Hamm never said it was speedy, but he deserves a lot of the blame for that night, he shouldn't have posted that without actually knowing that someone had been arrested or not.

Hamm just posted what BZ tweeted. If you're looking to blame a media person, blame BZ. That said, what he tweeted wasn't aimed at any of our players. Posters on 247 took the fact that BZ tweeted it to mean football players were involved, and going off the description in the BPD report, started guessing as to who it was.

Even though Ketchum is a sleazy, two-faced jerk who lacks a moral compass, the thing about that article is that he gets his spin on the story out and people will believe his home-spun theories as facts.

The guy is a ******-bag to the nth-degree, but I will give him credit for continuing to be that exemplary DB as he continues to rake in the monies from the Horn fans over these many, many years. I thought he was going to flame-out like Longhorn Bob had done, but Ketchum is still going. The sad part is that there are many more of these DB-wanna-be persons in the wings when Ketchum does flame-out.

Hamm said posted what BZ tweeted and then said it would be very significant for the team.

If Hamm, wasn't 100% sure of the situation, he should not have said that.

The whole "very significant for the team" part is what set everyone off.

ketch is a useless fat **** who should choke to death on a chicken wing but he is too gutless to run with it, if BZ and Hamm do not feed the flames.

Hamm specifically said that this could by "very bad" and implied heavily that it was one or two of our players, he did not say this was his speculation, he acted as if he knew. I don't know of anyone who was even paying attention to it before Hamm posted it in that context.

Sorry, but what did Jabba do now? He, once again, talked **** about our players?

I am missing the back story.

They were both at fault.

I took steaming geoff this morning and then wiped off the chunky ketchum.

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Years before A&M hired Kevin Sumlin, I constantly stated that the Aggies needed to create a game-changer by hiring the first black head coach at a major program in the history of the Lone Star State. As the idea of leaving the Big 12 for the SEC became a reality, I was there applauding the Aggies for daring to change their lot in life by daring to be great.

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The hormones in the McDonalds beef is playing hell with his mind.

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No. 5 - An anatomy of Aggie obsession and misplaced focus …

You may or may not have heard this about me before, but I have what some might call a special relationship with the fans of Texas A&M University.

Aggies.

You see, over the course of the last two decades, I've been the one member of the media that directly or indirectly covers their program that has shot straight with them through good times and bad. The issue with Aggies is that of all the fan bases in America, I've never met one that lives in such a state of insecurity that it never actually wants the truth.

It was more than a decade ago at the Texas State 7-on-7 Tournament when I ran into one of the most worshiped Aggies of them all, a guy that actually runs a successful Texas A&M online publication. While this particular reporter and I had experienced friction prior to this particular afternoon, a truce of sorts existed on this day and we actually seemed to enjoy each other's company for about 10 minutes.

At some point during the conversation we started to discuss the fan bases that we both covered and the conversation went something like this …

Me: "Man, I don't know that I could do what you do."

Him: (laughs) "Yeah."

Me: "Let me ask you something, do you really believe everything that you're reporting to them or is that just not something you can do?"

Him: (laughs) "Let me tell you something, if I didn't tell them what they wanted to hear from me, I wouldn't have a job. I'm sure you know what I mean."

Me: "Actually, I don't. I feel pretty strongly that the most important thing that my subscribers want out of me is the truth and honesty, whether it's good or bad."

Him: "Well, it's not like that here."

In over the decade or so that has passed since that conversation on one of those incredibly hot A&M intramural fields, nothing has ever so perfectly outlined the exact mentality of Aggies everywhere than that conversation with a person who almost certainly knows them better than anyone else on the planet.

So, as fate would have it, because I've been reporting online about both programs since 1996, I'm as much of an accurate historian of the program as anyone living today and that truth bugs the ever-living sheepskin out of all of them. Deep down after all of these years, my constant correct pegging of a window that stretched over a span of 17 years represents the only real honesty they've ever received.

