Seriously, I didn’t even get to read the post.

and what of those that don’t fit that stereotype?

woot!

One really wonders if he has testicles at all.

well, I don’t threaten people with lawsuits if they happen to disagree with me. otherwise spazzy mcgee and I would be racking up lawyer fees all the time.

that’s the difference.

i thought it was just as worthless as jon doss’ column, except with even more ad hominem attacks on an individual

Wait, what?

This is the structure of an ad hominem attack:

Person 1 makes claim X
There is something objectionable about Person 1
Therefore claim X is false

Did I miss HydroTech making fallacious assertions about John Doss’ character? I thought Hydro only addressed the faulty logic behind Doss’ arguments.

There is a ton of stuff wrong with college football recruiting. “Rankings” when no tape has been reviewed is one of them. Another is ad-hominem attacks on 18 year old kids who are picking universities for lord-knows-what reasons. Also, there are frauds on the internet who claim to be better experts at scouting high school football players than Cal’s coaches. Maybe those frauds should be left to wither away on the dark edges of the internet—but sometimes they should be exposed to the bright light so they wither faster.

While the post was written in a relatively inflammatory manner (for rhetorical emphasis), it would be nice if you could provide some examples of ad hominem. Having gone over the post to see if Doss really had a point, I found one possible ad hominem attack. However, to believe that such a statement was ad hominem, you’d have to take the quote out of context and ignore the preceding several sentences.

Regarding the post’s supposed lack of integrity, if you can demonstrate the Doss is more knowledgeable than the coaches about recruiting players for the University of California’s football team, then the “New Fanpost” button on the top left is calling your name.

to quote myself from three lines above, “He put his opinion out on the internet, we put ours out. It should stay out.”

This is all bullshit. His article sucked, HydroTech’s article sucked, my articles suck, Twist’s articles REALLY suck – it’s internet sports blogging! Instead of threatening people with lawsuits and actually taking those threats seriously, everyone should just chill out and jack each other off like we usually do.

Where’s CalHadDJaxFirst when you need him?

Pretty sage, actually. Rec!

but your integrity is top notch!

Just kidding dude, I actually didn’t think your article was that bad. I mean, sure, it had plenty of lazy moments…but man, have you read some of our stuff here? I write phrases like “approximately four fouls” and “10 plus minutes” in my articles because I’m too lazy to find the game stats at espn.

On the Internetz? You’re not very bright, are you, son.

You should apologies for threatening people with a lawsuit.

We don’t need your permission to criticize your opinions that you put out on the internet for public consumption.

I certainly wasn’t offended by your column. I just thought it was stupid. So apology not accepted.

What you could of done was come on this board and said something like this… “Hey Twist (if that’s your real name), I heard you wrote a blog post about me. I’m flattered. I would just like to say that I would like to PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE!” We all would have had a good laugh and probably respected you a bit more.

But…no…you’re an idiot. WHAT YOU GOING FUCKING SUE ME?

Considering your column was basically lambasting Tedford’s integrity by questioning his recruiting tactics, I’m wondering if you received a message like the one you just posted here, from him.

Hydo – You’re butt-hurting people with your silliness!

Good work, royrules. The Gertz case is a good start. There’s a later case, Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1 (1990), that spoke to this issue. The Supreme Court backed away a bit from the dicta in Gertz, explaining that there was no absolute “opinion privilege” that shields someone from a defamation action. The Court found that expressions of opinion could be actionable in defamation, consistent with the First Amendment, if the expression of “opinion” contained facts which are false & defamatory. But if the expression at issue is a pure opinion and cannot reasonably be interpreted to state facts about the person allegedly “defamed,” the First Amendment protection holds and no defamation claim can survive. (In the Milkovich case, at issue was a newspaper column which suggested that a person had perjured himself in a high profile case in the community. Though the column was in the nature of an opinion piece, the content of the column was reasonably susceptible to an interpretation that the writer was stating facts.)

Hydro’s post was nowhere near the sort of piece that could form liability under the Milkovich rule. Hydro was critiquing the Doss column and pointing out what Hydro perceived to be flaws in the logic. The totality of the post was quite clearly opinion and nothing defamatory.

As for the copyright angle: what Hydro cut and paste would fall under the fair use doctrine.

Posted my thoughts below. The skinny: No viable lawsuit. But even shitty cases cost money to defend.

1. Go to www.google.com/reader

2. Log in to your GMail/Google account

3. Click “Add Subscription” in the top left corner of Google Reader

4. Enter the url for CGB

At this point, the most recent CGB news updates will be loaded, including the hidden post.

But I kind of wish he were a little more diplomatic. In no way was Doss’ integrity attacked, but I felt Hydro could’ve been more effective in critiquing Doss with level headed language. Sounding angry and disparaging may do more harm than good by leaving a negative impression on the very people you wish to address and convince.

