Now — as of 3:45 p.m. — the blog item that set off an avalanche of misinformation yesterday has totally vanished from Kobe Bryant’s website. Maybe when it reappears in two days, we can get another AP story about it! The whole thing is really disappointing. There are some really good people at the L.A. bureau of the AP, but somebody really, really messed up and there hasn’t been a retraction, which surprises me. The story put words in Kobe’s mouth that were taken COMPLETELY out of context, and it just added to the media circus.

On the other hand, putting an updated date on an old blog item only causes confusion and was a dumb idea, whether the decision belonged to Kobe or his webmaster or anyone. It only created confusion. And some of you might get a chuckle out of the latest “truth” entry, which quotes fans…but only the fans who support Kobe. Truth, huh? Fascinating.