Cracked? More like Ripped.... off! (Ok, not really.)

Cracked.com has an article today with a part that looks awfully familiar...

Did you catch it? It's Richard Dicks' article on 10 cent beer night with the Cleveland Indians. Well... not really.

At first glance, I thought we really might have been ripped off... and I felt honored! I really like Cracked. Hell, I frequently rip off their style of trying to compensate for lackluster writing by including semi-related pictures with mildly humorous captions.




Cracked's article was about business promotions that went horribly wrong, and segment #4 (Cracked's writers get hardons over lists) was on the same topic as Richard's post about 10 cent beer night with the Indians. And the first picture in Cracked's version was one that Richard Dicks has used more than once.




I was surprised, touched, and a bit pissed off. But then I actually read the article, and realized it was nowhere close to Richard's. In fact, Richard's article is better. It not only has more information about what happened, it's far funnier! Even if no one gets my joke with the picture of Robert Wagner.

But it seems to just be a coincidence that they chose a topic and picture Richard had used. Let's face it, it is a good story and a good picture, so the pairing isn't entirely unlikely. I didn't see any verbiage that smacked of plagiarism.

But in this post-modern world of sampled music and remade movies, is this any surprise at all? I check out Cracked every day, so obviously their writers have a style I enjoy and cover topics I'm interested in. And Richard and I have been friends for a couple decades, so we have similar tastes and interests. So is it any wonder at all that Richard and Cracked would whip up something similar?

Maybe Richard and I should talk to Cracked about writing for them. What do you think? It seems we're on the same page, and I could use the money. Perhaps Richard and I should talk to them about that. That'd be pretty cool! Writing amongst such dick joke gods as Robert Brockway, Gladstone, and Dan O'Brien. Do you think they could use a weekly article on alcohol?

Well, check back next week for Richard's "5 Worst Liquors To Put On Your Penis" and my newest article: "Top 10 Photos Involving Beer And Boobs!"