Rimrockers to Join CBA- Sorry, not true

[johnnydr87]

i'm excited. from the local newspaper:

Taken down.

[Common Sense]

Now this is some good news, for the CBA and especially for the Rimrockers!

[Sam Hill]

I'm shocked.

And stunned.

No, not really.

Good job, Arkansas. Now go win the ABA to stick it to them.

[Chris]

This is Chris Givens of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. I DID NOT write
that story, nor has anyone associated with my paper written anything
remotely similar to that article. First of all, I know RimRockers is
spelled with two capital 'R's. Whoever concocted this lie could at
least have made me sound intelligent.

Rest assured my editors and newspaper's attorneys are taking interesed
in this fabrication, which violates several laws. John Richter,
"johnnydr87@yahoo.com", better have a good explanation for this,
because he will be contacted with possible legal ramifications.

For those of you that monitor the Yahoo groups ABA board, John
Richter posted there, too, and I am cut-and-pasting this message into
that forum.

The RimRockers ARE NOT going to the CBA, and outside those directly
involved in the organization I promise you I have more knowledge on
this subject than anyone in an internet message board.

My email address is chris_givens@adg.ardemgaz.com if anyone has any
information on how this got started that they want to share with me.
If not, I'll find out on my own. This makes me furious.

Chris Givens

[Chris]

This is RimRockers Coach Joe Harge's reply, as posted on Yahoo:

Firstly, the ARKANSAS RIMROCKERS are NOT going to the CBA, and have NEVER made that announcement or had ANY type of press conference saying so. Secondly Chris Givens from the Arkansas Democrat Gazette DID NOT write the article, or any article saying that we are going to the CBA. The article printed on the ABAbasketball website is AN OUT RIGHT LIE. The quotes from Larry Crain and Myself, Joe Harge, are not from us at all, and we have NEVER had ANY type of press conference or statement concerning us moving to the CBA. This is a blatant attempt to disbarage our organization, and weaken the ABA. I challenge whoever wrote this LIE to call me and get his facts straight. We are in the process of getting ready for the playoffs. Our goal is to finish the season with an ABA championship, the same as every other team in the playoffs.

[johnnydr87]

You're right guys, it was a hoax.

It was a mix of humor and wishful thinking.

I'm sorry if anybody was offended.

Honestly, I'm just a high schooler living in Arkansas, and I wanted to infuse ideas into the Rimrocker organization. I am dissatisfied with the ABA, and I think most others in Arkansas would be too if they found out the lack of organization and professionalism in this league.

I did not realize that there would be possible legal implementations from my post, after all, it was with good intentions.

Sorry, Mr. Givens and the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

[Chris]

I'm going to do my best not to sound like I'm coming off like an angry dad ...
but Johnny, my goodness, you thought that YOU could infuse some ideas into the RimRockers organization? You thought the RimRockers would read this post at think, "hmmm... that johnnydr is right, we should think about joining the CBA".

Your post was exceptionally irresponsible, and you used my name. You cannot do that. I understand your good intentions, but unfortunately it is out of my hands now. I had to alert my editors, because my newspaper's reputation was on the line, and believe it or not, your post was read by a lot of people. My editors and newspaper attorneys take libel, defamation and fraud very seriously, and you may have to explain your actions to them when they contact you. I will right now go and try to explain things, but I don't know what I can do at this point.

Where you went wrong was using my name and newspaper, which made it look like a credible story, not a hoax. Like the RimRockers, I take seriously threats to my personal reputation.

Keep supporting the RimRockers. But do it in a responsible way.

Chris

[Sam Hill]

You mean not everything you read on the internet is true? G'wan. :roll:

Johnny, this is a tempest in a teapot. They may try to scare you, but it's unlikely they'll waste much time going after what a teenager wrote on a message board that may have been read by a few dozen people, even fewer of which really care about the ABA. RimRocker fans would actually be better served in the CBA, so I don't know where they'd be injured here.

Using Chris' actual name wasn't the brightest thing ever, but, again, there are teenagers out there with chainsaws who are getting slaps on the wrist.

I can't see a lawyer pursuing a libel (who was libeled here, exactly?) or defamation case on this. Who was defamed? The ABA? Get in line.

