Our competitors were on the radio all day Friday trumpeting Jason Taylor’s “purple carpet” welcome to Baltimore.
(By the way, they were doing the same thing in San Diego. Taylor must have one helluva a pipeline from his agent, who is desperately trying to get him outta Miami!)
Obviously, when this happens people turn to WNST to see if the rumors are true. And my phone rings off the hook anytime anyone starts a silly rumor on the internet.
Such is media life in 2008…
So, we do our jobs and research the stories that our competitors invent or fabricate or report.
I chatted with three people “in the know” in Owings Mills and two well-connected media members from the South Florida area who gave me a litany of reasons why there’s “no way” it will happen.
And several said the exact same thing to me: “NO WAY!”
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Here they are:
1. The Ravens can’t afford Jason Taylor. The cap is a problem and Taylor, at this point in his career, won’t be taking less money to play football.
2. The Ravens won’t give up a 3rd round (or better) draft pick to get him.
3. The Ravens already have an aging defense and Trevor Pryce already represents that kind of player.
4. Terrell Suggs is one of the best rush ends in the game and essentially plays the same position.
5. Most folks don’t think Taylor would be a good fit in Rex Ryan’s current scheme.
6. The Ravens love Antwan Barnes and want to get him on the field more, not less.
87. The Ravens love ALL of their young talent at the linebacker position.
8. All five people called this the most irresponsible journalism they’ve seen thus far in the offseason.
9. No one in Owings Mills is under the illusion that they are “one player away” from winning the Super Bowl in Tampa next February.
10. (And this was just a sidenote) Apparently, Jason Taylor has a rather strong disdain for Cam Cameron after their near-run at 0-16 infamy, only thwarted by Brian Billick’s goal line decision and Matt Stover’s missed field goal last fall.
Oh, and Ozzie Newsome is playing golf somewhere in Alabama on a holiday weekend…
I could pile on here — and maybe I will later — but for now these are the facts that I’ve discovered by making a few phone calls on a Friday afternoon.
Our radio competitors are famous for “breaking stories” that never happen and patting themselves on the back for “exclusive stories” that aren’t exclusive.
8At WNST, we’ll continue to report the facts and distribute real news as it happens. We don’t need to make up stories to have listeners. And we’ve NEVER been a rumormonger machine at WNST.
How could we keep your trust if we reported a bunch of stuff that never happens?
If you want to know when news happens, simply join the WNST Text Service. It’s very simple: when the news happens, we’ll put it in your pocket instantly.
But we’re not expecting to be sending any “Ravens obtain Jason Taylor for draft picks” texts anytime soon.
