The Anwar Richardson School of Economics Award

"It's actually gonna pump some money into this economy. Especially, in the Tampa Bay economy."

Tampa Tribune sports writer Anwar Richardson, on Brett Favre becoming the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback. Bucs General Manager Bruce Allen told the St. Petersburg Times there was never going to be a Farve deal.

“”There was no negotiations,” Allen said. “There was never any substantive talk about what they would take to trade him. So all of that was speculation. From the beginning, I think it was clear it was a bad situation in Green Bay and they had to deal with it any way they could.

“Green Bay never told us what they were even interested in trading him for,” Allen said.

That didn't stop the Tampa Tribune from constantly reporting that Farve was coming to Tampa. Creative Loafing's Wayne Garcia breaks down how the Tribune did this without even citing anonymous sources. Truly hysterical.

I have written blog posts on how stadiums do not boost local economies. My question is what economic data did Anwar Richardson use to know that Favre would help the economies of Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. That is the Tampa Bay area. Richardson did not offer an opinion. He made a declarative statement. Does Richardson have a Brett Farve economic impact study? I would love for Richardson to write about that study in his column. Did Richardson use the same research methods for his economic statement; that he used to report the possibility that Brian Griese might be traded to Green Bay?

Many started to speculate Griese could be shipped out of Tampa after he missed Monday afternoon’s practice, but the quarterback said he was given that time off. Bucs Coach Jon Gruden routinely gives veteran players the afternoon off and Griese’s respite was yesterday.

Richardson doesn't tell us who speculated? A quarterback automatically becomes trade bait because his coach gave him the afternoon off. Investigative journalism at it's finest.

I have the Joel Award for people that say something stupid and deny making the statement. We now have the Anwar Richardson School of Economics Award. This is given to people that make economic claims that have no basis in reality. Much like Richardson's Brett Favre reporting.

Anwar Richardson: we salute you.