Alright, we're going to get real for a second.
Let's lay out the facts. This is Fox Sports Radio. We talk about sports all day every day as a 24/7 network. That means we have to find stories from the inner nooks and crannies of every sports city in America, talking in a micro and macro factual way about sports themselves as if they were these complicated and predictable machines. We take rumors and run, give percentage odds on hypothetical matchups, and even like to stir the pot with some source work now and again.
As we write this, it is early March. The Super Bowl was in early February, a whole month ago. Coaches have been fired and hired, players have created stupid controversy and then gone on vacation (or both at the same time), and ownership moves have quieted down. It's silent on all fronts. If you work in sports or engage with it on a daily basis you will know by now that NFL is King, and I sure hope I'm not just breaking the news to you right now. Ratings are driven by NFL talk.
This causes some to resort to speculation or drawing lines between subjects that have no link but a mutual friend or accidental encounter, which brings us to the subject at hand.
On February 24th, a story was run on SB Nation with this title:
If you want to read that to know what I'm talking about, the link is here.
The story was discussed among sports talk radio hosts locally in Philadelphia, and it absolutely should have. You can draw numerous conclusions from a headline like that, and an article which goes on to cite a snapchat story and off-the-cusp remarks made by a new podcaster in a conversation with his friend (not de-legitimizing you Mr. Morale) and report them as fact. It is very simple to assume that the Eagles front office wanted this or that to occur, and that can cause for both compelling and successful radio.
And it isn't even like I have an issue with whoever wrote the article. I think it's an interesting topic and when reporting the facts squarely and without humor, they do come across as exactly what drives the conversation. That was good reporting, a solid day's work, and a profitable career strategy.
What does need to be said however is that Presley denounced the headline as false, and talked about how it may have caused a bit of negative energy to arrive in his personal relationship with Trubiski (the two played together at North Carolina). He said all of this on an episode of Young and Happy, with cohost Adam Ferrome.
The point of this entire story is that relationships and honest reporting of fact are the foundations of sports writing (the word journalism sucks) and should be occasionally written the same way we report regular news in order to remind ourselves of their significance. So BREAKING NEWS, there is nothing to be said about this other than the fact that it's cool two potential future great quarterbacks hung out. Pretty awesome story, just not that way.
When a story like what happened above circulates, it negatively affects the people who are cited if the story is a 'gotcha' type of scenario. I don't think this is the case, and I don't think Mitch Trubiski should hold any grudge against Pressley, but it occasionally can sever friendships.
So let's pay a little more attention to the micro side of things.