Repeat after me, "Michael Vick is NOT coming to Buffalo"

Ah, you have to love those internet rumors. Consider this juicy one posted on Sports Illustrated's Fan Nation site the other day:

Here's the real team to watch as a Michael Vick destination, in our view. The Buffalo Bills. The Bills want to win. Now. Whether it's because owner Ralph Wilson is feeling a Leon Hess-style sense of urgency or whether coach Dick Jauron feels a Rich Kotite-style sense of urgency or a combination of both, the Bills are going all out. They offered Terrell Owens $6.5 million guaranteed at a time when no one else was willing to pay him $6.50. And a league source tells us that the Bills made a very aggressive play for defensive end Jason Taylor immediately after Taylor was cut in March by the Redskins. In fact, the Bills were the very first team to pursue Taylor. As to the potential backlash from signing Vick, consider the fans' reaction to the arrival of T.O. He's already gotten the key to the freaking city. So if any team can sell this transaction to their fans, it's the Bills.

These are the types of posts that drive journalists nuts because readers (and editors) see them and become irrational. Rather than see the absurdity in the rumor, the readers (and editors) start believing they are true and reporters are forced to go on wild goose chases.

I'm happy to report that there isn't even a modicum of truth in this one. My sources with the Bills tell me the team has absolutely no interest in bringing the dog-murdering quarterback to Buffalo.

This dumb posting makes no sense at all. How stupid to think that giving Owens the key to the city conveys the same sense of desperation as signing a criminal like Vick.

I'm no T.O. fan, but it's flat-out wrong to equate his egocentric football transgressions to the heinous real-life crimes committed by Vick.

I'm all for posting opinions to generate discussion, but this one was ludicrous and irresponsible.

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I know David Stern, the networks and the vast majority of NBA fans want to see the Los Angeles Kobes vs. the Cleveland LeBrons in the finals, but I'm pulling for a Denver-Orlando championship series. Yes, I am biased. I'd love to see Carmelo Anthony, who I was privileged to cover at Syracuse during the Orange men's national championship season, and Stan Van Gundy, who has strong ties to Brockport, vie for a ring.

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Why can't more athletes follow Cal Ripken Jr.'s lead? The baseball legend and former Rochester Red Wing star signed autographs for a half hour following his speech Monday night at the Rochester Press-Radio Club's Day of Champions children's charity dinner. He wasn't required to, he just did it spontaneously on his own.

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Unlike the real emotions Buffalonians displayed during Jim Kelly's coronation-like arrival in 1986, this reception for T.O. comes across as painfully contrived. Presenting him with the key to the city was political grandstanding by a mayor up for reelection.

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Notre Dame reportedly is looking into the possibility of playing Army in 2013 at the new Yankee Stadium to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the game in which the forward pass first became a major part of college football. I like the idea, but, given the way baseballs are flying out of the wind-tunneled new ballpark, I'm worried some punts and kickoffs might sail completely out of the stadium.

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Just throwing this out there, but couldn't State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo go after the Yankees for price gouging because a goodly sum of taxpayers' dollars were used to contruct the Steinbrenners temple of greed?

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No one can tangle up a garden hose like my wife. Fortunately, I managed to get it untangled before our new forsythia bush died of thirst.

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Happy 80th birthday to my mother-in-law, Dorothy Pack. She has one of the coolest nicknames - Dot Com - and makes the best German potato-salad I've ever tasted.