I have to tell you, I love this stuff. I really do. Mud-slinging and muck-raking after a player leaves a team is fun in blogger-land, but it’s hilarious in the MSM. Such as this, from Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch:

It’s believed that Foote and his agent, Rick Curran, set their contract demands at a height they knew the Blue Jackets wouldn’t accept.

Key word: Believed.

According to numerous NHL sources, Foote threatened to be “a bad teammate, a bad captain and a bad player” the rest of the season if he weren’t re-signed or traded to his preferred destination — the Colorado Avalanche, where his best NHL years were spent.

The Blue Jackets made a final plea, urging Foote to consider all that the Blue Jackets’ ownership group, the coaching staff and the fans had done for him the past three seasons.

Again, according to sources, he responded by saying that he “doesn’t owe anybody anything.”

Key word: Sources. X2.

Folks, I have news for you. “Sources” can mean anything. Rumor sites get busted on every day for using unnamed sources. Using “sources,” real, made-up, unnamed, sells papers, attracts readers, and gives credability. Here, I’ll do it. Sources are telling me that it’s night time when I write this. I will now name my source: my clock radio. So I will now ask Aaron Portzline to do the same:

Name your sources, Mr. Porzline.

Sure, I’m being a little bit of a jerk there, but you get the point. Adam Foote says he did not say those things, and it’s his word against the “sources.” But until those sources are named, there is nothing to those statements. It only makes people point, laugh, and shout. It gets people excited, but has no other purpose, other than to make the scorned feel justified.

I made a comment on Kukla’s Korner about these very statements, and got a very simple response, that, as an Avs fan, I don’t like out beloved Adam Foote being picked on. And as a small gesture, I will agree with that statement, to a point. I don’t like it, but I don’t like it because there is no basis shown for the claim, and it’s a poor job at reporting. The MSM points at bloggers over and over for not having credibility, but this is certainly one case where I would like to see some credibility, and not just in a resume. How about some names? Those anonymous sources can be the guy on the street, the GM, or an imaginary friend. Until those sources are named, I will continue to dismiss claims like these as anything other than the middle finger in print to a player that is departing. And from the sounds of it, especially if Mr. Porzline is in the locker room, greener pastures.

Personally, I would like to think that Adam Foote did not say or do things to get himself out of the contract that he signed. I would like to think that he was willing to stick out what looked like another nose-dive season in the Blue Jacket organization. Until someone who has actually spoken to the man and heard these things steps forward, I am happy to stand by my beliefs.

In an interesting coincidence, Home Ice on XM satellite radio was talking about the Avalanche organization, and how they treat their players, and their staff. They specifically mentioned Pierre Lacroix as a person who succeeded in making the Avs a classy organization, from the treatment of the players, to giving the training staff and others involved contracts during the lockout, so they would have employment, something the XM folks said was rare, and wasn’t an obligation by the team. Perhaps Foote was spoiled, and the Blue Jackets don’t operate in such a way. Perhaps he longed for the greener pastures, and they were available.

But I am only guessing. I don’t have any hockey “sources” on this one.

On the other hand, my alarm clock just told me it’s early morning. That’s street cred.