we have your back.