When the dynamics between the programs started to shift in the mid- to late-90s in a way that left the Longhorns on higher ground in recruiting, I was the one that correctly pointed it out, but they forever put their collective heads into the sand.

When Mack Brown started to dominate R.C. Slocum in recruiting in a way that could never be reversed, I was the one that correctly pointed it out, but they just love that sand so much.

When their program remained an absolute also-ran for most of the first decade of the new millennium, I was there to correctly pointed it out, but man, oh man, that sand. It's everywhere in College Station.

When Dennis Franchione and Mike Sherman were completely inadequate for what the task of coaching successfully at A&M required, I was the one that correctly pointed it out long before their fans held the eventual uprising, but … MUST… PUT … HEAD … IN … SAND.

Years before A&M hired Kevin Sumlin, I constantly stated that the Aggies needed to create a game-changer by hiring the first black head coach at a major program in the history of the Lone Star State. As the idea of leaving the Big 12 for the SEC became a reality, I was there applauding the Aggies for daring to change their lot in life by daring to be great.

The reason those Aggies suffocated for more than a decade on all of that sand is because the only kind of truth they come out of the sand for is a truth that allows them to feel incredibly good about themselves … and for more than a decade most of the truths about their existence as football fans didn't exactly provide them that feeling, which leads to a certain kind of behavior that is so easily spotted that it's actually embarrassing.

They shoot the messenger. And insult him. And obsess over him. Rinse, wash and repeat for two decades.

Don't get me wrong, I've missed some A&M predictions over the years and Aggies everywhere still let me hear about it at every chance. For instance, I missed game on game predictions involving the two teams in 2006 and 2007 (never mind the fact that I correctly nailed the other 16 outcomes of games between the two teams from 1994-2011). You also might have seen countless times on my Twitter timeline that I forecasted a 6-6 record for the Aggies in their first season in the SEC, not knowing that Johnny Football would even be on the team after an off-season arrest (more on that in a second), let alone set the entire college football world on fire with his electric play. When it comes to the big picture with the Aggies, I'm pretty much undefeated in the last 20 years, but when denial is essentially the school's second nickname, the truth is more easily ignored in the name of a trivial misstep than it is accepted in any measure.

All of which brings us to today. The Aggies have an institutional control problem, as 19 arrests involving A&M football players have occurred in the last 25 months, a number that is so outlandish that it represents not only the largest number in the nation during the same time-span by a mile, but it ranks as one of the most impossibly bad achievements in the history of college football.

To give you a little perspective, the numbers from the last 25 months registers as nearly twice as large of a number as the amount of arrests the Miami Hurricanes absorbed in the entire decade of the 90s and is quickly chasing down the Urban Meyer Florida Gators (31 arrests from 2005-10), a program that pretty much ranks as the Babe Ruth of college football jailbirds .

At A&M's current pace, they'll have 66.5 arrests over the same time Meyer's program was setting the gold standard for program, which means that if getting arrested was a game, the Aggies would be leading the rest of the nation 55-3 in the second quarter.

For those keeping score, here's you roll-call: Johnny Manziel (6/12), Jordan Richmond (11/12), Kenneth Marshall (11/12), Kirby Ennis (2/13), DeShazor Everett (7/13), Floyd Raven (7/13), Kenneth Marshall (11/13), Darian Claiborne (12/13), Darian Claiborne (2/14), Isaiah Golden (2/14), Kenny Hill (3/14), Ricky Seals-Jones (4/13), Edward Pope (4/13), Howard Matthews (4/14), Gavin Stansbury (4/14), Isaiah Golden (6/14), Darian Claiborne (6/14) and Victor Davis (7/14). (Note: A&M fans have claimed that Jordan Points belongs on the list, but I cannot find anything online confirming that)

Inexplicably, as Texas players Kendall Sanders and Montrel Meander were charged with one of the most disgusting set of allegations in the history of the Longhorns program, Aggies started coming out of the woodwork on my Twitter feed in the name of distracting from the realities of their own lack of institutional control. When news of Friday's slew of UT dismissals over team violations took place, you'd have thought that the chain gang national championship earned over the previous two years had never even happened.

