So inside, he can just take whatever he wants?

Sportsnet's NFL insider, Chris Landry, is in a bit of pickle.

ProFootballTalk has found at least nine instances where Landry's copy in a column that ran Monday was almost verbatim to portions of an article from NationalFootballPost writer Michael Lombardi. (All of those links are from PFT.)

Landry has declined to comment specifically, saying, I have been in the hospital with my Mother who broke her hip and am out of the loop. Thing is, sportsnet.ca has been caught red-handed scalping from the Calgary Sun, Edmonton Sun, Ottawa Sun, Minneapolis Star-Tribune and Toronto Star. Those are merely the ones yours truly found while half-heartedly searching over a three-month span in 2007, before getting bored out pointing out something so stunningly and obviously wrong.

At this point, you might be saying to yourself, "Well, that's the pressure of the 24-hour newscycle," or, "what is it with you journalists and that taboo about not taking someone else's work and passing it off as your own?" Well, far be it to say that with the web opening up avenues for so many commentators, it's more important than ever to properly attribute, or at least be submitting original work if you have a paying gig. This site is in the clear, since nothing it has ever done is original, unless it involved the CIS and Simpsons characters.

The funny part is Landry didn't cover his tracks very well, as PFT readers pointed out:

"As a reader initially pointed out in the comments, Landry’s column contains a passage regarding Giants receiver Plaxico Burress that is but for the omission of a hyphen by Landry identical to a portion of a December 1 column from Brandt regarding the Burress situation."

On some level, this is a chattering class issue. Honestly, when the headline read "Brandt, Lombardi claim plagiarism by Landry," the first thought was that this had something to do with Gil Brandt, Vince Lombardi or Tom Landry. One has to wonder what is going on when a writer faces accusations and it's an outlet that would often rip something right out someone else's story.

Related:
Brandt, Lombardi claim plagiarism by Landry (Mike Florio, ProFootballTalk)