[Anonymous Hardhat]

Chris,

I agree. Johnnydr should have been more responsible, regardless of age. If he is old enough to be posting messages on this messageboard, then he is old enough to understand the difference between right and wrong.

As an aside, I would suggest that you ask the ABA and RimRockers to amend the press release regarding this situation. It was not very clear. It implies that you fabricated the article without proper sources. It doesn't clearly explain that someone used your name to pen the erroneous article. I don't want to see you suffer any more adverse consequences than you have probably suffered already.

I am one of the strongest critics of Joe Newman and the ABA (and also one of the ABA's strongest supporters), but criticism should not be given in a way that has adverse consequences on the careers and lives of others. Trust me, the ABA has done enough of that already.

Anonymous Hardhat

[Common Sense]

Joe Harge says this is an attempt to weaken the ABA. How, that is like killing a 10 year old dead corpse.
While it was not very smart of johnnydr87 to make up an article and try to pass it off as written by Chris Givens I will give this high school kid credit for knowing more than the owners and front office of the RimRockers as to what league they should be in.
Cut the kid some slack.

[Anonymous Hardhat]

I didn't say I disagreed with his message. I just think he should have found a better way to convey it.

[Chris]

Chris,

As an aside, I would suggest that you ask the ABA and RimRockers to amend the press release regarding this situation. It was not very clear. It implies that you fabricated the article without proper sources. It doesn't clearly explain that someone used your name to pen the erroneous article. I don't want to see you suffer any more adverse consequences than you have probably suffered already.

I thought the same thing, AH. I had to post my statement on the ABA site that hopefully clears up my culpability.

[Chris]

Johnny, this is a tempest in a teapot. They may try to scare you, but it's unlikely they'll waste much time going after what a teenager wrote on a message board that may have been read by a few dozen people, even fewer of which really care about the ABA.

I can't see a lawyer pursuing a libel (who was libeled here, exactly?) or defamation case on this. Who was defamed? The ABA? Get in line.

OK, enough time has passed. I really didn't bring this up with any lawyers, I was just try to scare young Johnny into understanding that you can't go around making things up like that, at least you can't by using my name. I used words like libel and defamation to make my threats sound more intimidating, but I think we would have a legitimate case for fraud.

And actually, Sam, that post (which was here and on Yahoo) was read by a lot of people and created quite a bit of trouble, for me and the RimRockers. Don't worry Johnny, we're not coming after you, but please don't be so careless next time.
Chris

[johnnydr87]

I figured that. Believe me, though, I will never do anything like that again.

I think it got a little out of hand when abalive.com posted it. In all honesty, I would bet less than 50 saw it when it was on this message board earlier, and around 110 at yahoo.

By posting it at abalive, the issue might have gotten blown up into a bigger issue than, in my opinion, it should have.

Sorry. Lesson learned.

[skippy]

Chris---

A kid lies on a message board, pretending to be you.

You lie in response to that "prank" in an attempt to scare a child.


You've hanging around the ABA too long.

[Ken, Steelheads fan]

You have a good chance of winning that bet. Myself, I haven't read anything and am having a difficult time following this thread. I think I know what everyone is talking about, but I won't spend too much time trying to sort things out. I'm still confused from another thread. Can anyone tell me what exactly is an independent team?

[Common Sense]

It appears to me to be a team that will just schedule games against other pro teams for exhibition games, colleges for preseason and against other independent teams, yet be no part of a set league.
Sort of like the old barnstorming baseball teams that would travel around playing colleges, or even local town teams. There was a woman's Coor Light Silver Bullet team that did this about 10 years ago.
This is just my two cents, but I think it would mean these teams would generate about as much interest and income as 98% of ABA teams, they just wouldn't have old rug head Joe Newman over their shoulder.

[Common Sense]

I find it interesting that agalive.com posted johnny's hoax story, yet they never said a word after their premier event, the even that was to bring Las Vegas to it's knees, the ABA All Star game.
I also find it funny johhnydr87 bashed me one day for talking good about the CBA, yet now makes up stories in hopes the Rimrockers join the CBA.
I think Joe Newman's honesty and mentality is rubbing off on everyone that comes in contact with the ABA.

[exit322]

*drool*

Wha?