CNNSI.com Hates The Buccaneers

What could possibly be the other reason for turning a harmless little blurb about rookie contracts:

MONEY TALK: Gaines Adams seemed eager to get started Monday, but how quickly the first-round pick gets to training camp depends on negotiations.

Contract terms for last season's No. 4 pick, offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, were not disclosed. The No. 5 pick, linebacker A.J. Hawk, signed for six years and $37.5-million.

Adams' deal likely will be considerably higher because the salary cap has increased from $102-million to about $109-million. Agent Fletcher Smith said he doesn't expect talks to begin any time soon.

"It depends on the team, and don't believe it's the agent's fault, " Smith said. "When we get toward the end, sometimes the teams take a lot of time to get to us. "I would guess we wouldn't get started talking about a contract for several months, which is fine with me."

... into the headline: "Bucs' No. 1 pick possible holdout?" Of all the first round picks that they could be stirring shit up over, Gaines Adams seems like one of the least likely. I have no idea if he will hold out. A lot of rookies do. But the only reason to use that headline is to turn Bucs fans against Adams, and that kind of rumor mongering belongs in US Weekly, not Sports Illustrated.

A few weeks ago, the CNNSI.com "Truth & Rumors" section was just excerpts from various local newspapers that may have had some information that was more speculation than fact, but it was at least based on something. It has since been updated to include provocative (read: bullshit) headlines, comments, and a "buzzmeter". A buzzmeter? On a football site? There's no buzzmeters in football! What's next, Guards Gone Wild? (Seriously, try not to think about it.)

Does everything I read have to be dumbed down and glossed up for the sake of the lowest common denominator? I guess the cancer of stripper journalism (I just now made that up) has crept into the last bastions of credible sports reporting. I expect the tabloid treatment for Hollywood celebrities and I've come to appreciate it in the world of football by guys who are satirists and fans and not people who the public turn to for real news. Maybe that's a skewed perspective because I guess I'm one of those satirists who posts crazy headlines and makes fun of people. But no one is mistaking "Michael Strahan Is A Drama Queen" for real news. "Bucs' No. 1 pick possible holdout?" on a site affiliated with both CNN and Sports Illustrated could be taken at face value. I'm not sure if their traffic or ad revenue is increasing as a result of the new format, but whatever they're gaining is costing them exponentially more in respectability.