I love a writer who never let's facts get in the way of a good story. For instance, take Yahoo.com writer Dan Wetzel. He does a column on San Francisco 49er's holdout Michael Crabtree. The headline reads 49ers’ Crabtree conducts convoluted holdout and the article leads you to believe that Crabtree himself came out and said he will reenter next years draft if he doesn't get his money.
A sampling of Wetzel's comments:
Crabtree has decided that he shouldn’t have to be paid less because – based on all the made-up, predicted drafts – Al Davis made a mistake. He wants to be paid more than Heyward-Bey, demanding his contract reflect that it was actually he who was the higher selected receiver.
We are prepared to do it,” David Wells, a cousin of Crabtree, told ESPN.
Crabtree apparently operates in a world ruled by Mel Kiper Jr.
The second quote points out the flaw logic of Wetzel on Crabtree's flawed logic. Wetzel is taking what someone else said as proof of what's going on behind closed door negotiations.
Look very carefully at the source of the quote. David Wells. A cousin of Crabtree. Not his agent, not his lawyer, not his spokesmen. His cousin.
Now go read the real story on ESPN.com. The headline is Adviser: Crabtree could re-enter draft. If you bother to read the whole article, you'd see that Crabtree's agent, not David Well, states that there is no such threat about holding out for more money or reentering the draft. In fact, the agent, Eugene Parker tells ESPN.com:
You've known me a long time and I'm not a guy who makes threats. Nor am I a guy who negotiates in the public. I don't know where this came from but no such threat has been made.
Wetzel may not be wrong on his assessment. We really don't know what's going on behind closed doors. We don't know how much or how little an amount he 49ers are offering.
Wetzel goes wrong in treating a questionable source as a primary source of information. At best, the advisor/cousin, might know what's going on but he might just be part of Crabree's posse with no real information. I'd tend to believe the quotes more if they came from Crabtree or his agent but not his cousin.
