How would they cover their ass in this situation? E-mail the guy back and say, "Are you sure???" I'm not saying I don't believe the story. I think L. Jon and the editors are pretty explicitly putting these stories out there for just what they are: fan encounters told from fan perspectives, take them or leave them. I'm sure they would never print the clearly unbelievable ones. But I can't imagine any possible way to go about the typical journalistic fact-checking of a "this one time, at the airport..." story. (That's why they usually don't get printed.) Now that I think more about it, I'm not thrilled with the journalism ethics of the whole thing. It's pretty iffy territory.