Archive for the 'The Daily Oklahoman' Category

OPUBCO is really angry…

Published by
Patrick
 on July 15, 2008

So, it looks like OPUBCO has decided to go ahead and sue James Conradt, the Nebraska fan who lives in Austin and works for the University of Texas, for creating and posting the funny fake write-up about Sam Bradford and Landry Jones distributing cocaine. From, ironically enough, NewsOK.com:

The Oklahoma Publishing Co. and a sportswriter Monday sued a Nebraska football fan who admitted creating a fake Internet article about two University of Oklahoma quarterbacks.

The 10-count civil lawsuit accuses James W. Conradt of libel, copyright violations and trademark infringements.

The lawsuit claims Conradt used Oklahoman staff writer Jake Trotter’s byline and various OPUBCO trademarks to give the bogus Internet article the appearance of legitimacy.

Conradt placed Trotter in a false light and damaged his reputation and occupation by publishing the story, the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified financial damages. The lawsuit also asks a federal judge to order Conradt not to misuse OPUBCO trademarks in the future, to require Conradt to prepare a written report stating how he will comply with that order, and to order Conradt to publish “corrective advertising” to compensate for the harm he allegedly caused.

First all, isn’t Jake Trotter the same guy who wrote about Jay Norvell and Bob Stoops playing football at Purdue? Something tells me that was a lot more damaging to his reputation and occupation than an obviously fake news story that uses his name. If anything, Jake should probably be thanking Mr. Conradt for making it appear that he does actual reporting.

Anyway, I’m not too sure what to think about all this. As an OU fan, I’m kind of happy. As the founder of a website called The Lost Ogle, I kind of think OPUBCO could do something better with its money than harass some blogger for treading into the blurry waters of libel, copyright violations and trademark infringements. You know, something like suing NewsOK.TV for actually producing videos like the one above. Seriously, if somebody watches that entire thing they may fall head first into their computer monitor and die. Then OPUBCO would probably be sued for gazillion dollars and possibly have to shut down NewsOK.TV.

Actually, that might not be a bad thing. Watch the video now!

Category: NewsOK, Oklahoma City Media and The Daily Oklahoman. 12 Comments

Worst of OKC: Worst Metro Newspaper

Published by
Patrick
 on July 8, 2008

In Oklahoma City, we have one really big major newspaper and a whole bunch of smaller ones. This may seem too easy, but one of them has to be the worst. Check out the nominees and vote after the jump.

Continue reading ‘Worst of OKC: Worst Metro Newspaper’

Category: The Daily Oklahoman, The Oklahoma Gazette and Worst of OKC. 57 Comments

DnA is pretty boring…

Published by
Patrick
 on July 3, 2008

I haven’t been there yet, but I’ve heard from several people that new McNellie’s Pub in Midtown is supposed to be pretty damn cool. Imagine then my surprise when I noticed that Dave and Angie decided to visit it as part of their boring DnA series. Take a look:

(WARNING: The video contains graphically boring content. You may fall face first into your cup of coffee if you’re not careful.)

Word of advice for the people at NewsOK.tv: when your five second intro featuring a double-helix is more interesting than the five minute video proceeding it, you may just want to tank the whole idea. Also, when choosing background music, try to avoid the stuff that is generally played at a drunk Scottish guys funeral, it’s kind of a buzz kill. Other than that, keep up the extraordinarily average work.

P.S.- I’d also like to add that I don’t think this DnA thing is working out to well. They are about as fun as cancer. You could give them secret 1990’s video footage of Van Shae Iven and the fat Bob Barry Jr. playing underwater freeze tag at a metro swimming pool and they’d find a way to make that seem boring and totally normal.

Category: Dave Morris, NewsOK and The Daily Oklahoman. 23 Comments

This “Collected Wisdom” stuff isn’t very wise…

Published by
Patrick
 on June 16, 2008

Every Sunday, the Daily Oklahoman sports section runs a trite little feature that they like to call “Collected Wisdom.” In it, they give some legendary sport figure the space to share a note or two of wisdom that they have gathered over the years. This week, they featured perhaps one of the “wisest” people ever, former University of Oklahoma baseball coach Larry Cochell. In case you forgot, Larry resigned from the University of Oklahoma for this:

Cochell was speaking with play-by-play announcer Gary Thorne when he called Dunigan (an African-American) over to praise him for staying in school. When the freshman returned to the field, Cochell told Thorne, “There’s no n—– in him.” The network informed the school that Cochell used similar language in an interview with ESPN analyst Kyle Peterson.

Yep, our state newspaper decided to run a feature called “Collected Wisdom” on a fool that makes hillbilly off-the-record racists remarks. But don’t blame the Oklahoman, because according to them, that incident only “allegedly” happened:

He resigned as the Sooners’ coach three years ago, after ESPN reporters alleged he used a racially insensitive remark off-camera.

Seriously, how does The Oklahoman get away with stuff like this? Not only did they give Larry Cochell a chance to share his wisdom with us–and then claim he only “allegedly” made the remarks–but the article itself is absolutely terrible. Check out some of his wise thoughts:

I’m a big football fan. We went to the Oregon game, and we’ll go to Seattle this fall.

My health is good. I have it under control. I have some blockages, but with medications it’s under control. I have tests every six months.

Great stuff, huh? I’m going to sleep better each night knowing that Larry Cochell is going to Seattle in the fall. Maybe next week they can have Dave Bliss tell us where he likes to go shopping, or let Kelvin Sampson tell us his favorite cell phone plam. Those guys are as wise as Larry Cochell, right?

