Lies, Damn Lies and message boards

We will begin with a rumor; Dominique Easley and Ronald Powell did not attend Tuesday's practice. Well, that is not a big deal. But, what if they didn't go to practice because the mean upperclassmen are knocking them around? Or better yet, because they want to transfer? Quick, someone get me hearsay! Get it on the boards! Maybe LawGator123 saw something while he was driving near practice with his high powered binoculars!

Wait, Easley and Powell were at practice today? Both of their high school coaches reported nothing out of the ordinary to the Miami Herald and Gainesville Sun? Oh, um, ha ha, right? No.

There is nothing funny about a perfect storm of the Baghdad Bob UF SID office and message board raiders combining to bring down two kids. Lacking a legitimate media presence, fans have to resort to the alternative; unemployed dudes sitting on the O'Connell Center garage and counting players. Better yet, student managers with loose lips speaking out of turn and playing a high tech game of "telephone."

Whether or not Easley and Powell attended practice is not my concern. One practice missed, for whatever reason, has no impact on the success or failure of the Gators. A week? Yes. One day? No. Even if you want to assume they missed practice, the assumption they were getting their asses kicked (verbally or physically) serves only to degrade two freshmen. Additionally, the transfer rumor is flimsy at best. The problem with that report was, "a source close to the team." Taking that literally, it could be a roommate who overheard something or a ball boy. 

Of course, since Urban Meyer has less press availability than the President, no one can get the facts. Which leads to our situation today in which grown ass men on message boards pull down two kids and the press has to chase their rumor. There could be an element of truth in all of this, but it comes at the expense of knocking around Easley and Powell before they play a down. 

I hope and anticipate that Easley and Powell are going through nothing more than freshman pains. I hope everyone else feels the same way, instead of thinking every pile of crap on the internet is a gold nugget.