Lies...Damn Lies...And Rumors

What's the latest one? Well...of course...that Ronnie Brewer has reportedly hired an agent.

But it pains me to link to that flimsy article. I'm sure it probably made Scott Cain a little uncomfortable repeating it in this morning's paper.

But, as Alex Abrams writes today in The Morning News, in the grand scheme of Internet rumors and unconfirmed reports, it's pretty harmless. Especially when compared to untrue rumors posted about players or coaches dying...sheesh.

My point here is that after nine months and 550+ posts, I'm proud that this little garden spot on the World Wide Web hasn't become THE place to find that kind of crap about the Hogs.

But, you might be saying, "This is the 'Tipster' blog, right? As in anonymous Tipster? Why don't you deal out the more juicy stuff you hear about?" Well, sorry to say, my Internet namesake and the title of this blog are based on a longtime nickname of mine. Nothing more sinister than that.

I'll admit, though, it's been hard not to stir it up here. When Randy Rainwater and Chuck Barrett made the...uh..."editorial decision" to discuss the Malzahn resignation rumor on the airwaves, it was hard not to join in.

And when Bob Holt kept the spin cycling a few days later by getting the official "it's bogus" denials in the newspaper from "Big Daddy" Frank, Houston Dale and Gus, it was hard not to link to it. (I mean...that's what is considered news? What the heck did anyone think they would say?)

The closest I got was this post. Just some cyberspace reaction from J.R. and Henry and the Mike Irwin Fan Manifesto. (Ha...I joke...but I did think Mike was right on there.)

But the way we roll here is that a link is always provided to the source for what you read here. What that link points to might be flimsy...but it's still there. I realize that practice sounds obvious. But you'd be surprised how often it doesn't happen in the blogosphere.

Now don't get me wrong...I'm not riding the high and mighty horse here. But having read more and more sports blogs lately, I can tell you that there are a lot of ways you can go with a site like this. From constant pictures of scantily clad women on every post (Darn it...where have those been here?!), to diatribes on immigration and Iraq mixed in with spring practice reports, there are a million ways you can go. And no one way is the right way.

But consider the last part of that rumors article:

Arkansas sports information director Kevin Trainor said he occasionally checks message boards to see what fans are talking about. He also looks at them to find national articles that might have been posted about the Razorbacks.

My hope is that Kevin and others (like you) visit the Hog blog here from time to time for those very same reasons. As long as that's the case, I'll feel comfortable that this space is providing a unique and valuable resource for fans of the Razorbacks.

And in return, when I post here I'll just try to keep remembering what Will Rogers once said: "Rumor travels faster, but it don't stay put as long as truth."