Rick Reilly is the punching bag of ESPN columnists, mostly because he’s cheesy. And because he got caught begging for credit on live TV. And because he loves one-liners. And so on. The latest Reilly piece, however, deserves to be viewed by the masses.

Manti Te’o's guilt aside, there’s a bigger problem brewing: a new, yet regurgitated narrative, one of which we can’t seem to rid ourselves.

FOX’s Jay Glazer called out ESPN on Twitter, accusing them of calling his report “sources.” An ESPNer responded with the WWL’s ridiculous policy on “sources” and “reports” and things and stuff. The juicy, nerdy details, after the jump.

Major American sports demand athletes to conduct postgame press conferences, even after gut-wrenching losses. The player is probably emotionally charged, but leaves his angry hat in the locker room and supplies bland and cliched quotes with little incisive insight. Even when the questions are overly biting, meant to elicit hostile jabs that will ultimately bolster pageviews, players usually maintain their guarded exteriors.

SportsGrid is not an academic journal and we certainly aren’t peer reviewers in the field of journalism, but a few of us from time to time enjoy reading this stuff. Every now and then, we come across or are sent studies like one we saw recently from Penn State on the forever circular debate on sports bloggers versus journalists.

The full conclusion – based on research around the coverage of a small detail regarding the 2009 group that invested in the St. Louis Rams – was that “the depth of coverage reflects the advantages professional journalists have over bloggers, including better training and more resources.” Ahead, we question the research and potentially pre-conceived notions that led to the conclusion.