Deadspin writer Rick Chandler picked up on this exclusive BloodyElbow.com reported about Lloyd Irvin, his family and Brandon Vera being robbed at gun point. I am huge fan of Deadspin, so I was greatly disappointed to see Chandler use talking points emanating from message boards and forums to slander Irvin without the slightest hint of homework on Chandler's part:
In an "exclusive" with MMA site Bloody Elbow (your most trusted source for news), Lloyd tells of how gunmen broke into his home and held his wife, 4-year-old son and — surprise! — Vera, hostage in a robbery attempt. Then things went very Walker, Texas Ranger:
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Forgive me for being skeptical, and if this really happened, both Steven Seagal and I salute your bravery, Mr. Irvin. But it's hard to take a story seriously that 1. Hasn't run in any newspaper, even though it happened more than a week ago, 2. Has been reported only by an MMA site and a few message boards, and 3. Just happens to be tremendous advertising for your business, a martial arts studio. Hard to imagine someone with stones large enough to fake all of this, but some independent verification would be nice, and I can't find any.
One barely knows where to begin.
Chandler says he wants some "independent verification" of the story, but is clearly too lazy to do the work himself. Had he called the Prince George's County Police Department he'd know there actually is a police report regarding this matter (email me for the case number and phone number of the records office if that's not too much work). According to the officials I spoke with, this record won't be released to the public unless those involved in the incident make it public or "parties of interest" are granted access. Perhaps Chandler, after slandering Irvin, can convince Irvin to allow him access to the police report. If you want to get in touch with him, I can arrange it. Good luck with that.
The more disturbing element to the Deadspin post is just how intellectually lazy it is. Chandler never contacted me to get my side of the story. He (ostensibly) read the story we published and message board posts at NHB gear. He then decided the infantile caterwauling by Irvin's detractors was pretty damn compelling (think about that for a second and it tells you all you need to know). He literally accepted gossip and innuendo by folks not involved in the situation on any level as reliable enough to suggest Irvin is a charlatan and unethical marketer.
And that's the point here. I can get over the fact that this site was slandered for "comedic" effect. I believe this site is one of the top destinations for MMA fans worldwide, but when sports writers who know nothing about MMA don't recognize that it isn't the end of the world. We have growing to do. The Internet is a prickly place and someone's always going to squeeze a lemon. It's also a reasonable concern that the larger newspapers like the Washington Post didn't pick up on the story. So, healthy skepticism and swipes at other blogs is nothing to worked up over. But to do - literally - nothing more than read our story/a few message board posts by know-nothings and dismissively suggest with no knowledge of the people involved or without any independent homework on his own that Irvin is so unethical as to use my site and me, a member of Team Lloyd Irvin, to further his own marketing efforts by fabricating out of whole cloth a tragic incident that never happened is abhorrent and pathetic.
Some will suggest that because I am a member of Team Lloyd Irvin that I therefore am willing to go along with this alleged charade. But the truth is between this website and my radio show on local CBS talker 106.7 WJFK, I could do significant damage to Irvin's credibility were I to discover he lied to me for his marketing efforts. In order for the message board zombies to be correct, Irvin would not only be inventing stories to further his career, he'd be using a team member with the most vocal platform to do it. On top of that, and here's the real rub, he'd be doing so despite his gyms growing in leaps and bounds all over the DC metro area. That's right: for the theory to be correct, despite success in the growth of his MMA and BJJ gyms, Irvin contacted me to invent a story that never happened and was willing to use a team member to do it. If that sounds plausible to you, you are in serious need of psychological evaluation. Oh, and there is a police report so I don't know how that fits into the whole "this never happened" element of the theory, but that isn't really my concern.
The clowns on message boards can be forgiven their trespasses for unjustifiably slinging accusations and proclamations with no evidence or reason to believe anything other than their own snap judgment. That is, after all, par for the course. For the Associate Editor of one of the biggest and best sports blogs in existence to find such nonsense compelling enough to suggestively slander Irvin is just sad.
I didn't think so at the time, but maybe Bissinger had a point after all.
UPDATE: Rick contacted me and took me up on my offer to get him in touch with Irvin, so I obliged. Rick has now spoken to Irvin (who is in England) quite extensively and we are expecting an updated story very soon. I won't describe what that might look like right now, but suffice it to say I welcome the proposed follow up. Stay tuned.