Actually, that's perfect Aggie head-in-the-sand logic. Only an Aggie would dismiss 19 arrests as a critically serious problem because of anything that could happen at another school. You might recognize it as a kissing cousin of the "I jumped of a bridge because someone else jumped off a bridge" line of critical thinking.

Just when you were thinking to yourself that even the Congress Street bats must be blushing at the bat**** craziness of it all, something absolutely inexplicable occurred.

As I surfed on my own message board on Thursday afternoon, a post popped up called "LOL aggie player suspect in robbery ...". It turns out that discussion on multiple message boards was taking place over a post that was made on ******** of the 247 Sports Network. As far as I could tell, 247 star Taylor Hamm was indicating that some sort of legal situation with an A&M player was taking place and all speculation was pointing to freshman wide receiver Speedy Noil.

My mind was absolutely blown. My first reaction was, "You have to be kidding me? Another one? And it's Noil of all people?" For those with shaky memories (Yes, I'm talking to the Aggies reading this right now), Noil hadn't been on campus five minutes earlier this year before he was in a car with two A&M players who were arrested for drug possession. Somehow the kid avoided the situation without so much as an MIP and now he was again in trouble with the law? Suddenly, my phone was buzzing with text messages with people asking me if I had any info on the story.

All I knew about the situation was that the information and original speculation had originated from an A&M website and surely this "reporter" wouldn't speculate about a potential arrest of a current player unless he was absolutely sure that something had actually happened. Surely, he wouldn't scream, "Fire!" in a crowded theater on his own board.

It was at this absolutely flabbergasted moment when I Tweeted the following (all Tweeted images are courtesy of my stalker GoodBullHunting):

Ketch-001

Let's beak down the three parts of the Tweet:

a. "Tell me that No.20 didn't already go down..."

I'm literally so dismayed at the idea of another A&M player arrest taking place before I could get an entry into the office pool that I'm begging someone to tell me it didn't really happen.

b. "good grief."

Seriously, if this was really No. 20, that projected 66.5 arrests number might jump up to 80. When is enough, enough?

c. "That was speedy...er... fast."

You see what I did there? It's called a pun and I created it in association with the name of the player that Aggies everywhere were discussing with Hamm's report. At best, I was sophomorically humorous and at worst I was a little bit of an *******, but let's make one thing clear … at no point did I ever specifically mention Speedy Noil's name in any Tweet. Using the word "speedy" is not the same as using the name "Speedy." One is an adjective and the other is a proper noun. It might seem like splitting hairs, unless correct context and use of the English language matters at all.

As you can imagine, Aggies everywhere went mad with misplaced blame because it makes a ton of sense to be more upset at an incredulously smart-ass Tweet than the epidemic of mug-shots that is defining the program more than the landmark win over Duke in the last bowl season.

Before long, word got out that the Bryan Police Department was going to put out a statement regarding the tsunami of speculation that was occurring, all of which seemed to include the Noil's name. Then the most inexplicable thing of all occurred … the Bryan PD confirmed that no A&M football players had been arrested on Thursday, which represents a pretty banner day regardless of circumstances for Kevin Sumlin and his coaching staff.

Immediately, my mind went to Hamm, as no bathroom full of recruits in the world would likely save his hide from a fan base that wakes up on a daily basis looking to boycott any perceived slight against their beloved university by 9 a.m. After nearly 20 years of witnessing their misplaced frustration up-close you would have thought I might have seen what would happen next coming from a mile away … but, I didn't.

