What You Could Be Paying For

ESPN.com has a little scam called "Insider," an increased level of access to the site that you have to pay a monthly fee to get.  What does this "Insider" deal give you access to?  Well, for one, the Rumors page of their hockey site, where you can supposedly find out all kinds of interesting info that is either 1) loosely based on possible facts, or 2) completely unreliable altogether. 

And where do these rumors come from?  Well, they come from various news sources that are already free to view on other web sites.  For example, ESPN's rumors page currently features Joe Sakic at the top with the headline "Sakic decision near?"  You can either pay to find out if his decision is near (even though you won't really find out anything because nobody knows and it's just a rumor anyway), or you can browse the Internet for three extra seconds on your own by going here, here and the original source of the "rumor" here. 

And what do you find out?  Well, Sakic will be giving a press conference as part of his annual charity golf event to support the Food Bank Of The Rockies, most likely to talk about the importance of helping hungry people.  He will likely say nothing about returning to the Avalanche (though he might, but probably not), even though he'll have to field thirty or so questions about that topic.

Immediately below the "story" about Sakic on ESPN's rumors page is a link to a rumor about Mats Sundin.  But you don't have to pay ESPN to figure out what the rumor is.  No, instead you can go to a Rocky Mountain News blurb by Rick Sadowski to see this:

While Sakic has been pondering whether to resume his playing career, there has been some speculation in NHL circles that the Avalanche is interested in pursuing Toronto Maple Leafs free agent center Mats Sundin, who also is unsure about his future.

That's about the most worthless paragraph you could read.  "Some speculation" in "NHL circles" that the "Avalanche is interested in pursuing" Sundin?  That tells us absolutely nothing.  In fact, I made a sarcastic post about this same topic a while back.  Does that make Mile High Hockey an official "NHL circle?"  What, exactly, qualifies as an "NHL circle?"  And how much speculation must there be for it to reach the level of "some?"

As bad as that is, I guarantee the ESPN site has nothing more substantial. 

I guess I just never understood the purpose of rumor sites.  The "information" they provide is almost always wrong, is posted purely to boost traffic, and can usually be assembled by anyone who reads multiple news sources anyway. 

Also, John McCain doesn't know how to use the Internet and Barack Obama's old pastor is a dickhead.