The Anatomy Of A Trade Rumor

“Percy Harvin is being traded to the New York Jets in exchange for Darrelle Revis.”

I can just hear those words flowing off the tongues of numerous casual NFL fans at the water cooler tomorrow morning, and I want to tell you why you might be hearing that, despite the fact that it is a very far-fetched idea that has an incredibly low probability of actually happening.

Last year, infamous Twitter personality “Incarcerated Bob” claimed to have inside knowledge that the Vikings were shipping Harvin to the Jets in exchange for a second round pick.  Of course, the trade never happened, and “Bob” later claimed that it was the Jets that foolishly backed out of the deal at the last second.  “Bob” has a very loyal fanbase that swear by his “reports” and therefore a good deal of them have been expecting the Jets to once again, after Harvin made a strong pre-injury case for the MVP award, talk to the Vikings about taking the troubled utility man off their hands.

Now, local Minnesota media like 1500 ESPN and Access Vikings did little to quiet the crowd this season, reloading a boatload of Harvin-being-traded speculative stories time and time again.  Between all of these reports, and a lack of denials from Harvin himself, pretty much everyone seems convinced Harvin has worn a purple jersey for the last time.

Now, nobody likes some good old fashioned speculation more than I do, but Dan Pizzuta of Rant Sports recently connected some dots and wrote an article about the possibility of the Jets sending star cornerback Darrelle Revis and his massive contract demands to Minnesota in exchange for Harvin.  The article makes for some interesting fan fiction, but I promise to post a video on this site of me doing the Harlem Shake in a cheesehead if it actually comes true.

That didn’t stop Evan Bleiee, on opposingviews.comfrom erroneously calling Pizzuta’s speculation article a “report” that “has Revis heading to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for playmaking receiver Percy Harvin” and making it seem like more fact than fiction.

Now that there is a “report” of Revis-to-Minnesota and Harvin-to-Jets out there, however, I can just hear the morning shows citing it like there is something of substance behind it.  After all, these same media types ran specials on Manti Te’o’s imaginary girlfriend without doing enough fact checking to realize she didn’t exist.  They are the same ones that thought it was so special that a female kicker was trying out for the NFL, despite the fact that she wasn’t even a kicker.

So, when you hear that conversation at the water cooler tomorrow morning, you can explain to your co-workers exactly how these things get blown out of proportion.  Tell them why the trade makes no sense.  Promise them it isn’t going to happen.

Offer to do the Harlem Shake while wearing a cheesehead if you are wrong.

What’s the worst that could happen?

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