The college athletic conference realignment saga is a reminder to news consumers of an important lesson: Consider the source.

As the conference realignment drama played out the past three weeks, news sources – including traditional media outlets, sporting news websites and blogs – were continuously producing contradictory reports. They couldn’t all be accurate, could they?

Texas is heading to the Pac 10. Arkansas is joining the Big 12. Texas is being recruited by the Big 10. Texas A&M is heading to the SEC.

And if you couldn’t get enough of the conflicting reports from legitimate news sources, you could always follow the Twitter posts of the “fake” athletic conference commissioners such as @DanBeebe (parading as the Big 12 Commissioner) or @FakeJimDelany (posing as the Big 10 commissioner).

ESPN football beat reporter Joe Schad has taken heat for reporting that it was “imminent” that Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will be heading to the Pac-10, with Texas A&M moving to the SEC. Of course within about 24 hours of filing this report, the reality is that these schools all pledged their allegiance to the Big 12, spurning their suitors.

What or who is to blame for this avalanche of information and, in many cases, misinformation? There is plenty of blame to go around: rapidly changing circumstances; anonymous sources who know they don’t have to stand by their stories and who may have agendas of their own; the pressure to be first with the story; internet users who stoke the flames by spreading their own version of reality. And the list goes on.

If ESPN’s Schad was the credibility loser in all of this, I am prepared to crown blog orangebloods.com – specifically writer Chip Brown, formerly of the Associated Press – the winner. I don’t recall a time when one source was leaned on so heavily as the “go to” fountain of information by traditional media, other blogs, sports talk shows, etc. Orangebloods.com emerged as the credibility king when it comes to conference realignment chatter and scoops.

Our reality as news consumers is that it is a new media world…where anonymous sources have become the norm; unfounded rumors can be re-tweeted at an alarming rate; and we are left to determine which sources merit our trust.

By the way, did you know that Air Force and BYU are joining the Big 12? I just read it on Twitter at Fake Dan Beebe. Consider the source.