By JOHN MARTIN Courier & Press staff writer 464-7594 or jmartin@evansville.net
December 20, 2003

A satirical Web site created by two Evansville natives fooled news organizations into thinking that a Purdue basketball scholarship meant for a 6-foot-6 -inch athlete was mistakenly awarded to a 5-foot-6-inch nerd.

The site, hoosiergazette.com, bills itself as "Indiana's first source for inaccurate news and commentary since 2003." It was launched five weeks ago by Josh Whicker of Corydon, Ind., Chris Kasinger, who lives near Indianapolis, and John Andrews of Terre Haute, Ind., former students and football teammates at Reitz High School.

Hoosiergazette.com recently carried an article "reporting" that Purdue's men's basketball program signed Jason Paul Smith, a 6-foot-6-inch prospect from Yorktown High School.

http://www.hoosiergazette.com/

At least, Purdue thought it had signed Jason Paul Smith.

Instead, according to the fictitious article, the national letter of intent was sent back to Purdue with the signature of Jason Parker Smith, a 5-foot-6-inch, nonathletic geek from the same high school.

"I didn't write it with the intent of fooling anyone," said Whicker, a teacher and coach at Floyd Central High School.

The article, Whicker said, was submitted to and posted on fark.com, a Web site that carries both fictitious and true articles.

Then the frenzy began.

The article made the rounds in college basketball-themed message boards and chat rooms. Jim Rome, who hosts a nationally syndicated sports radio show, mentioned on the air the story about Purdue signing the wrong student to a basketball scholarship.

Rome later retracted the story after learning it was a joke.

The San Diego Union-Tribune carried a byline article reporting information in the hoosiergazette.com story as fact. "It went out in all their print editions and on their Web site," Whicker said.

Whicker said he got a phone call from a writer at ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Show" wanting to know if the story was real. He said someone from ESPN e-mailed him with the same question.

Hosts of the nationally syndicated Bob and Tom radio show, which airs locally on WGBF-103.1FM, talked Wednesday morning about the story but knew it was fictitious.

Whicker said hits at hoosiergazette.com increased dramatically as buzz grew about the story, but he can only chuckle about the brouhaha, because the Web site has several disclaimers making clear that its content is fictitious.

He said the site is designed to poke fun at all things Indiana. It also has a page inviting Hoosiers to send jokes about Kentucky.