Let's Be Clear

...about exactly what TSN published today. 

According to The Hamilton Spectator, city mayor Fred Eisenberger will meet with a Vancouver-based group on Monday to discuss a proposed lease for Copps Coliseum.

Which has what to do with the Thrashers?

Eisenberger would not disclose any details of the second group, but a source confirmed to The Spectator that Vancouver developer Tom Gaglardi is leading the charge.

There are so many things to love here. First of all, the total lack of details, apparently acceptable in the Respectable Press. Vague, general assertions do just fine; minimal concrete details are beyond their grasp. Secondly, TSN indulges in a growing trend in journalism (and not just hockey journalism): anonymous sources. There are a few reasons I absolutely loathe this trend, but the bottom line is that it deprives any article in which the anonymous source appears of accountability. A nameless source can tell a journalists more or less whatever they want, and there's no serious way to fact-check the article. Apparently Respectable Serious Media outlets like TSN can get away with this, because they're not a blog, or something...

''By next Tuesday we will have a clearer picture of where we are'' Eisenberger told The Spectator. ''We're in the middle of discussions with Mr. Balsillie and his group and I will be meeting with the second group. We need to understand their intentions. It's fair to say I will be talking to that second group," Eisenberger said.

Gaglardi's group is Hamilton's second NHL suitor. City staff is currently working on a proposed lease with Balsillie, who hopes to buy and relocate the Coyotes to Hamilton for the 2009 season.

Gaglardi is reportedly interested in having the Thrashers in Hamilton in time for the 2010 season.

Umm, what the fuck? Can I email TSN and say that I'm interested in buying the Toronto Maple Leafs and relocating them to, say, San Juan (I really have always dreamed of a team called the San Juan Cocks)? I could, but that doesn't mean it has even the remotest chance in hell of happening. How does this idle talk find its way into a serious publication?

Let's also be clear about the original source of all this speculation, the Toronto Star. 

...an inside hockey source told the Spectator that Gaglardi is interested in moving the Thrashers to Hamilton, possibly in time for the 2010 season.

And that's it in a nutshell. Again, the anonymous source. Again, the lack of specifics. And even if the source were reliable, that STILL wouldn't mean this has anywhere close to a realistic chance of happening. The buzz around the Phoenix Coyotes has simply sent the Canadian media, the Respectable Serious Non-Blog Canadian Media, into an orgy of baseless speculation. They don't seem aware that an anonymous source isn't a guarantee of sound information, or that a national wet dream isn't the same thing as a fact.