A "young computer hacker" yesterday sparked the rumor
mill after he took the design of ESPN.com, put it up on his
personal Web site, and added a "phony" trade report with the
byline of ESPN reporter Sean Salisbury that had Patriots QB
Drew Bledsoe being traded to the Jets, according to Ron
Borges of the BOSTON GLOBE, who writes that the Boston
Globe, ESPN, Boston's WEEI-AM, the Patriots and the Jets
were all "bombarded with phone calls and e-mails asking if
what 'ESPN.com' was 'reporting' was true." ESPN.com Exec
Editor John Marvel said that he "knew immediately" that the
report was false: "Sean's never broken a story, so we were
suspicious right off the bat." Marvel, on the prankster:
"The guy obviously reads our site because it was done like
he knew what we do, with the exception of his misspelling
Bill Belichick's name." But Marvel stressed the user "never
hacked into the ESPN site." Marvel: "I want to make that
clear. He took our design and made his story look like us.
That can be done on the Web." Marvel said ESPN.com was
"disturbed enough" with the incident "to call the person in
question and our legal people." Marvel: "You can find the
registration for personal Web sites pretty easily, so we
knew who had started it only moments after we saw the
'story.' When he answered the phone and I told him who I
was, the first thing he said was, 'Oh (expletive).' But he
was immediately cooperative" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/10).
ONLINE NOTES: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir reports that
the Boomer Esiason Foundation, which raises money to fight
cystic fibrosis, will become a sponsor of ClickThings!com,
"a new Internet company that lets businesses create, manage
and edit their own Web sites free" (N.Y. TIMES, 5/10).
...ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported on the future of Jets Dir
of Football Operations Bill Parcells and stated that team
Owner Robert Wood Johnson has given Parcells "the green
light to pursue his own lucrative Internet deal, even as he
serves the club this year" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 5/9).
