How do rumors get started on the Internet? Do people take things out of context, misinterpret them or do they simply just make crap up?

The Flyers were in the middle of a pair of rumored “commitments” from three recruits recently — from Brian Roberts of Toledo and Martin Brothers Select AAU teammates Jimmy Binnie of Iowa and Trent Meacham of Champaign, IL. Hopefully the hoopla that was created will not adversely affect BG’s ability to sign all three — but we won’t know that, with 100% certainty — until the early signing period in November. Until then, anything that is said by anyone is subject to change.

The Roberts rumor had its beginning on the OhioPreps.com Message Board. On August 19th at 8:11PM, Mike Duncan (who runs the site and the Columbus Basketball Club AAU program) posted the following:

“Brian Roberts from Toledo St. Johns who will visit U. of Dayton this Friday (8-22-03) will commit during the campus visit. Dayton also has gotten a commitment from 6’7 Norm Plummer.”

I happened to surf by Mike’s MB shortly thereafter. Altho it didn’t say “I talked to Brian Roberts” (or Brian Gregory for that matter) this certainly reads like an authoritative post to me, so I cut and pasted it verbatim (except for one minor syntax edit) onto the UDPride.com MB at 10:28PM that evening.

On August 22nd at 11:25AM a poster named Ballboy458 wrote the following on the OhioPreps.com MB:

“Rumor has it and according to Bulldog basketball forums, Roberts has set an official visit to the University of Georgia for Sept 5th-7th”.

Why would a kid who verballed to UD agree to take a trip to UGA?

Frequent Flyer poster RDreissen chastised Mike Duncan for the misinformation he had published. Duncan’s response:

“I said done deal because of the feeling that I had. I never said Brian Roberts told me he was going to commit to U. of Dayton. But, truth be told Brian told enough people himself that he was going to commit. Dayton is a better move, Georgia is on probation and Brian cannot survive in the SEC.”

Whoa there, pardner! You didn’t say “I have a feeling Roberts is going to commit to Dayton” you said “Roberts will commit to Dayton” during his visit. Duncan digs himself an even deeper hole by questioning BR’s ability, saying he couldn’t compete in the SEC. Thanks for nothing, Mike!

Other Flyer posters like our own The Fly and David85 also questioned Duncan on his methods. In one post on August 23rd, Mike further muddies the waters by stating:

“If anything the commitment of TRENT MEACHAM 6’2 from Champaign, IL change Brian Roberts decision”.

What commitment??? Meacham and Jimmy Binnie haven’t given BG a verbal yet either!!!

This second bit of BS got started on PrepSpotlight.com, by the normally reliable John Stovall. On August 22nd at 4:04PM, Stovall posted the following on their Ohio MB:

“TRENT MEACHAM A 6’2 PG FROM Champaign, IL AND JIMMIE BINNIE A 6’6 WING FROM JOHNSTON, IA. HAVE BOTH COMMITTED TO DAYTON UNIVERSITY. THEY ARE BOTH BORDERLINE TOP 100 PLAYERS.”

Matt Schwade from FlyerHoops.net knows BS when he smells it. Less than 2 hours later, he replied to Stovall on the same MB:
“I just spoke to Jimmy Binnie not more than a minute ago. He has not committed.”

Shame on you, Matt! You mean you actually talked to the player in question and asked him point-blank if he had committed? What’s wrong with you, dude? That’s just not how it’s done! You call that reporting?

Yeah, Stovall and Duncan we do, even tho it was a guy from the other Flyer Fan website who did it and not us. Good for you, Matt!
Unfortunately for Stovall, it got worse. The ‘commitment’ by Binnie and Meacham went from a post on the MB to a front page story, which had to subsequently be retracted. A Chicago hoops site called Illinois Prep Bullseye Website also picked up the Meacham/Binnie rumor and ran with it and then removed it from their home page.

So now that we all know how Internet rumors get started, the question is: How do we stop them?