Many would have argued that the Winter Meetings jumped the shark a couple of years ago, specifically whenever MLB.com first came up with a special logo to brand their Winter Meetings coverage.

But I’m pretty certain the shark was actually jumped about a half hour ago, when AOL Fanhouse writer Ed Price tweeted that he heard a rumor the Mets had acquired Edwin Jackson.

Twitter nearly imploded. Every Mets fan and blogger weighed in, and numerous perplexed members of the New York media scrambled to find out if it was true.

I know this, of course, because they were all Twittering about it, too.

Then Price himself, only a few minutes later, clarified his Tweet, writing:

To be clear: #Mets and Edwin Jackson not confirmed. Heard in the lobby

Ah yes. It was Ed Price in the lobby with the cell phone.

But you can’t really blame the guy, I mean, after all, he had a reliable source: He heard it in the lobby.

Now, I have no idea who broke the news to Price, but I’m enjoying imagining that it was some guy who recognized how funny it would be to loudly spread false gossip.

My friends and I used to do this all the time: One time we had a loud discussion at a basketball game about Clyde Drexler’s mysterious death (note: No disrespect to Clyde the Glide, it was completely made up), and by the time we exited the arena, we overheard other people discussing it.

So if you’re in Indianapolis this week, I strongly urge you to consider standing in the lobby of the convention center, loudly forwarding nonsense. If anyone calls you on it, say it’s performance art. Trust me; that excuse always works.

To be fair to Price, it’s not really his fault that he desperately Tweeted the rumor from the lobby without investigating further. That, much like Tiger Woods’ extramarital affairs, should be blamed on the relentless news-media environment.