Deadspin saved me the headache of reporting about the headache going back and forth between Post-Gazette reporter Ed Bouchette and NFL.com reporter Ian Rapoport's He Interviews/He Interviews Not battle today regarding Steelers offensive coordinator Todd Haley.
Tracking it all via Twitter, Deadspin gets the inside/out comparison between the two reports, making it reminiscently familiar to the David DeCastro Injury saga, interestingly, that also involved Rapoport, during the preseason.
To boil it down, Bouchette says he's interviewing in Arizona for their head coaching position. So did Steelers owner Art Rooney.
Haley's agent, Jerome Stanley, told Rapoport he wasn't. With emphasis added, according to Rapoport.
Bouchette insisted Haley was interviewing. No one denied he was in Arizona.
Maybe it was his alibi to commit a crime in another part of the country today.
Remember the whole Favor Theory? Seems like a much more intriguing option now. Clearly, one hand doesn't know what the other is doing, and both sides could have something to cover up. The Cardinals don't seem inclined to deny Haley a chance to go anywhere else, but his agent sure seemed to feel like it either would be a bad idea to confirm he was interviewing, or perhaps has no clue where his client is.
The point? I'm not even sure there is one, but for anyone who ever blames the media for misinformation, this is a rare glimpse into how it happens. Someone who has no reason to lie is lying, and their title and position (in this case, the Steelers owner vs. Haley's agent) clearly dictates someone who should have a pretty strong idea about what's going on.
As it is, we've said all along regardless whether Haley was interviewing yesterday, playing golf or simply going for a night of beers with his old boss, Haley will be the Steelers offensive coordinator tomorrow.
So it really doesn't matter.