I get it. You’re new to the game and are not quite sure how it’s played. All the kids are reading the “weblogs,” and they don’t have to adhere to fancy rules like journalistic ethics that newspapers have strictly adhered to for so long. I can understand your desire to play in the sandbox with the rest of the youngsters. But, no, even us lowly bloggers think basing a story on “rumors” is still kinda classless.
No, Oregonian, “Rumors” Are Not Basis For Story
In case you missed it, the Portland Oregonian ran an essentially sourceless story today claiming Darlington Nagbe doesn't want to be the No. 1 pick in Thursday's MLS SuperDraft and play for the Vancouver Whitecaps. The columnist even goes as far as asking the Whitecaps coach what he thinks about these rumors. Teitur Thordarson's unfortunate response: "If that's the case, I would have to think about that."
Look, I have no idea if Nagbe wants to play for the Whitecaps. Maybe, in what should really be told as a coming-of-age story for our fledgling league, we have our own Steve Francis. But this just feels wrong.
For one, I just don't see what Nagbe has to gain by quietly telling people he doesn't want to play in Vancouver. It especially doesn't make sense if he's not telling the Whitecaps that, which is how it seems based on Thordarson's response. Are we to believe he'd just rather play for the Portland Timbers? These rumors are given zero context as to where or why they have popped up. For all we know, it's based on idle Internet chatter or whispers from a rival front office angling to have the likely No. 1 pick drop to them.
Unless there’s an angle to this story I’m missing, I don’t see why Nagbe would have a preference between two similar Northwest cities that will pay him the exact same amount of money. Maybe he’s really worried about the increased cost of living in Canada. Maybe he just loves the idea of playing in front of the Timbers Army. But none of this is passing the smell test.
I’d like to think a mainstream media outlet like the Oregonian would at least sniff around a little before lobbing seemingly baseless allegations. Then again, this is the same paper that ran the headline today “Aw, burned!” so classy journalism may not be so high on their list.
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