FULL COURT PRESS

As Williams rejoined his wife Wanda and their two children, Scott and Kimberly, in the rural town they had called home for the past 12 years, a middle-aged sportswriter who had settled into a static position at an unheralded small-market newspaper put the finishing touches on a story that promised to put him in the limelight.

After seven straight days of being hounded by reporters, Williams' wife and two children learned that the coach would not relocate his family to Chapel Hill, N.C. He had decided to remain at Kansas for a 13th consecutive season.

The morning hours fast approached, and as they did, Williams compelled himself to make three of the most difficult phone calls of his coaching career. One by one, he told his former mentors and associates at the University of North Carolina that he would not accept their offer to return to his alma mater.

Before Williams even had the chance to place his calls, however, a war-sized headline appeared on front pages throughout North Carolina proclaiming that the Tar Heels and Williams had already dotted the i's and crossed the t's on his new contract. The following day, The Herald-Sun of Durham deeply regretted the error.

Six months later, on the first afternoon of the new year, Duke sophomore Carlos Boozer met with Mike Krzyzewski. With campus deserted for winter vacation, the 19-year-old said he hoped to privately determine his future with the Blue Devils.

During the discussion, Duke's veteran coach explained to Boozer that if he returned to school, he would be one of the most dominant power forwards in college basketball. Boozer said that otherwise he would have foregone his chance to become a lottery pick in 2002 and instead spent draft day waiting anxiously for his name to be called late in the first round. Even then, as Boozer had learned from the experience of former teammate Chris Carrawell, there were no guarantees he would not slide well into the second round.

Based on his coach's advice, Boozer said he made a new year's resolution to return to Duke in the fall of 2001. The media never printed or discussed the outcome of Boozer's meeting with Krzyzewski; in fact, Boozer said no reporter even asked him about it. Instead, a late November article quick to report his presumed departure remained unchallenged until the draft deadline passed without incident.

Although no correction to the report was ever made, the long-standing error was ESPN's to regret.

Yet, when the story was amended and updated two days after its original publication, the author adhered to what he termed "informed speculation."

When Williams later bypassed his chance at the draft, CNN/Sports Illustrated had been caught undeniably--and, of course, regrettably--with an error.

These three gaffs of the past year were not the first in sports journalism, and they will not be the last. As Jon Ham, managing editor of The Herald-Sun at the time of the Roy Williams botch, explained to readers two days later, regretting the error has become almost commonplace in the industry. "It happens more than our profession would like to admit," Ham wrote in his July 8, 2000 column.

Regardless of their frequency, highly visible errors, whether in sports stories or news stories, have the potential to foster a mistrust in readers that can linger.

In a newsroom, only one thing matters when the paper is put to bed: There can be no gray area or what-if's. If the writer and editor are not absolutely certain about the story's accuracy, someone might as well start regretting the error before the ink even dries.

Anders Gyllenhaal, executive editor of the News & Observer in Raleigh, warned that only the subject of the story himself can truly validate a report; even that may not be fail-safe, given the fickle nature of coaches and athletes.

Rather than proceed with extra caution, however, all three misguided sportswriters of the past year staked their claims on little more than rumors and innuendo.

Not one of them substantiated their assertions with first-hand accounts. It took only one source "close to [Jason] Williams" to convince Sports Illustrated columnist Seth Davis that the guard was planning to snub his coaches and teammates, not to mention humiliate his mother.

Meanwhile, ESPN reporter Andy Katz relied on Boozer's "people" when he reported to a national audience that Duke had given up the hope of keeping Boozer for another season.

And Al Featherston, who was berated by angry Tar Heel fans as soon as they learned Roy Williams planned to stay in Kansas, occasionally hinted at the existence of "sources," but his article never revealed how many or how close they were to the Jayhawks' coach.

Perhaps sports journalism is not preparing its up-and-comers for investigative stories. Many of these writers grow accustomed to a routine that revolves around sporting events where their information and quotations are spoon-fed to them.

Although even seasoned sports journalists squirm uneasily at the notion of critiquing their peers, it might be argued that shuffling a hard-hitting report in between cliche-based recaps and commentaries is more than most sportswriters can handle.

Gyllenhaal insisted that he has as much faith in the News & Observer's sportswriters to accurately report the news as he does the paper's investigative journalists.

"I don't think that sportswriters necessarily go through the same upbringing as news writers--from city hall to cops to county to state government," he says. "But that doesn't reduce the burden that a sportswriter goes through to make sure their reporting is accurate."

Aside from the betrayed readers, victims in cases like these do not elicit much sympathy; their gripes are often well overshadowed by the perks of their celebrity status.

In these specific instances, however, they did not solicit much sympathy either.

Boozer said he had not yet read or even heard about Davis' report on his teammate or Katz's piece on himself.

Jason Williams said both he and his family read Davis' article, but that it did not anger or even surprise him that much.

Similarly, Roy Williams cared little about the week-long media frenzy and the hasty conclusion that was plastered across front pages.

Instead, he contented himself with taking a parting shot at The Herald Sun, which the coach says "printed what they wanted to print."

In an exclusive interview with Chronicle sports editor Craig Saperstein, Krzyzewski echoed his one-time rival's sentiments and added that reporters print what they want to print rather frequently.

"I think that happens a lot. I think it's one of the bad sides of journalism," Krzyzewski says.

"With the many good things it does, that's one of the bad things. You get a little bit more powerful than you really are. You should report the news, you should comment on the news and you can make predictions.

"But you shouldn't make the news, and that's what people try to do."

Although Krzyzewski never mentioned Davis by name, whose belligerent wording challenged the verity and honor of Jason and Althea Williams, Duke's coach was especially critical of how the national press treated the Williams family.

Davis countered by saying he still stands by his story, which he refers to as a clear prediction rather than a factual report.

Jason Williams, allegedly unaffected by the column, says he was slightly irked by Davis' use of news-like phrasing--such as "informed speculation" and "a source close to Williams"--to mask what was merely his opinion.

There is a simple solution that does not infringe upon the basic expectations of sports celebrities but likewise does not prevent Davis from making his predictions in his weekly online column, "Hoop Thoughts."

It simply demands that sportswriters follow the one axiom Gyllenhaal requires at the News & Observer. And it is a policy that even the athletes can hash out.

"I think [the media's] opinion is good, but I also think getting facts is very important," Boozer says. "If they hear rumors about a player, they should make a conscious effort to get in contact with that player and find out the truth."

The other unfailing option is to regret the error.