In an era where the Internet has hundreds of writers and reporters, and where ESPN and NFL Network cover football around the clock every day, and where there are still hundreds of reporters for newspapers and magazines, there are still stories that get reported by the unlikeliest of sources.
Enter Rob Lowe.
The actor made national news on Wednesday afternoon when he tweeted that Colts quarterback Peyton Manning won't play football anymore.
"Hearing my fave, #18 Peyton Manning will not return to #NFL. Wow. #Colts," Lowe tweeted around 3:30 p.m.
Just 10 minutes after sending out the inital tweet, Lowe sent out a message saying he hopes his report is not true.
"#Colts fans, let's hope my info is wrong," Lowe wrote. "[I] don't like being wrong, but this time… I'm hoping."
While the initial reaction is just how in the world Dean Youngblood got this scoop, Lowe is a noted Colts fan and is friendly with team owner Jim Irsay.
Lowe has more than 230,000 followers on the social networking website, and probably a grand total of zero of them anticipated getting their breaking sports news when they logged on Wednesday. Chances are, if Manning is indeed planning on retiring, he was hoping for something a little more formal than this.
