Fake accounts breaking sports news can really give people on twitter a hard time, and there is no better example of this than today when an account mimicking ESPN’s college basketball reporter Jeff Goodman sent out a bunch of tweets containing fake news about various high profile college basketball teams and players. The tweets duped a lot of people including many verified accounts and the popular publication Bleacher Report.
Goodman’s verified twitter account’s handle is @GoodmanESPN. The fake account, which only has 86 followers, and clearly denotes on its bio that it is a “parody account,” has the handle @GooodmanESPN (notice the extra “o”).
Here is a tweet from this morning from the real Jeff Goodman about the University of Kentucky basketball team, who saw another player, Isaac Humphries, declare that he would be signing an agent and leaving the University…
If Bam Adebayo signs with an agent, the lone returning Kentucky player who played a role last season will be Wenyen Gabriel.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 12, 2017
So Kentucky fans already may have been on edge to start.
Here’s the first piece of bait from Fake Goodman about Kentucky Freshman Center Sacha Killeya-Jones, who played sparingly this season, but is a former 5-star recruit, and still filled with potential…
https://twitter.com/gooodmanespn/status/852191569360846850
Once the tweet was sent out there were some quick biters! Among them, a Marshall University fan blog account, a journalist from Minnesota, a Louisville sports radio personality, and a Kansas City Sportswriter.
Next, Fake Goodman tackled the recent news about Michigan State Freshman forward Miles Bridges. Here’s the always reliable Adrian Wojnarowski with the scoop…
Sources: Projected 2017 lottery pick Miles Bridges plans to return to Michigan State. @WojVerticalNBA report. https://t.co/ag6YSmrAWg pic.twitter.com/9YLI1oqkzc
— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) April 12, 2017
Now here’s the Fake Goodman bait:
https://twitter.com/gooodmanespn/status/852212829415510017
Among the biters, an SBNation writer and the legendary Dick “Hoops” Weiss. Both retweeted the Fake Goodman scoop…
Fake Goodman wasn’t done. He then tossed out this doozy about Kentucky Freshman Wenyen Gabriel, who seems to be the one player who IS returning…
https://twitter.com/gooodmanespn/status/852243898290384896
He even tossed in the authentic “good kid” at the end of the tweet. Good form, Fake Goodman. This one was picked up by Bleacher Report on its Kentucky “Team Stream” app…
Then it spread like wildfire. This Kansas City beat writer decided to reminisce about an encoutner he had with Gabriel in response to the news…
Next fake news subject for Fake Goodman, Duke’s Greyson Allen…
https://twitter.com/gooodmanespn/status/852250823837011968
Bright kid indeed; But the news: fake. Duke blogger Brian Horace took the bait though…
Last but not least, how about UNC’s junior Justin Jackson…
That’s Winston Salem based TV Reporter Alex Rose with the bite.
All in all a successful day for Fake Jeff Goodman. Here’s the real Jeff Goodman clearing his name…
Just an FYI: There is a fake account with twitter handle close to mine putting out all sorts of incorrect info.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 12, 2017
Moral of the story: Check for the check (the blue one that is)! Also look at the bio everyone.