THIS IS ALL KETCHUM'S FAULT!!!! HE USED THE WORD SPEEDY IN A SENTENCE!!!!!! HE REPORTED THAT SPEEDY NOIL HAD BEEN ARRESTED!!!!! GET HIM!!!!!! FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, that's right, the Aggies blamed me.

In fact, the enabling website GoodBullHunting went so far as to write an article, attempting to expose all of my sinister activity that clearly needed to be exposed.

GBSH writes: "Ketchum's tweets are in response to a Bryan Police Department search for aggravated robbery suspects, which was first publicized by Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle. This report led to rumors on Aggie message boards which Ketchum seemed to accept as fact without vetting any sources."

Translation: The genesis of this story originated from the reporting of the most respected A&M athletic reporter on the beat, was perpetuated by a moderator of an A&M online community and the Aggie fan-base reacted in such a way that the Bryan PD had to make a statement, but instead of focusing on how all of this could have happened in the first place, let's instead focus all of our energy on a random Tweet by the person you obsess over the most because … MUST … PUT … HEAD … IN … SAND.

In doing so, let's disingenuously showcase a couple of Ketch's tweets and a retort from Hamm on Twitter denying that anything was officially reported, while ignoring every piece of context behind the story and forgetting to include screenshots from Hamm's website or any other with maroon colors that might have actually caused the ruckus in the first place.

Also, let's examine the following charge: "Ketchum seemed to accept as fact without vetting any sources"

Dear Encyclopedia Brown, do you know why it only "seemed" as if I was assuming this information as fact without vetting any sources? It's because I wasn't sure. Hence the following piece of the Tweet that sent you into the foolishness you delved into: "Tell me that No.20 didn't already go down..."

No, I didn't "vet sources" before wondering aloud about what would be a 20th arrest in 25 months, practically threatening to break Meyer's arrest record at Florida in time for the holidays, because there were already reporters on the A&M beat saying things like, "We acknowledge that there is a legal situation playing out."

You just left that part out, which is why so much of this is apparently confusing to you.

In continuing to pretend that I'm the story of the day, GBSH then mentioned the "Code of Ethics" contract that I've stated numerous times each person in the Rivals Network must sign before reporting in the network. Essentially the contract says that those that work for Rivals/Yahoo aren't allowed to cheer at games , party in Vegas with the players we cover or (allegedly) involve ourselves in the recruiting process of student athletes in a way that might impact their actual recruitment … yanno … all the things that makes for an inspiring A&M reporter.

Why does GBSH bring up the "Rivals Code of Ethics?" Because in a world where right is left and down is up, my public pondering about the things that the Aggie World is discussing is a clear violation of sorts. What violation is actually occurring?

GBSH writes: "If the dangerous practice of identifying student-athletes in criminal investigations without any substantiation is not covered by the ethics code, perhaps it's time for an update."

Uhhhhh … no such thing ever occurred. At no point at any point in this story did I actually type anything that remotely says, "Texas A&M freshman wide receiver Speedy Noil is involved in a criminal investigation and is potentially in jail right now."

I never directly mentioned his name. I never indicated that I had any original information on the story. I never specifically mentioned charges or what it might involve. I never said that it would be "VERY significant" like some of the folks that actually triggered all of this discussion did. No, I used the word in the midst of a play on words, which doesn't actually do any of the things GBSH seems to think it does.

Let me explain this to the Aggies so that you understand clearly. Me using the word "speedy" (without capitalization, no less) in a sentence doesn't actually implicate Noil in a crime any more than using the word "hopeless" in a sentence specifically implicates that almost every Aggie reading this has evarned every joke ever written about them.

You can call me a smartass. You can say I have the wit of a 13-year old. What you cannot say is that I specifically implicated Speedy Noil's name in a crime because that simply is not what happened. The rules of the English language are on my side on this one.

But … but … but ... GBSH also points out that on my own website Orangebloods.com, I typed the following in response to someone's dismay over the rumors being spread from College Station: The kid can make 50+ million playing football if he stops being a idiot."

