After the Hornets' Chris Paul told the world that he had never heard of or met this alleged "Miguel" person, the Missouri freshman guard had to backtrack on his story a little bit. School officials clarified yesterday, saying that Miguel Paul's father met a man named James Paul, who is Chris Paul's uncle. The two talked and realized that they have a lot of common friends and even a few common relatives. Miguel and Chris are apparently not first cousins (even though it says that in Mizzou media guide), but they are distant relations and Miguel's family was invited to the Paul family reunion. So that's something! I'm sure Big 12 fans will keep that in mind and not ridicule him at all when the Tigers visit this season.

Missouri coach Mike Anderson sums it up this way: “Miguel’s situation. He’s a part of that (Paul) family. Maybe not as big a part as he thought he was.”

Ok, maybe they didn't actually meet, but they do have a real "connection." And honestly, when you get right down to it—aren't we all related to every other person on this big beautiful ball we call Earth? Now how about a hug?

Paul’s ties to NBA star questioned [Columbia Tribune]
Tigers guard might have embellished family connection [Missourian]
Missouri destroys Colorado 107-62 [KC Star]

A story in the Columbia Missourian last fall told the inspiring tale about how freshman Tiger guard Miguel Paul met his hero and distant relative at a high school tournament in North Carolina, where Chris is from. Miguel scored 36 points in the championship game and went back to the victorious locker room to find Chris waiting for him.

They talked for a few minutes, and Chris Paul gave his cousin some advice. He told Miguel Paul to play with his head and just have fun.

Wake Forest, Chris Paul’s alma mater was working hard at the time to recruit Miguel Paul, but Chris didn’t try to influence Miguel’s decision.

“I wanted to create my own footsteps, go my own way,” Miguel Paul said.

It was Miguel Paul’s play in the tournament that motivated his cousin to organize the surprise meeting.

That is a good story. Too good to check, almost. Until a Missouri student decided to go to New Orleans on assignment for Columbia's NBC-affiliate and ask Paul about his younger cousin.

As he was walking out of the Alario Center after practice, Chris said he had never heard or met Miguel.

Oh. That's unfortunate.

Like Chris, Miguel wears number 3 and teammates call him MP3, instead of CP3. (Maybe he just really likes downloading music?) But either Chris Paul has a lot of cousins and a bad memory or Miguel Paul has an active imagination. Maybe both, but that's why they call it The Show Me State.

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That's it for Deadspin today. See you tomorrow when I'm sure more hijinks will ensue. By the way, if any of my cousins call asking for money, I'm not here.