Live from the Nuke Free Zone

Okay. Most of you know I’m interested in how people use technology, which is half the reason I pursued a SIMS degree in the first place. (The fact that it didn’t quite turn out to be what I was expecting is not germane to this post.) :And one of the fascinating things is watching how people use instant messaging programs.

Something most of you also know is that I’m a diehard California Golden Bears fan. Berkeley is where I went to college, and since I’ve always been a sports fanatic, rooting for my beloved Golden Bears became a rather obvious thing. And while my main passion is football, I do keep up with what the basketball team is doing.

Never in a million years did I expect both interests to combine:

At last Saturday’s Cal men’s hoops season finale versus USC, Bears boosters pulled a prank that straddles the fuzzy gray line between “Crap-Yer-Pants Hilarious” and “Inexcusably Cruel.”

When USC guard Gabe Pruitt took his first trip to the free throw line early in the game, the Cal student section hollered in unison: “VIC-TOR-IA, VIC-TOR-IA,” and then yelled out a telephone number. Pruitt glanced back at the crowd in horror and bewilderment before clanking his free throws.

It turns out that a couple of mischeivous little bastards from the Cal student section had been IM’ing with Pruitt all week under the identity of “Victoria,” a fictional UCLA hottie, and Pruitt was eagerly anticipating a date with this nubile co-ed back in Westwood after the game. In preparation for the date, Pruitt had handed over his digits, which the Cal student section recited back to him in unison.

Pruitt, a 79% free throw shooter this season, missed both shots after the “VIC-TOR-IA” chants began, and hit only three out of 13 shots the whole game. Cal beat USC by 11 for the season sweep, in part due to the Cal fans’ devious psy-ops.

And cruising around the blogosphere, I found that CalStuff actually ended up with copies of a couple of the conversations between Pruitt and “Victoria”. Got to say, they’re some pretty funny stuff. Here’s the excerpt with Pruitt’s fatal error, but you should just go read the whole transcript:

SexyBruinBabe (11:07:39 PM): she says she wants to meet you too
GmpUsc (11:08:24 PM): Ok well I’ll make that trip when I get back
SexyBruinBabe (11:10:20 PM): how do you plan on finding me??
GmpUsc (11:11:08 PM): Umm..I plan on askn u where u stay
SexyBruinBabe (11:12:22 PM): here just call me in case we are going to go to another girls room
SexyBruinBabe (11:12:40 PM): 619-XXX-XXXX
GmpUsc (11:12:50 PM): Ok
GmpUsc (11:12:56 PM): Here’s my # to
GmpUsc (11:13:02 PM): 323 XXX XXXX
GmpUsc (11:13:47 PM): Ok I’ll hit u up
SexyBruinBabe (11:14:05 PM): you have a good night

Needless to say, this just serves as another precaution to make sure of who you’re talking to on the Internet, because they may not be who they claim to be. They might be fans of the opposing team preparing the prank of a lifetime.

That said, I find it interesting that people instant message each other back and forth just like this, and that might be some of the reason for the rise of Myspace. I hate dealing with Myspace because, in some ways, it’s not exactly a communications method I feel at home with. (I find this funny considering I do hang on out IRC and Livejournal, but there’s a difference, I think. At least, I perceive a difference.) But it’s the way people communicate these days. Which brings me to an interesting paper written by Danah Boyd, who is a student at SIMS, and doing the sort of research I wish I’d known how to get into while I’m there. The paper is entitled “Identity Production in a Networked Culture: Why Youth Love MySpace.” And in it, Danah makes a cogent point:

When MySpace was initially introduced, skeptics thought that it would be just another fad because previous sites like Friendster had risen and crashed. Unlike the 20-somethings who invaded Friendster, the teens have more reason to participate in profile creation and public commentary. Furthermore, MySpace’s messaging is better suited for youths’ asynchronous messaging needs. They can send messages directly from friends’ profiles and check whether or not their friends have logged in and received their email. Unlike adults, youth are not invested in email; their primary peer-to-peer communication occurs synchronously over IM. Their use of MySpace is complementing that practice.

Which leads us back to the basketball prank du jour. Today’s college students are these same people Danah is talking about. Thus, something like this seemed the ideal way to get to the player. But in thinking about how it occurred, we have to think about the wider issues, and the whole thing coming together. This couldn’t have been done when I was an undergraduate, because IM was slow and buggy and students didn’t have as much invested in the whole Internet thing. (not that we didn’t try — I remember some Rally folk getting pictures of a couple Stanford players in Cal rugbies and then using that same picture on the bonfire poster the next year. However, it had nothing on this one.)

Anyway, all that said, there’s one last thing. GO BEARS! Beat the Bruins in the tourney and get the Pac-10’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tourney!