Category: The Daily Oklahoman and Uncategorized. 30 Comments

This is The Ladies Room…

Published by
Patrick
 on February 18, 2008

Talk about unintentional comedy gold, watch this clip. The only thing missing is the little hipster girl asking the old General if she would like any schweddy balls:


If I ever meet a lady that watches The Ladies Room, please wake me up and ask me why I am eating at the Queen Anne Cafeteria, and better yet, to hurry up and help my grandma with her tray. Come on! What the hell are the people at NewsOK.com thinking and how did this series get a greenlight? Can you imagine the first few production meetings:

“Let’s get Angie Bruss, a homely virgin-looking girl and a hipster to talk about relevant topics to today’s woman.”

“Yes, sir! What should we call it?”

“The Ladies Room. And be sure to get us a General to interview. Or at least Jenni Carlson.“

Anyway, maybe I’m being too hard on the people at NewsOK.com (or should we say NewsOK.tv). I mean The Ladies Room is funny, and they are making strides in other areas (liking having Sally Eastridge change up her outfit and lose the Mardi Grad Beads). But if they were really smart, they would do away with most of their shows and give us more George Lang and Heather Warlick. Or better yet, screw George Lang and just give us more Heather Warlick. Maybe even send her to Braum’s to make ice cream or something…

Category: NewsOK and The Daily Oklahoman. 13 Comments

Sally Eastridge needs a raise…

Published by
Patrick
 on February 11, 2008

We’ll it looks like NewsOK.com has taken things to the next level and hired a “weekend anchor.” Her name is Sally Eastridge. These are her Friday, Saturday and Sunday updates from Oklahoma’s website:

Sunday Update


Saturday Update


Friday Update


Hey, I know that the powers to be at NewsOK.com are still learning this whole video news thing, but when you hire or promote someone to a weekend anchor position, shouldn’t a standard interview question be:

Do you own more than one professional outfit?

I think it should. But then again, I also like checker boards, Red Baron pizza boxes and blondes, so I’m not complaining. Also, what’s up with that Christmas light Mardi Gras necklace thing? What did Sally do? Flash Dave Morris at Pearls on Fat Tuesday and get that thing in return? We demand an answer!

Category: NewsOK, Oklahoma City Media and The Daily Oklahoman. 15 Comments

Hmmn…this looks familiar.

Published by
Patrick
 on February 1, 2008

From a blog post found at the place that calls itself Oklahoma’s Website:

Post Date:
Friday, Feb 1st, 2008 at 10:10 am

moe.jpg

We’re checking on the rumor that this guy is former Oklahoma defensive lineman Moe Dampeer and that he has made it through to Hollywood on American Idol.

Supposedly Moe has lost 150 pounds and turned his eyes to singing.

Funny, we always thought of Moe as more of a dancer.More to come…

Well, well…it sure is comforting to know that the same guys who told us Bob Stoops was a boilermaker are now checking on a rumor that a skinny Moe Dampeer is on American Idol. It’s also comforting to know that a big, powerful, professional money making website like NewsOK.com basically regurgitated information from a not-for-profit blog and then passed it off as their own. Seriously, it’s like the only differences between the two posts (see below) is that ours was posted 8 hours earlier, we figured out how to embed a YouTube Clip, and we probably have more readers.

I think that if NewsOK.com really wants to get big into this blogging thing, its writers should practice normal blog etiquette. For example, they should link to or cite the other blogs that provide them with their information. Doesn’t that seem like a better thing to do than rewriting the same story and then passing it off as your own? Just click the links below for some classic good examples:

Anyway, I hope this maybe opens some eyes and helps change the ways of NewsOK. If they are going to claim to be “Oklahoma’s Website,” at least they can set a good example.

Category: Oklahoma City Media, The Daily Oklahoman and The Lost Ogle. 13 Comments

Breaking News: Bob Stoops played football at Purdue

Published by
Patrick
 on January 17, 2008

 

If you’re like me, you always assumed that Bob Stoops played college football at the University of Iowa (just look at the tiny picture above). However–in what has to be breaking news–it appears that The Oklahoman has learned that Bob Stoops actually played for Purdue! 

From an article regarding the anticipated hiring of Jay Norvell as the Sooners replacement for Kevin Sumlin:

Oklahoma is expected to name Jay Norvell as wide receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator sometime this week, sources have confirmed.

Norvell, who was offensive coordinator at UCLA this past season, told the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal-Star on Wednesday that he has accepted the OU position…

Sooner coach Bob Stoops and Norvell have a connection that dates back to when they played together at Purdue in the early 1980s.

What’s bizarre is that both Stoops and Norvell both claim on their resumes that they played college football at Iowa, but who are you going to trust?  Greedy, seedy college football coaches?  Or Oklahoma’s trusted news leader, The Oklahoman? 

My money is with The Oklahoman.

However, I will admit that there is a slight possibility that the people in the dark tower simply made an ignorant, ridiculous and embarrassing error.  But, seriously, how could that happen when they employ and pay professional journalists, proofreaders, copy editors, assistant editors and, well, normal editors. 

It’s impossible right?

Not really.  One thing I’ve learned over the past six months–whether it’s Cale Gundy’s infamous rant towards Jenni Carlson or the way the Putnam City School District has handled the crazy situation regarding their district superintendent–is that people and institutions do make mistakes.  Only some mistakes are a lot more embarrassing, and completly idiotic, than others.  

Category: OU Football, Oklahoma City Media, Sports and The Daily Oklahoman. 19 Comments
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