You Can Call Me Al

The truth is not always black and white. Sometimes, it is.

The Sporting News pro basketball yearbook, which used to come out annually, had regional versions, for sales-driven purposes. Inside every issue was an ad page that showed all the regional covers. The 2010-11 NBA yearbook was available in 13 versions. If Sporting News had stopped at a dozen, it would have avoided a major fact error.

According to the details in Sporting News, that's Al Jefferson on the Region 13 cover. Trust me — it's not. It's allegedly Al, but he's been altered. Through a bit of alchemy, perhaps, Al has become Gordon Hayward. Both men are tall 20-somethings who play for the Utah Jazz, but a telling characteristic should have precluded Sporting News from presenting us with Al a la Gordon. Al is black; Gordon is white. You don't need much gray matter to tell them apart.

Don't blame Al, readers. He has an alibi: He wasn't present when the crime was committed.

This is Al, a 6'10" center...

... and this is Gordon, a 6'8" forward.