Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Is this really where we have come as a society? Are we that desperate for the next breaking news story to go viral that we’ll believe just about anything these days? While I’ll admit to being an avid Twitter user to get quick news and updates from some of my favorite NFL and NBA writers, I hardly subscribe to what Twitter has become: fodder for tabloids.
The last few days may have taken the cake when it comes to “breaking” news. Over the weekend, a Western Kentucky broadcasting student tweeted a simple rumor about Les Miles he read on an Alabama message board.
Read that last sentence and think about it for a second. Something took off and went viral based on some random college student’s tweet that may or may not have come from a message board of a rival school of LSU‘s.
I love the idea of people blaming the young kid (Sam McGaw) for starting a rumor that ended up not being true. It’s not his fault, it’s everyone else’s for spreading the rumor and giving any sort of relevance to it.
The most recent story comes from an equally useless source, though one that’s a bit more well known. Incarcerated Bob, who has been known to embellish the truth a bit, claims to have secured an interview with a former employee of Anthony Bosch. Bosch has been linked to PED use and several baseball players are alleged to have enlisted in Mr. Bosch’s “help.”
According to Incarcerated Bob’s supposed interview with the supposed former employee, LeBron James is taking steroids.
Well isn’t that convenient. Take the biggest name in sports, who happens to be having one of the most incredible years in recent memory, create something that would definitely be news worthy and put it out there for the tabloids Twitter world to see.
I find this very hard to believe, not only due to the source but from a common sense stand point. Basketball players don’t stand to gain much by taking steroids. They’re not trying to hit a ball farther or hit someone harder, they’re simply trying to put a ball through a hoop. Adding strength doesn’t help you do that. Just ask Stephen Curry.
Unfortunately this need to be the first to break something will never go away. The internet has made sure of that. By giving everyone a voice, the need to be accurate has been replace by the obsession to be first. It’s a race that nobody wins.
I’ve never been one to subscribe to a conspiracy theory, and the LeBron James rumors are nothing more than that.
Jeff Shull is an NFL writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
