Weird Bit of Plagiarism and Cover-Up

I don't know what lessons to draw from this. But there are some wrecks on the street that I simply must inspect.

Since I am scrupulous about revealing my own sources, I will start with that. I learned of the below weird bit of plagiarism only quite recently, from Felix Salmon's column at Reuters. (Yes, that entry is actually by Ben Walsh, but the column as a whole has Felix' name on it.)

It appears that an ESPN.com columnist, Lynn Hoppes, has been engaging in blatant plagiarism. From wikipedia no less. (Gee, that's such an obscure site! who would ever know???)

Isaac Rauch, of DeadSpin, called out Hoppes on this back in July. In case you don't want to follow that link, here are a couple of Rauch's examples:

Wikipedia on boxing great and rape ex-con Mike Tyson: "Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA, and IBF heavyweight titles at 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old."

Hoppes on the same fellow: "Tyson is a former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and holds the record as the youngest boxer to win the WBC, WBA, and IBF heavyweight titles at 20 years, 4 months and 22 days old."

Wikipedia has this to say on The Odd Couple, in its days as a stage play:

"The Odd Couple premiered on Broadway at the Plymouth Theatre on March 10, 1965 and transferred to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre where it closed on July 2, 1967 after 966 performances and two previews."

Hoppes on the same Neil Simon play:

"The Odd Couple premiered on Broadway at the Plymouth Theatre on March 10, 1965 and transferred to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre where it closed on July 2, 1967 after 966 performances and two previews."

There are many more examples, but that will suffice. Even in those relatively straightforward examples, we can rule out coincidence.

But none of that is the really weird thing here. Nor do I have in mind the fact that ESPN is still standing by their guy, Hoppes remains gainfully employed. The Deadspin guys on the matter, Rauch and John Koblan, were for a long time simply ignored. So far as we know Hoppes has not been disciplined. And it appears to have taken ESPN months to make any changes in the columns with the wikipedia lifts in them.

No: what is really weird is that an ESPN Vice President has decided to defend his organization's reputation by painting the the whole thing as the consequence of a romantic disappointment. Mark Sanchez, a journalism student (not the Jets quarterback) tells us via his twitter account: "I asked John Walsh in class about Koblan/Hoppes feud. Says it's over a girlfriend dispute."

Follow that link and read the whole fascinating exchange. Sanchez is taking a course on sports writing, and his instructor brought in an ESPN big wheel for a little Q-and-A with the aspirant scribes. Non-confrontational, all in good fun exchange between a greybeard and eager young folk, right?

Sanchez asks about Hoppes. VP Walsh gives this love-triangle non-response. Hoppes once stole Koblan's gal and this is Koblan's way of getting back.

Cheap ad hominem even if true. Apparently not true. Weird twist -- Walsh picked the wrong guy on which to hang such a tale. Koblan is gay. And openly so.

Words fail me. And I'm not going to steal anybody else's to try to hide that fact, either.

If you want to read the scrubbed-up version of the ESPN column whence came the above two examples of plagiarism, go here.

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