The Self-Perpetuating Ridiculous Trade Rumor

In recent days, a rumor has gone around that Timberwolves skinny pogo Kevin Garnett could be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. (Just in a cursory search, we found it here, and that's just in the last few days.) It was originally reported by Eric Pincus at Hoops World. Rumors are rumors — we love 'em too, after all — but this one, according to the fun guys at YAY! Sports, is bunk in a particularly egregious way.

If you're new to internet journalism or unfamiliar with Chad Ford Syndrome, Pincus's whole thing is to do stuff like this (last time it was LeBron James) and then go spam his article all over message boards, causing monstrous threads like this 39-page one that has the Lakers winning the 2006 Finals by next Tuesday. That's one of SIX on Lakersground.net, all centered around Mr. Pincus's "scoop."

We tend to go by the old adage of "if you read it on the internet, it's probably true, except when it comes to Eric Pincus. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 659 times, still shame on you. 660 is our limit, buddy.

Probably true? Probably true? DEFINITELY, more like it!

Kevin Garnett Is Not Going To LA [YAY!Sports] California Dreaming [LAist]