Globe suspends Borges

The Boston Globe has suspended sportswriter Ron Borges after learning that he plagiarized much of his football column this week.

The Globe's editor, Martin Baron, said in a story posted on the newspaper's Web site that Borges had included in his football notes column last Sunday material written by Mike Sando, a reporter for The News Tribune of Tacoma, Wash.

The allegations of plagiarism first arose on a Web site, coldhardfootballfacts.com:

Simply note the incredible similarities between his “Football Notes” column in the Boston Globe on Sunday, March 4, and this story written by Mike Sando and published in the News Tribune of Tacoma, Washington, on Feb. 25.
We'll call a spade a spade here: Borges apparently lifted great stretches of his column from a previously published report. The question now is if his editors at the Globe will once again go to bat for him after another ethically malignant tumor of a column.

Here are two sections of each story that you can judge for yourself:
Sando:

But trouble arose in March 2004 when former Seahawks president Bob Whitsitt allegedly shorted Jackson on a contract offer. Jackson said he signed the deal anyway at the urging of his father, who has since died. Whitsitt has dismissed the charge as preposterous, while Ruskell has resisted honoring a promise that a predecessor denies making.

The dispute has escalated ever since, with the Seahawks and Jackson’s agents exchanging a series of blunt letters, sources said.

When Ruskell became Seahawks president in February 2005, one of his first moves was to issue a letter to players outlining his expectations. He urged full participation in the team’s offseason program, including minicamps, but Jackson let it be known he would honor his contract but nothing more. Jackson subsequently skipped the voluntary portions of minicamps.

The relationship soured further after Jackson suffered a knee injury during an Oct. 2, 2005, game at Washington.

Jackson had bruised the knee earlier and experienced pain following a Sept. 25 game against Arizona. He suffered cartilage damage against the Redskins, raising questions in his mind about whether he should have been on the field at all, sources said.

The damage did not show up on initial tests. The team recommended rest. Holmgren avoided giving a timetable other than to say he thought it would be “shorter more than longer” after speaking with Jackson. The team ruled out Jackson for the next game.

Here is what Borges wrote:

Trouble arose with Seahawks management two years ago after former team president Bob Whitsitt allegedly shorted Jackson on a contract offer. Jackson said he signed the deal anyway at the urging of his father. Whitsitt has dismissed the charge as preposterous, while present club president Tim Ruskell has refused to honor a promise that another person denies making. The dispute has escalated, with the Seahawks and Jackson's agents exchanging blunt letters.

When Ruskell became Seahawks president in February 2005, one of his first moves was to issue a letter to players outlining his expectations. He urged full participation in the team's offseason program, including minicamps, but Jackson let it be known he would honor his contract, but nothing more. Jackson subsequently skipped the voluntary portions of minicamps.

Problems continued after Jackson suffered a right knee injury on Oct. 2, 2005, against Washington. Jackson had bruised the knee earlier in the season and he suffered cartilage damage against the Redskins, raising questions in his mind about whether he should have been on the field.

The cartilage damage did not show up on initial tests, and the team recommended rest. The team ruled out Jackson for the next game. Jackson, acting on the advice of his agents, sought a second opinion and later underwent surgery to repair the lateral meniscus in his right knee.