On his show, useless ESPN talker Colin Cowherd has dared mention the Great Unmentionable Thing: the Delonte West-Gloria James rumor that was all the rage a few weeks ago. Oh, and he has "sources."
Here's what a reader told us this morning:
Colin Cowherd just relayed on his radio show that one of LeBron's teammates did something horribly personal to LeBron and his family! Confirmed by Cowherd on air — apparently he has two sources. He also said ESPN didn't feel comfortable running the story but that anybody that's even remotely in the know understands what story he's referring to.
I can't find any relevant audio from today, but there was this clip, from about a week ago, in which Cowherd refers to "a very embarrassing story in regards to LeBron's mother" that he's "not allowed to report on this network":
A transcript, for those of you who cannot tolerate rampant enunciation and a general air of blow-dried self-satisfaction:
With the LeBron James story, sources tell The Herd that the New York media has twice staked out LeBron James's mother's house in recent months and was going to run a very embarrassing story in regards to LeBron's mother, a story I'm not allowed to report on this network, therefore I will not. And it's the reason LeBron wouldn't visit New York, wouldn't visit New Jersey, wouldn't visit Miami. He made them come to him, because his mom travels with him, and he didn't want to put her in the spotlight. It's not a great situation. I'm not going to embarrass his family. But it's a turnoff, because he knows that if he goes to New York, and the relentless media, it puts his mom in the spotlight, and LeBron's not interested. Whereas the Cleveland media understands the situation, does not camp out at the mom's house, is respectful to LeBron, and lets the mother play a much less impactful part of his life. And in the case of LeBron there is a situation involved with his family that is not being spoken about that is unbelievably important to him. Basically, LeBron's people had to go to the New York Post and beg them not to run a story. Turn him off. Have you noticed New York, in the last three-four weeks, since that story became Internet fodder — have you noticed how New York has fallen out of favor, and you never heard the Knicks and LeBron anymore? There's your reason. C'mon. Six weeks ago, Oh, New York, New York, he's gonna be a Knick guaranteed. Last six weeks, you don't hear the Knicks anymore.
Terez Owens seems to think this confirms the rumor, when all it really confirms is that Colin Cowherd is the sort of person who would intone a non-word like "impactful" as if he were Churchill at the House of Commons. In any case, we ran it by ESPN. Here's what a spokesman wrote:
[Cowherd] was clearly talking about the story that had been making the rounds in some circles publicly. At the time he went with it on air, our news operation wasn't aware of his plans to mention it or his sourcing. It appears that this was a more a product of talk radio fodder than a vetted news story. We think all involved recognize that it could have been handled better.
There's only one solution: give Delonte West an hourlong special, too.