The Modern Sports Echo Chamber

*Updates below*
Modern sports "news" has become a stupid game you used to play at summer camp. What starts as a mere fart in the wind on some dude's blog gets gobbled-up by bigger blogs, which is then further amplified by The Sports Blog aka Deadspin. Once on Deadspin, you've got the attention of the AP, which will reclaim the story as their own, failing to credit the original authors, or even Deadspin for that matter. A day or two later, news aggregates feature it, such as ESPN or Countdown with Keith Olbermann, again without mentioning who started it.

The recent story of a small child allegedly drinking beer at a Phillies game illustrates this process. Watch how this works:

The story begins with a fan watching a game on TV. Something interesting happens and inspires the fan to post their DVRed video to YouTube. Then, either the same fan, or another fan that saw the same thing, posts the YouTube video on their blog. In the case of our boozing toddler, the Phillies blog The Fightins is first on the scene.

Enter Deadspin. A loyal reader likely tips Deadspin to the story, or perhaps it is the folks at The Fightins. Either way, Deadspin disseminates to the masses. Honorably, Deadspin cites The Fightins, giving them the traffic-boost reach-around.

Extra innings on a brutally humid Philadelphia afternoon isn't easy to sit through. One tyke with a bright future discovered how Daddy makes it through the day, and why Daddy is mean to Mommy sometimes. [via The Fightins]

This is the point of the story where our innocent little drunk finally becomes News. With Deadspin on the radar of the national news outlets, it's only a matter of time before an AP writer with writer's block lands an easy buck. They take our little blog turd and polish it into Journalism that will end up on The Leader. Look, here is our infant getting hammered story on ESPN! Note: they don't even throw Deadspin, or more appropriately The Fightins, a goddamn bone.

Clip shows boy with beer bottle
Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA -- A video snippet from a Philadelphia Phillies broadcast appears to show a little boy in the stands taking a drink from a beer bottle, but the team thinks it was probably empty.

The fuzzy video making the rounds online shows the child putting the bottle to his lips at Sunday's Phillies-Padres game at Citizens Bank Park. No one nearby appears to be paying attention to him when he does. It's not clear whether the bottle has anything in it.

Phillies spokeswoman Bonnie Clark says the team hasn't been able to identify the boy. She says it appears to be "a very brief event, probably involving an empty bottle."

Police say they are not investigating.

Phillies fans have brought unfavorable publicity to the ballclub this year. In April, a drunken fan intentionally vomited on an 11-year-old girl. In May, a police officer used a Taser on a teenager who ran onto the field.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

And that's how the modern sports fan gets information about stupid shit that's marginally sports-related. Yay Journalism! The Sports Media Elite are nothing but a bunch of glorified Digg wannabees.

Cartoon credit: Sodahead

Update: The AP article on ESPN now contains 30% more Journalism! Here is the updated version:

PHILADELPHIA -- A video snippet from a Philadelphia Phillies broadcast shows a little boy in the stands appearing to take a swig from a beer bottle, creating a fresh headache for a ballclub whose fans have been drawing almost as much attention as its players.

The fuzzy video, which began making the rounds online and on TV on Monday, shows the child, who appears to be about 4, putting the bottle to his lips at Sunday's Phillies-Padres game at Citizens Bank Park.

No adults nearby appear to be paying attention to him when he does. It's not clear whether the bottle has anything in it, but the boy is seen easily hoisting it to his mouth with one hand, suggesting it could have been empty.

In April, a drunken fan intentionally vomited on an 11-year-old girl. In May, a police officer used a Taser on a teenager who ran onto the field.

Phillies spokeswoman Bonnie Clark said the team hasn't been able to identify the tot or the adults next to him. She said it appears to be "a very brief event, probably involving an empty bottle."

"Obviously, the Phillies, like everyone else, would not want a child to be permitted to consume any alcoholic beverage," she said. "We are confident that our employees and our fans would not allow this to happen if they were aware of it."

The video was posted on local and national blogs. Some thought the incident was overblown, others called for charges against adults if the bottle contained beer.

"This is most likely not as it seems, but let's see how many national New York-based media outlets jump on this one. THESE ARE ISOLATED AND UNRELATED INCIDENTS! WE ARE NOT ALL LIKE THIS!" stated one person on The Philadelphia Inquirer's website.

Others joked that the recent slide of the Phillies was driving even toddlers to drink.

Neither the Philadelphia police nor the city's child-welfare agency said it was investigating.

"If there was a report of neglect, we would investigate it. We have not received a report," said Alicia Taylor, spokeswoman for the city's Department of Human Services.

**Update 2: Here is the "drinking toddler" story on Salon. To their credit, they give due props to The Fightins.