Who’s this guy Brett Favre?

Shame on you ESPN.  This is just poor journalism. 

altFor what I would call a good majority of the day yesterday, ESPN covered a story saying that Brett Favre sent texts to fellow teammates announcing his retirement.

They covered this story for at least 6 hours.  Every interview they had with anyone relevant to the sport “had not confirmed this story” but yet they ran this same story all day, breaking down new Vikings QB scenarios, and recapping Brett Favre’s entire career.

So the next day, I turn on my Sportscenter, and ESPN is running a story that these claims were false, Brett Farve denied these claims, and that no texts were ever sent.

Where was this story fabricated from then?  Who are the “sources???”  All your go-to guys like Adam Schefter and flap-of-skin Chris Mortensen didn’t really have much to say about it and just kept speculating. 

So who’s really to blame?  Vikings tight-end Visanthe Shiancoe.  He’s the one who started telling the media that fellow teammates received texts stating Farve said he was going to retire.

So, I guess that’s all it takes to run a story…. for six hours.  That’s how ballin’ ESPN is though.  They can listen to rumors from smaller media, still cover it with full detail, retract that story, and still look professional I guess.  

In case your curiously caught up in this epic story, the status has been changed to “Favre is day to day, and he will play if his ankle is healthy.”

One thing is for sure… kicker Ryan Longwell is getting more face time than he ever has.  Good for him.

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