Ok, you just discovered my first real crime of the day. In responding to a post, I used the word "a" in a sentence when it needed to be "an" and that's pretty unforgiveable, even if it was almost certainly just a typo on a message board post. It was pretty idiotic of me, actually.

Speaking of the word "idiot," you could probably take exception to that word IF Noil hadn't already put his potentially immense future in jeopardy in February when he was involved in the whole situation that led to two A&M football players being arrested because of the presence of pot and alcohol in a car full of under-21s, which GBSH conveniently leaves out of his expose. Whether Thursday's ridiculousness is included in the conversation or not, Noil does need to stop doing idiotic things and I'm not the one that should be sending home this message, as he needs to be hearing it from the head coach that challenges himself to turn these men into some sort of public usefulness.

Finally, GBSH concludes: While we do not have specific details concerning the Bryan PD investigation, it is clear that Ketchum's assumption of an arrest was baseless.

Again, we live in a world where the creation of assumptions that are based on commentary and speculation from multiple reporters covering the subject matter and an entire A&M online community are baseless because … well … MUST … PUT … HEAD … IN … SAND. IT MUST BE KETCH'S FAULT!!!!!!!!

Ironically, the great hall monitor of the A&M Internet world has one small blind spot in the prism through which he views the entire world … the actual football program that he writes about. Do you want to know how many stories I found on GBSH.com focused on the epidemic of A&M arrests, the kind that would actually hold A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin even 2-percent responsible? You get one guess …

None.

The Aggies are in the midst of a string of arrests so chronic that even Barry Switzer is shaking his head in bewilderment and the focus is on me for either the second or third or fourth time this year (I lose track) over absolute nonsense that distracts from the harsh realities of the truth that surrounds them. You better believe the "dangerous" Geoff Ketchum is always under surveillance at all times, but Sumlin's increasingly concerning inability to install discipline in his program? You guys know the drill, already …

The only real truth in the end is that I continue to be the only person in existence daring enough to continuously challenge this failed misplaced group think for the better part of the last 20 years and continue to do so because I'm brave enough to have accepted that being a truth-teller means constantly running into minds that create nicknames for those that won't buy into the idea that illogical is logical just because. Frankly, I deserve a damn medal, but I don't do it for the glory as much as I do it because it needs to be done.

I suppose there is also one more truth out there …

If Aggies everywhere held Kevin Sumlin and his Aggie coaching staff within 1/10 of the accountability demanded of me at all times, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation in the first place because those 19 arrests in 25 months we're talking about wouldn't likely exist. Wait a minute, the Aggies never talk about those types of things.

Oh, those pesky codes of ethics, indeed.

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holy sh*t dude

Dude might be more obsessed with A&M than you are.

Lets see. I think I have it figured out. Ketch starts with the letter K. That would sure explain a lot about our friend K.! Come on K. just admit it. We have found our boy Ketch!

[This message has been edited by CoachLB (edited 7/28/2014 8:37a).]

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Hamm never said anything about it being Speedy.

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Yep....that dumbass pulled it from people on there like colin speculating and he's throwing up another lie to not admit that he was dead ass wrong.

Anybody that believes Ketch didn't imply Speedy was the guy who committed the robbery is a moron!

It's hard to read that ketch stuff. You can practically hear the keyboard screaming in agony from the full force pounding.

But, at least we are all lucky we have such a level-headed, prescient journalist covering sports in our state.

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Lets see. I think I have it figured out. Ketch starts with the letter K. That would sure explain a lot about our friend K.! Come on K. just admit it. We have found our boy Ketch!

[This message has been edited by CoachLB (edited 7/28/2014 8:37a).]

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I find it more likely that he's Randolph Duke. Or knows Randy from group therapy.

Professional, non-fan journalist used Colin as his source on A&M news, while he had to quadruple confirm sips that will be kicked off the team by Charlie Strong at some point in the future. This guy had a really bad weekend, and should be issuing a **** ton of apologies to 18-22 year olds… yet everyone else around him is at fault.

