Ah, the offseason. When rumors become perceived as fleeting fact.
Evidently, anyone with a laptop and a camera can fan the flames of rumor. Case in point — the 2006 offseason, when a kid in a dorm room turns on his camera and says that John Abraham is headed to Denver in exchange for the No. 29 pick in the first round, then writes a story repeating the “news.”
Of course, Abraham never became a Bronco. The guy in his dorm, who posted under the site name “JetsTV.com,” presumably faded into Web flotsam. One can only wonder about his “sources” who clamed the deal was imminent.
Yet the non-story still had to be chased, even though it was on video that caused me to think of the description that Noah Vanderhoff, fictional video-arcade tycoon portrayed by Brian Doyle-Murray, offered upon completing a “Wayne’s World” screening:
“I think it’s two chimps on a Davenport in a basement.”
The Abraham gossip just one of many rumors to come across in recent years. The discussions of some gobble bandwith by the terabyte. In other cases, it’s just a sentence or two in a conversation, which was the case four years ago, when a media member came up to me and breathlessly proclaimed, “You guys are going to sign Charlie Garner,” deeming this to be virtually incontrovertible.
Still waiting for that one to happen.
Some of you post comments asking me for my take on these deals and I typically remain silent. Not that I’m ignoring you, but as a team employee, I try to stay out of the rumor business.
Not that I mind if you talk about rumors. Feel free. Discuss them below or on the message boards. But hopefully you’ll understand why I’ll stay out of the debate, for the most part.
And with that, I’ll turn it over to the Timex Social Club:
Vaya con Dios.
