Jason Sobel Gets His Rick Reilly On... With Nary A Mention Of Reilly

What happens when a regular joe caddies for a tour pro? Find out in Rick Reilly's hilarious book on the subject. Or read about the exact same thing in Jason Sobel's series of articles this week on ESPN.com.
I would never suggest that just because someone has done something before that you can't repeat it; especially if the idea is a particularly good one like sending a funny writer to caddy for pros or interesting people. But it just seems a little odd that ESPN.com would send a writer to caddy for a Nationwide Tour Pro and write a series of columns about the experience AS IF it had never been done before despite the fact that SI's Rick Reilly released a very popular book of tales about the EXACT SAME THING less than 3 years ago.

The idea seems remarkably similar to that of Reilly's book.* Sobel uses the same exact caddy language (loopers, bag men, etc.), some of the same anecdotes (Woosie's caddie with 15 clubs at the British) and sets up the scene in the EXACT same way that Reilly did by relaying his conversations with caddies. It's ALMOST A CARBON COPY of Reilly's book but with different characters (and not nearly as funny as Reilly). Shouldn't they at least pay homage to Reilly in the story at some point or mention how they gained some valuable insight through reading Reilly's book (as opposed to suggesting that they prepared by watching Caddyshack)?

I'm calling blatant ripoff of Reilly's idea here and considering that there's likely to be a little overlap in readership, Sobel may want to mention that while this is clearly an interesting idea for a story, it is far from an original one.*

(Update: Edited)