WOW! This guy really has a chip on his shoulder. Sensitive little fella, isn't he?

I was thinking Ketch wouldn't be one of the Longhorn fans on here. To easy to figure out. But disguised as a Texas Tech fan, that is real undercover genius there!

K. is 3x smarter than ketch. Not saying much, but they are not the same guy.

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K. is 3x smarter than ketch. Not saying much, but they are not the same guy.

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Ketch is not nearly as BADAZZ as K.

There's legitimate concern that ut may not escape the opener against North Texas with a win, and Ketchs writing several-thousand word diatribes about A&M?

It'd be impossible to have a more perfect idiot to be the face of the internet for ut.

Geoff Ketchum is an elaborate Aggie troll. This is literally no other explanation for this.

No one has done more for Texas A&M University than him.

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Let me explain this to the Aggies so that you understand clearly. Me using the word "speedy" (without capitalization, no less) in a sentence doesn't actually implicate Noil in a crime any more than using the word "hopeless" in a sentence specifically implicates that almost every Aggie reading this has evarned every joke ever written about them.

You can call me a smartass. You can say I have the wit of a 13-year old. What you cannot say is that I specifically implicated Speedy Noil's name in a crime because that simply is not what happened. The rules of the English language are on my side on this one.

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You Can Be Sued For Slander Even If You Don’t Use The Person’s Name

Our nation’s free speech rights erroneously lead some people to believe they’re legally untouchable when it comes to smack talking and divulging others’ secrets online. For example, many believe that if you don’t use your target’s actual name then you can’t be prosecuted.

That is not necessarily true. So long as another individual can figure out the person being described, then it’s possible to be sued for defamation. For example, let’s say you make a YouTube video about “a female talk show host, who now has her own television station, and recently interviewed Lance Armstrong said [insert disparaging comment here]” – expect Oprah Winfrey to sue you. Moreover, expect her to win if (a) what you said was false, (b) you knew it was false and did it anyway, and (c) the statements caused “O” reputational or financial harm.

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It should also be mentioned that when one is accused in the slanderous statement of a crime they did not commit, that falls under "defamation per se," and the plaintiff will not even need to prove damages. They are assumed.

Thanks jorts. Speedy strikes me as too much of a man to let Ketch bother him. But, when Ketch reads this he will probably need to get yet another Depends out.

Problem is that Ketch only pulls in 60-70k at most. Not much to extract out of him at this point.

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Problem is that Ketch only pulls in 60-70k at most. Not much to extract out of him at this point.

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You'd have to go after where most of his income goes, all-you-can eat buffets and fast food restaurants.

No one in today's vernacular would have typed "that was speedy" over "that was fast" or "that was quick" unless they were trying to insinuate something.

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c. "That was speedy...er... fast."

You see what I did there? It's called a pun and I created it in association with the name of the player that Aggies everywhere were discussing with Hamm's report. At best, I was sophomorically humorous and at worst I was a little bit of an *******,

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He admits that he used "speedy" as a pun on Speedy's name in discussing the 20th arrest of an A&M player in whatever timeline fits Ketch's narrative.

It was clear it was said that way to say that Speedy was arrested and he even ADMITS that he was specifically saying that Speedy was arrested.

There is no gray area here. As Jorts said, defamation per se is pretty clear.

Without Rivalries, it's a safe bet most of us wouldn't know who this guy is. From what little has been posted here, I can't imagine anyone paying for his "content". The best I can surmise from that rant is that he is simply being outlandish in a poorly executed attempt to be provocative. I'm sure it's driving web traffic his way, so I guess it works for him even if absurd.

Speedy should get free legal representation from the university to sue Ketch for defamation.

At this point, Ketch needs to keep his buffet hole shut and lawyer up.

I suspect suing this schlep will do more harm than good.