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| | Friday, May 26 Associated Press contacted wrong Rob Ades | |||||
| Associated Press NEW YORK -- A man who spoke to an Associated Press sports writer earlier this week and represented himself as the agent for St. John's coach Mike Jarvis was actually a local businessman who said he thought he was playing along with a prank by his friends. Rob S. Ades, 27, of Manhattan, said Thursday that when he was contacted by the AP reporter who was trying to reach Jarvis' agent, also named Rob Ades, "my thought was that it was my friends playing a practical joke." "I didn't think it was the AP. I responded to the call, and it got pushed along." The AP reported Monday night that Jarvis' agent said the coach was considering a major college coaching position in the Big Ten and other NBA opportunities after ending talks with the Washington Wizards. Jarvis' agent, who is based in Washington, never spoke to anyone from the AP and he has said that repeatedly since the interview was published. "We began checking the source of the call as soon as it became apparent there might be a problem with the story," said Terry Taylor, AP's sports editor. "It's now clear to us we spoke to the wrong Rob Ades." The Ades who was interviewed by the AP reporter said he mentioned the Big Ten and even hinted that Jarvis might be heading to the University of Michigan because he and his friends are graduates of that school. "We're a bunch of Michigan guys and that's why I gave him the whole thing about the Big Ten," he said. Ades said he knew the voice on his answering machine tape "wasn't actually one of my friends," but that he believed they "put someone else up to it just to make it seem like it was real." He said he figured his friends were recording the conversation and decided to turn the joke back on them by making his answers sound as plausible as possible. "I was hoping to make them think it was a real phone call," he said. The AP reporter had been calling Ades at the New York number since last week and left several messages. Ades said he did not return the phone calls until Monday night when he saw a TV story about Jarvis taking his name out of contention for the Wizards job. "That reminded me that this guy had been calling me and that's when I answered the phone call," he said. He said it was only after he was interviewed by ESPN Radio on Wednesday that he realized he really had spoken to an AP reporter and that a story had been written about the conversation. | ALSO SEE Poof! Jarvis disappears from Wizards' picture AUDIO/VIDEO  The "other" Rob Ades talks to host Mike Greenberg about the Mike Jarvis situation.wav: 1814 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6  | |||||