The whole world’s been looking at the Rocket/Mindy McCready affair this week, even though it appears nothing (allegedly!) happened until she was of legal age, but there's another major statutory rape story involving a pro athlete that’s been almost completely ignored.

It began to surface on Sunday when the Buffalo Bills drafted offensive tackle Demetrius Bell from Northwestern State in the seventh round. It was noted that Bell's mother raised him on her own, but it was also noted that his father was Karl Malone, former power forward for the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers, and that Malone offered no support. The Buffalo News followed up, and discovered that it appeared that Bell's mother was 13 at the time of his birth. Malone, at that time, was a college sophomore at Louisiana Tech.

The Los Angeles Times has also mentioned this, but aside from a few blogs, I've seen no mention of this in any of the major media. Now, neither Bell, his mother, nor Malone have denied this story. So I find it rather curious that the major media have failed to follow up on this, especially after they've been all over the Rocket this week.

Now, as anybody who watched Bob Costas's HBO program this week knows, BLOGGERS ARE THE EVIL because we don't do any real reporting. Pulitzer Prize winner Buzz Bissinger acted as if Will Leitch of Deadspin was one of the seven signs of the Apocalypse. Yet while the mainstream media has been jumping all over every Rocket-bimbo leak, they've been strangely quiet about Malone.

The parties tell us there was no underage sex between Clemens and McCready, but we all jump on Rocket about the underage thing. But the parties tell us there was a case of statutory rape with Karl Malone -- hell, there's even evidence -- and there's nothing.

So it’s the evil bloggers who are trying to hold Malone accountable, while the mainstream media just ignore the story.

I'll climb down off my soapbox now, but I felt the need to rant. – John Royal