Sports Night <URL:http://abc.go.com/primetime/sports_night/sn_home.html> is one of my favorite shows. On October 26, 1999 they had an interesting episode <URL:http://abc.go.com/primetime/sports_night/episode_guide/sn_epiguide_04.html> which discussed, among other things, an online poll for viewers to discuss which of the anchormen they liked the best, and then a guy on staff used Perl to run up the numbers for one of the anchors. Here's some portions of that episode from a script I found at <URL:http://members.aol.com/sportsnightsite/revisitscript.html>. There's only six more days to vote in the Major League Baseball All-Star balloting at <URL:http://allstarballoting.seasonticket.com/>, and Nomar Garciaparra is trailing by about 40,000 votes ... Quotes From the Sports Night episode "Louise Revisited" ------------------------------------------------------- DAN: You know what this week's internet poll question is? CASEY: "Who's cooler, Dan or Casey". DAN: That's right. CASEY: Can you believe it? DAN: We're journalists. CASEY: Whataya gonna do. DAN: You know how many people have voted? CASEY: No. DAN: 159. CASEY: Really? DAN: Yeah. CASEY: That's more than you'd expect on the first day. DAN: You know who's winning? CASEY: I'm assuming you are. DAN: No. CASEY: I am? DAN: Yes. CASEY: How 'bout that. DAN: Yes. CASEY: Let's talk about Notre Dame. �My feeling-- DAN: A hundred and fifty-three to six. CASEY: I'm sorry? DAN: You're winning a hundred and fifty-three to six. CASEY: (BEAT) Wow. DAN: Yeah. CASEY: That's quite a landslide so far. DAN: Yes. CASEY: You wouldn't think there'd be this kind of grassroots groundswell this early on, but I've always been able to count on-- DAN: How are you rigging it? CASEY: Danny-- DAN: Did you stay up all night voting for yourself? CASEY: Like I don't have better things to do than beat your ass in an internet poll. DAN: Here's the thing about you: �It isn't that you want to win so bad, it's that you won't admit you want to win. CASEY: Danny, if you like, I'll withdraw my name from the competition. DAN: No, no, no. CASEY: You sure? DAN: I have plenty of fans. CASEY: At least a half-dozen. DAN: I'm gonna work now. ========== JEREMY: Hey Casey. CASEY: Walk with me. JEREMY: Walk with you? CASEY: Walk with me. JEREMY: Okay. CASEY: Casually. JEREMY: Casually? CASEY: So it doesn't look like we're up to something. JEREMY: What are we up to? CASEY: Nothing. JEREMY: What kind of compromising situation are you about to as me to-- CASEY: Can you rig my computer so it does nothing but vote? JEREMY: On the internet? CASEY: I was up all night voting. �At first I kept returning to the home page and coming back, then I figured out I could hold down the "return" key and hit F-12 for refresh, but even that was taking too long. JEREMY: What kind of results are you looking for? CASEY: I want to bury him. JEREMY: You know it's unethical. CASEY: Yes. JEREMY: And there are probably FCC regulations governing-- CASEY: Sure. JEREMY: I mean we announce these idiot polls on the air. CASEY: Yes. JEREMY: I'm saying I could get in trouble. CASEY: Jeremy, in your first week of work here, Dan crazy-glued all your things to your desk. JEREMY: Yes. CASEY: He made you go look for the ignition keys to the cameras. JEREMY: Hm. CASEY: This is what men do, Jeremy. JEREMY: All right, I tell you what's gonna happen: �We're gonna telnet into the network mainframe and FTP a perl script right through a DK trapdoor into the CGI server. CASEY: I like the sound of that. �What's it gonna do for me? JEREMY: It's gonna vote for you. CASEY: How many times, how often? JEREMY: 2000 times a minute, 24 hours a day. CASEY: You're a magnificent young man. JEREMY: Ignition keys to the cameras? �We'll see who has the last laugh. CASEY: Atta boy. JEREMY: I need a soda. CASEY: Go get 'em. ========== DAN: Casey got another 150,000 votes overnight in the internet poll. CASEY: It's true. DAN: 150,000 votes. �Am I the only one who thinks this is strange? KIM: I think you're the only one who cares. DAN: It's a Rose Bowl-and-a-half full of people. ========== DAN: Don't tell me you weren't doing something. �2.5 million people voted. That's more than in most statewide elections. �2.5 million people. �You know how many voted for me? �Two- hundred and thirty-two. So don't think I'm paranoid for thinking something fishy might be up. Tell me for real: �Is this 'cause I Crazy-glued Jeremy's stuff to his desk? -- Chris Nandor | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://pudge.net/ Andover.Net | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://slashcode.com/
