A body ought to know by now not to believe everything he or she reads on the internet. Even the good stuff, like Xtwitter posts by Abe Lincoln such as "Fourscore and seven years ago McClellan finally moved his ass", and also, "Jeff Davis has the IQ of a hamster and he smells like one too!"
And speaking of people who are dead ...
Here's someone who isn't: Lem Barney.
If you grew up watching the NFL in the 1960s, you know who Lem Barney is. He's the shutdown corner and return specialist who played on a lot of mediocre Detroit Lions teams during that era -- teams whose quarterbacks went by names like Bill Munson and Milt Plum, and whose best players (aside from Barney) went by names like Mel Farr and Altie Taylor and Charlie Sanders.
In his 10-year career, Barney was the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1967, played in seven Pro Bowls and was All-Pro twice. In 1992, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Which is why the HOF put out the sad news Saturday that Lem Barney was dead at the age of 80. Other media sites on the 'net quickly picked it up, including Sports Illustrated, NBC and even the NFL's official website.
Problem was, like the old man in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," Lem Barney wasn't dead yet.
His family confirmed that he was, in fact, very much alive, and they were not happy about the HOF reporting otherwise. In fact, it's fair to say they were supremely pissed.
"My brother is fine," his sister, Verina Carter, told Tony Paul of the Detroit News. "I don't know where this (expletive) is coming from."
I do. It's the (expletive) internet.
Where I just ran across an Xtwitter denial from a certain A. Lincoln.
"I never said Jeff Davis had the IQ of a hamster," Lincoln posted. "That was one of those parody accounts.
"I said he had the IQ of a gerbil. Get it right, people."
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