Blame It On The Rain or Remember When Ashley Simpson Lip-Synced on SNL

There was a virtual shit storm on the twitters yesterday, that is still overflowing today. Keep in mind that the offending party has done this in the past. Joe Burkel who ran RedWingsGuy.com, (don't bother going there, it doesn't exist anymore) stole an article for the last time. He cut and pasted the Bill Roose article of Nyquist's call-up and called it his own. This was not a mistake. It was blatant plagiarism. Roose called him out on it publicly on twitter and was supported by many in the blogging community, myself included. Burkel appears to be non-existent, taking down the offending site and nuking his twitter account. Do not feel bad for him for he did this to himself. Whether he took the site down of his own volition or was prompted by the RW legal department is of no consequence for both scenarios would be the actions of a guilty man. He knew what he did was wrong.

There were two great pieces written about bloggers and mainstream media dealing with plagiarism. One from J.J. over here at Winging it in Motown http://www.wingingitinmotown.com/2011/10/31/2528498/policing-our-own-bloggers-msm-in-the-new-media

And the other by Nick at http://nickonsportsblog.com/

Give these both a read.

Anybody defending Burkel has now become suspect in my book, especially if they are a blogger. As I have mentioned before, this isn't the first time he has pulled this stunt. I saw someone tweet that this is a sad day in the RW community. No it's not. Not everyone needs to be a blogger. And when you take away the plagiarism all you were left with were articles with misspelled players names, incorrect stats and a podcast that was like freight train of knitting needles driven straight into your eardrum. It's okay to just be a fan.

I do this for fun. I like interacting with other Wings fans. Some take it very seriously. But the actions of Burkel put us all in jeopardy.

Shit. There's a game tonight, right? Well then, here's hoping that the Red Wings pull the chute on this free-fall. Look at all of this shit you caused Nyquist. You better score a hat trick. I'm only yanking your chain kid, think of yourself as a catalyst for a better tomorrow. There. No pressure. It's time to get two points tonight. It's time to climb the ladder vanquishing foes along the way. It's time to show the Minnesota Mild who you really are. I've got beer and whiskey and I'm ready to go. Are you?

Let's go Wings