Word Up, Word Iz

Two vague hearsay reports to share with you. Grab a Negroni and make yourself comfortable:

John Shannon, writing in something called Sportsnet.ca:

And finally, there are some stories that just won't go away:
...
2. Up to six teams throughout the US are struggling big time. The league has advanced some TV dollars and a percentage of revenue sharing that teams would normally get in September.

"Some stories...just won't go away." What does this mean? That they're true, or that they're stories that John Shannon hears an awful lot?

Luckily, we have a Globe & Mail human to Clarify Everything:

An interesting item in John Shannon’s blog on Sportsnet.ca the other day stated as many as six NHL teams needed advances on television and/or revenue-sharing money to pay the bills.

Given the persistent financial state of several NHL markets, there are always one or two franchises needing an advance on money that is usually paid out in September and October. But six is a troubling number despite our troubled economic times.
Shannon did not identify the teams but there are no surprises among them. Word is the needy half-dozen are the Dallas Stars, Atlanta Thrashers, Phoenix Coyotes, Florida Panthers, New York Islanders and (maybe) the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"Word is." "Maybe."

The "I heard that somebody heard something that's maybe true, but maybe not, ah who cares let's toast the Imperial Beaver of Ontario and get sloppy..." vagueness of all this is dismaying enough, but, UGH:

"Persistent financial state." "Troubling number despite our troubled economic times."

The clunkiness of their prose might be related to the thinness of their reporting. These teams might or might not be in financial trouble. If these guys are interested in this story, can't they cultivate sources close to the supposedly shaky teams and put meat on the bones of a skeletal rumor? At the very least they can contact Scottie Upshall on the Twitter and ask "R Yotes n trubl? jst twt ys r no." It can be done without leaving Toronto!