This:

This is the second time in recent months that a Philadelphia professional athlete has been tarred by an obscure blog. In the other case, a blogger speculated, with no sources, that Phillies outfielder Raul Ibanez might be using performance-enhancing drugs. Ibanez denounced the blog post.

I read the blog post in question. The Ibanez blogger did not himself speculate that Raul was using steroids. He merely said that people might think he was since he was hitting so well and so powerfully at age 37. He also said that it was unfair, but understandable given the fact that we are in the Steroid era of Bases-ball. I think the writer in this case was trying to make a commentary on the state of baseball instead of the testosterone of Raul Ibanez, but like many things it got taken out of context.

(Speaking of which, I’ve always gotten a kick out of this.)

At any rate, Jerry Brennan’s post was different. The Ibanez post was based upon unfair but understandable speculation; Brennan’s was based on something he heard from a friend of his which, in his own admission, may or may not have been true. How irresponsible is that? “This may be a lie but I’m going to write about it anyway.” Does Jerry Brennan not realize how hurtful that is to the players? And not only here – look at how PensBlog and Rock the Red ran with that story, telling everyone “it’s probably true.” Does Jerry Brennan not understand that everyone hates the Flyers and will be more than happy to justify and share their hatred? I hate the Dallas Cowboys but I’m not going to go around telling everyone that Julius Jones raped my cousin. Come on now.

My good friend’s sister used to work at the Wachovia Center years ago. I heard a lot of things from her, some of which were rumors and some of which were true. I didn’t blog about it and I didn’t tell anyone about it, even if it was true. (And no, you’re not hearing any stories now.) I didn’t think it was my place to do so, and I didn’t want to go around broadcasting things which may not have been true. It would have been irresponsible.

More bloggers are becoming responsible nowadays, and that’s good. But people like Jerry Brennan ruin it for the rest of us and allow the general public to say “See! These people are full of it! They can say whatever they want and there’s no accountability!” And that hampers the serious discussion which can take place anywhere, on any subject.

Thank god those rumors I started about Hartnell and Lupul never made it into the Inquirer…

After the blog appeared, Zack Hill, the Flyers’ senior director of communications, contacted Brennan and told him the story was untrue.

So that’s how you get Zack Hill to contact you! Oh, what am I saying. The email probably said “Your rumor is not true. Zack Hill, Senior Director of Communications.”