Anonymous Source Or Made-Up Story? Is There A Difference?

Dylan Murphy from Pardon The Opinion is back again and he is PISSED!

Report: Due to the fragility of the Big 12 and the growing strength of the Big 10, the two conferences have agreed in principle to join forces, forming a 22 team mega-conference.

Although specifics are yet to be determined, it appears the new Big 22 (or whatever it will be called) will divide itself in half, forming two 11 team conferences determined by geographical location.

The winners of each 11-team conference will face-off in a championship game to determine the league winner.

Just kidding.

Maybe I had you there for a second. Maybe I didn’t. But with reports flying around left and right that easily sway our tenuous minds, the truth has disappeared.

Every media outlet constantly competes to break news first. Recently even ESPN, which normally fact-checks its stories and prides itself on quality reporting, has lowered its standards to those of the competition. The main perpetrator? Joe Schad.

Walking onto the set of SportsCenter, Schad confidently announced that Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Texas Tech were moving to the Pac-10.

Contrary to his proclamation, Chip Brown of orangebloods.com countered, claiming the opposite was true: the Big 12 was remaining intact. But once the truth reared its ugly head and the little blogger defeated the mighty ESPN reporter, frenzy ensued.

The consequences? An absurd LeBron Watch. The hype has already surpassed and overshadowed every major sporting event since Boston eliminated Cleveland from the playoffs.

But seeing Chip’s ability to out-reporter-duel Schad, an innate confidence and excitability was born inside the impressionable hearts of young journalists and bloggers everywhere.

Ironically, the certainty of all these embellished and sometimes completely false reports has afforded me one immediate reaction to every breaking sports story: Uncertainty.

Until LeBron holds a press conference announcing the team for which he will play, I’ve turned my ever-churning desire for free agency updates to the off position.

So who’s to blame? On the surface, it’s the media. However, I think we can let them off the hook simply because they’re just doing their job. If a reporter finish second in the story-breaking race, he loses. The real problem lies with the “anonymous sources close to the person/situation.”

If you’re so close to the situation, why are you revealing private information? I would understand if these sources reveal information in exchange for money or other benefits. But considering they’re talking to the Joe Schads and Stephen A. Smiths of the world, I doubt they can provide sufficient payment.

The only conclusion, then, is that they’re doing it willingly. Maybe they want notoriety. Except for the fact that they remain anonymous, and reports and bloggers bask in the glory of the breaking news instead. Outside of fame and fortune, I cannot fathom any other legitimate reason for forcing me to endure a rollercoaster of emotions.

So please, anonymous sources, either rise from the coffin of anonymity and let the media tear you to shreds for your blasphemy or keep your dirty little secrets to yourself.