Nebraska fans started hoax about Oklahoma players
POSTED 1:33 p.m. EST, July 10, 2008
A Nebraska fan posted a fake story on a message board claiming that Oklahoma quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Landry Jones had been arrested on charges of cocaine distribution. Two radio stations in Texas reported the story as fact. The Oklahoma players were not amused.
The fan, James W. Conradt, has apologized for what he said was meant to be a joke.
"I want to express my deepest apologies to the families," Conradt said. "That's the thing I'm regretful about. I didn't want to hurt anyone."
Although the radio stations that decided to repeat a message board posting as fact have to be held responsible to some extent, Conradt went to great lengths to make the posting look like a legitimate news story, copying the exact template that The Oklahoman newspaper uses and pasting it into the message board.
Oklahoma associate athletic directory Kenny Mossman said this is part of a disturbing trend.
"We feel it's real unfortunate how many things have germinated from an anonymous starting point that are unfounded, untrue and, as this story proves, hurtful," Mossman said. "The Internet has enabled a lot of this kind of thing to happen, and it's really disappointing."
Although it always annoys me when I hear people decry "the Internet" as if the web is some monolithic entity out to bring down our culture, Mossman has a point: Fans are growing more sophisticated in using the web not to celebrate their own teams, but to trash rival teams. That's a shame.
^^ Man, fucking around with a young man life like that over a game? What kind of reality do some losers live in? And the radio station? Good job checking the sources. I guess nothing was learned from the Mitchell Report fiasco of spewing out names without a source.
