Who is Willfred Billingsley?

[DolFan619]

  Apparently he's the newest member of your Miami Dolphins.  However, there is not much known about him.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/palmbeach/miamidolphins/entries/2008/04/14/who_is_this_guy.html

Who is this guy?

By Tim Graham | Monday, April 14, 2008, 07:35 PM

Given all the technology we have at our disposal and information at our fingertips, it’s pretty unusual to come up empty when researching a player who has just signed an NFL contract.

If he’s good enough to have made it this far, then there has been plenty written about him.

Unless his name is Wilfred Billinglsey.

No, not the guy from the Quaker Oats commercials.

The Dolphins today signed Billinglsey, a free-agent defensive back who played three seasons at North Carolina A&T but went undrafted last year. Hop on-line with your scouring pad and you won’t uncover much more than what the Dolphins shared in a five-sentence press release.

He’s from Fort Wayne, Ind. He made 109 tackles. He intercepted two passes. He’s 5-foot-10 and 195 pounds.

Billinglsey doesn’t have his own Wikipedia page. Zuh?

Even depth quarterback Matt Baker, lineman Trey Darilek and cornerback Joey Thomas, free-agent signees who didn’t play in the NFL the last two years, have their own Wikipedia pages. Joe Toledo has one, too.

With college recruiting and NFL draft sites so popular these days, Billingsley must be found there, right? Nope. Here’s his Rivals.com page. It has no bio info, no stats. Only his height and weight. No documents are found when searching Scout.com.

The on-line version of the 2006 North Carolina A&T media guide creates more questions than answers. The guide lists him as a junior, but it was his last year. There’s no personal info, no academic major, no prep highlights. A 2005 story from the Greensboro News-Record mentioned how Billingsley’s family came to the area.

So let’s partake in some community journalism.

What do you know about Wilfred Billingsley that you can share with the class?


http://www.ncataggies.com/Football/profiles/billingsley_w.htm

[dolphins4life]

I like editing Wikipedia.  It's fun.

I once copied Wikipedia for a term paper.  When the professor pointed this out, I replied, "How do you know I didn't write the Wikipedia article myself?"

[fyo]

I once copied Wikipedia for a term paper.  When the professor pointed this out, I replied, "How do you know I didn't write the Wikipedia article myself?"

Wikipedia edits aren't anonymous. You can see a complete history of the page, including all changes and the user/IP of the editor. You can also access the discussion of the page, which will usually reveal quite a bit as well.

You should have been served with an academic suspension, at the very least.

[Phishfan]

Who is Willfred Billingsley, a guy who will not make the active roster.

[YoFuggedaboutit]

Who is Willfred Billingsley, a guy who will not make the active roster.

Exactly... so who cares?

[doctord56]

Sure, his chance of making the active roster is about the same as my chance. But it's fun to root for underdog out of nowhere guys like this in the preseason. Given his name, which sounds like the quaker oats guy, I'll be pulling for him against all odds.

Quaker Oats guy photo link:

http://www.punderstatements.com/Quickstart/ImageLib/Wilfred.jpg

[ARamsFan]

Barbara Billingsly's grandson?

[Spider-Dan]

Wikipedia edits aren't anonymous. You can see a complete history of the page, including all changes and the user/IP of the editor. You can also access the discussion of the page, which will usually reveal quite a bit as well.

You should have been served with an academic suspension, at the very least.

More to the point, Wikipedia pages require (or are supposed to require) citations from a published source.  So the common argument that Wikipedia is not a valid reference material is really a smokescreen; if the article is written to standard, all you'd need to do is cite the article's sources.