What would the reaction have been if, for instance, I tweeted that “sources confirm Yankees have signed free agent OF Darnell McDonald”, hours after McDonald himself had already tweeted the very same thing?   I’m guessing no one would give a shit. Mostly because, y’know, it’s Darnell McDonald, but also because hardly anyone no one is looking to me to break stories of any consequence (or even those regarding Darnell McDonald).  The same, however, cannot be said of ESPN’s Chris Broussard, who upon being brutally scooped by virtually every one of his peers on Deron Williams spurning Dallas in favor of the Nets, took to Twitter to claim, “source: Deron Williams tells Nets he’s staying in Brooklyn”. And that’s pretty mild compared to how he characterized Eric Gordon signing a maximum offer sheet with the Suns.

What sort of reporter with an ounce of integrity passes off an athlete’s prepared statement as a personal conversation?   What journalist with an spine can’t even acknowledge a story was broken elsewhere?  And given his reliance on new media for a steady flow of information, how tremendously naive must Chris Broussard be to not realize the transparency of his actions?  This is less about one (gigantic) company’s social media policy and more to do with a staggering lack of common sense.