Great to see your comment, verytech. Hope to see you commenting more in the future.

I blame Longshore

F-ing lawyers

The only thing anyone did wrong were the CGB mods giving into an empty threat and hiding a post, subsequently making a big deal out of nothing.

I’m a mod, and I agree

Glad to have you aboard!

Great to see another lawyer here, Trojan Bear. Not so sure about your Trojan-ness, tho. Might have to see some serious atonement for that!!!!

Costs assessed!

you might get flagged in court

I just read Doss’ article for the first time. I agree with all of your points.

The biggest weakness in Doss’ writing — in my opinion and this is by no means fact, though at some point, a collection of similar opinions may lead a group to consider their consensus to be a truth — is that he’s attempting to be so colorful and grandiose, that he opens himself up to fair criticism. If he had instead written in a style more direct and to the point, instead of trying to paint pictures with his words, he may have been able to present a coherent and rational argument.

Rec’d for goodness. Flagged for mental image of seductive Kiffin whispers.

Scott Fujita is a cool guy or the coolest guy??

BEAST MODE!

What is really necessary on this blog?

i sue u!

I believe it was Mark Twain that said “Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”

I think the post should go back up, along with whatever take-down letter we received. The post has already been inserted into the internetz, and there’s no unringing that bell. Also, on the take-down notice, you owe no duty of confidentiality to Doss. At the very least post that letter/notice/demand.

Round the clock? Does that mean Twist was up all night? I hope he doesn’t let that get in the way of his professional ablities today, some grandmother not get evicted as a result. That is something that our society can’t allow.

Around the clock? That’s just PR speak. It doesn’t take too much to unhide.

As Tedfordisgod said you’re doing more damage hiding the post.

Also please post up the cease and desist letter you got.

I agree with you. As a “law person” I didn’t see anything close to libel. It seemed to me that it was more of a review of Doss’s article. Sure, it had a little bit of flair, but nothing to cry about.

Doss describes himself as an up coming sports broadcaster. If he wants to really continue on and do so, the kid really should grow a pair. You can’t be a broadcaster without being called a Douchebag every once in awhile.

It’s gotta be legal to call someone an SOB, right?

You know if you’re going to put up a post explaining the circumstances in such vague words and point out (in the front page of all places) that a post was hidden due to threat of a lawsuit then you have accept that everyone is going to provide their opinion. If you are so opposed to it then you should do one of two things a) don’t make a big deal of it or b) Explain the circumstances that we apparently don’t “understand”.

Don’t be condescending.

go back to the inanity

Geez, Twist. You sound like George W. Bush.

Twist, is just mitigating the circumstances. Go with him on this.

My guess:

“Jon Doss” is not suing “CGB.”

Scout threatened legal action on SBN. So now SBN has to juggle the generally free-speech, anything-but-plagiarism-goes mantra that has made SBN so successful. If CGB DOES leave the article down (they were probably told to take it down by SBN, not on their own accord) a precedent is set. However if the article is put up AND Scout sues, SBN is going to have a pain-in-the-ass lawsuit on their hands. SBN should go through with it, either get sued or call the bluff, so that in the future if BoN or EDSBS or ATQ wants to post something meanie-weanie about any number of broadcasting blowhards (which, frankly, I am in deep support of), they should have no recourse not to.

However, until then, if there is potentially libelous material posted by a member blog, SBN has to prepare for a lawsuit… SBN will probably need to pick its position wisely.

I know someone named Sue. Coincidence? I think not!

I think the primary concern is censorship. Taking posts down because someone threatens a bogus lawsuit is a bad precedent.

I personally thought the article was very good. It was not just a takedown of one guy, but really reflected on the whole recruiting industry.

5. Jay Leno
4. Santa Claus
3. The Easter Bunny
2. The Tooth Fairy
1. Alamaaaaarrr

great argument spazzy, really well written. You’re a genius, no seriously.

(Did I do it right?)

rec’d on all points…

Clearly, mistakes were made. Heads will roll.

While we clearly can defeat a meritless libel claim for Hydro’s post, Doss would have us dead to rights on a lawsuit involving Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress Due to Sachez Declaration (IIEDDSD, as it is commonly called in legal parlance). The damages for such a claim are extremely high.

And because it was taken down…it generated much more interest than it ever would have it was allowed to continue it’s course…

Now that the article is back up…I find it to be less interesting…

It’s time for you to go home now, Mr. liposuction.

I like the positivity you ended you rpost with. Thank you for that.

100% serious!

wow this is still going on?

it’s the internet….things that get posted don’t just disappear after 4-5 hours.