Following prior accusations of "infringement," The Golf Channel makes no bones about stealing ideas from The Green Blazer
Reprinted with permission
He may be vulnerable after all. Golf superhero The Green Blazer seems to have been bested once again by what some are now calling a gang of disorganized and plagiarizing thugs that have gained control of one of the highest forms of golf media, an unprofessional syndicate the average American has come to know as simply, "The Golf Channel."
After splashing on the scene early last year, one of The Green Blazer's reining moments in the world of golf heroism was his capture of Kelly Tilghman, and more specifically, the chuckle she cackled after cracking her "lynch him in the back alley" joke about Tiger Woods. The clip garnered 80,000 views in 48 hours before youtube.com notified The Green Blazer that they had "removed or disabled access to (the Tilghman Clip) as a result of a third-party notification by The Golf Channel claiming that this material is infringing."
THE CLIP AT 54,000: The clip in question reaches #30 most viewed of the day on youtube
Normally a situation like this would be regarded as somewhat innocuous in the world of media--the Blazer has captured an embarrassing moment for the network and they're flexing their corporate muscle in order ensure its rebroadcast is kept to a minimum.
But it didn't end there. The Golf Channel, now very much aware of The Green Blazer and his super human ability to dazzle the game's most astute through poignant zingers, resurfaced this week with a follow-up blow, this time more tactical in nature. The network cleverly pilfered one of the Blazer's benchmark zingers, the "Celebrity Golf Lookalike." The act is captured in the image below.
PURLOINED STYLE: The Golf Channel steals The Blazer's 'Celeb Golf Lookalikes' idea, captured above
After seeing his tactics mimicked by the network giant, The Green Blazer issued the following statement:
"I was both saddened and excited to see The Golf Channel enter this new realm, a land of wit and humor that is now largely dominated by The Green Blazer Corps. I was saddened by their obvious lack of originality, but excited by the idea that they may finally give the thought of not being totally lame a try.
"The Charlie Hoffman and Chris Griffin bit is a solid start, despite the fact that the larger idea is tantamount to a highway hijacking not even the Batman could thwart. For the record, the Batman did phone me with an apology for not interrupting the signal in time, which was not necessary but nonetheless appreciated.
"Notice, the act in question is reminiscent of the corps' David Feherty and Count Von Count bit, only not quite as geometrically matched. While I would have simply used my mind to reverse and tilt the image into a better replicated juxtaposition, The Golf Channel could have probably attained this effect rather quickly in Photoshop. This is further evidence of my previous assertions that this foe is, for lack of a better term, totally bush league.
"This hereby concludes my statement, thank you and good day."
THIEVES LACK DETAIL: The Green Blazer points out his cartoon based celeb golf lookalike has a more paralleled juxtaposition
Further evidence of the Golf Channel's disregard for even the simplest attempts to cite their material can be found in the original cartoon graphic. A Google image search of "Chris Griffin" turns up the following pic as the very first listing.
NO RESPECT: The Chris Griffin graphic used by the Golf Channel has the artist's signature conveniently omitted
Notice how in stretching and distorting the image, The Golf Channel has also conveniently omitted artist Seth MacFarlane's name from the graphic, as if to reinforce the fact that they place absolutely no emphasis on giving credit where it's due.
"How hard would it have been for them to just say, 'In honor of golf blogger The Green Blazer, here's a celebrity golf lookalike.'?" said one Blazer supporter. "Vince Cellini may as well have done the bit wearing a green jacket and mask."
Both The Green Blazer and Seth MacFarlane were unavailable for further comment.
7 comments:
Damn GB, sorry to hear that. So much for honor among thieves, huh?
Dude Blazer, I agree the golf channel should've given you a shoutout but you're not the only one who's ever thought of the idea to do celeb lookalikes. What else about the Golf Channel is so bush league?
You're right Pace, the Blazer's not the first person to ever do celebrity lookalikes, but he's the first person we've ever seen do it with golf.
Plus it's ironic that the golf channel threatened to sue him and now they're stealing his material, don't you think?
TGB (note this would come before TGC in the phone book, which is like totally of some meaning) has been buggered up the behind. The Slice Girls have stolen many an idea from the Great Green Blazer, because it's well known that he is the really the only one going to the top of the golf world, but for TGC to do the same is just, well, a bit like dropping a few yards in front of where you knew your ball went into the water. As usual we're not making too much sense but we want TGB to know you always have a shoulder to cry on (remember Big Girls don't cry so you don't wanna be a big girl and not cry).
Long live TGB.
Golf Channel a Bit Bush League Today, from 2.27.07
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=164622619&blogID=237019149&Mytoken=995EF15E-BF58-4CB0-AF65D321E183CE8438393258
I actually enjoyed reading this b/c I like The Green Blazer's writing style, but why so much disdain for The Golf Channel?
The golf channel is known for hiring uninspired and unoriginal peons, most of which are ESPN rejects who would rather be guzzling Pabst Blue Ribbon and watching football than appreciating the civilized sport of golf. They should just cut to the chase and hire the blazer as a contributor. Maybe then they could stop worrying about what is happening on this free blogger.com page. Chumps.
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