American activist and politician Thomas Paine wrote The Age of Reason back in 1793, the crux of the book was making the point he didn’t believe any mystical, human conjured tales unless he was able to see the claims firsthand. From Zeus’ wars at sea to burning bushes that can speak, these aren’t stories Paine was readily willing to call fact — he had to see it with his own eyes.
In 1979, astrophysicist Carl Sagan famously said “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
These approaches are necessary when sifting through all the Jim Harbaugh to NFL rumors circulating.