Ugh, More Yahoo!-Alibaba Sale Rumors

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- The media are activated and in a tizzy, for the 1,423 time, about an impending Yahoo!(YHOO) sale of Alibaba. And who knows? One of these times (maybe even this time) they'll get it right.

But here's the possible deal: This latest, greatest Alibaba sale rumor came hot on the heels of the news that Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson, who came from eBay(EBAY) , fabricated his college education credentials -- a scandal that has the CEO in the hot seat.

There is no way to know for certain when it comes to anonymous sources, but it is quite possible that these so-called "people familiar with the matter," the only sources quoted, are floating the deal out there as a tool of distraction.

The media aren't picking up on this, even as a possibility. They are merely relating the Thompson scandal to the possible derailing of the deal.

Toward that end, The Wall Street Journal, which broke the story, weighed in with a shrug: "It is unclear how revelations earlier this week about inaccuracies in Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson's education credentials might affect the potential deal.

To Reuters, the "situation may have become more complicated" following the revelation.