Yes, you have the right to trust people. But you also have the obligation to be skeptical. Because chances are, they’re lying to you. Or not telling you the whole truth.

This Chris Pronger medical mystery and this Sidney Crosby funny business have further convinced me of it. So does the brouhaha surrounding Colt McCoy.

The Philadelphia Flyers announced today that Pronger, the Flyers’ captain, will be out indefinitely because of concussion-like symptoms. After Pronger missed time off because of a knee injury and a virus that included headaches and nausea.

From the blog of Flyers beat writer Anthony Sanfilippo, who covers the team for the Delaware County (Pa.) Daily Times, on Pronger:

We knew it when the word “virus” first came out of Paul Holmgren’s lips.

We knew it when we saw Chris Pronger doing an off-ice work out a few days later – because nobody with a nasty contagion would put his teammates at risk of catching the same illness by hanging around them in the Petri dish better known as a hockey locker room.

We knew it when Pronger first spoke to the media following the announcement of the virus and he debunked that diagnosis and said it wasn’t a virus.

We knew.

The Flyers just chose not to acknowledge it – until today.

Pronger, who was already on the shelf until Christmas recovering from a minor surgery to clean out some loose bodies in his left knee, is now out of the lineup indefinitely with concussion-like symptoms.

Crosby, meanwhile, is sitting out two games after experiencing a “slight headache” during practice earlier this week.

Media outlets didn’t originally report or break this information. Instead, the Pittsburgh Penguins released the information on their website – state-run media, if you will.

An exchange on Twitter from Pittsburgh Post Gazette beat writer Dave Molinari, who covers the Penguins, on Crosby’s two-game absence this week:

Because more organizations are controlling the message. And, in some ways, they don’t want people to know the truth, as a way to protect their own interests. Meanwhile, reports are floating around that, again, Crosby’s absence could be longer.

Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy sustained a concussion in Thursday’s 14-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, but returned to the field to play … and faced the postgame media in a carefully controlled environment. From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Browns Coach Pat Shurmur said McCoy was well enough to return to the field, but his father said that McCoy, who suffered a concussion in high school and at least one with the Browns, was anything but fine.

“After the game, the [media relations staff] made sure Colt’s interview was brief and he couldn’t face the lights in his press conference,” Brad McCoy said. “The TV lights and the stadium lights were killing him. Why would you say he was fine? That makes it even worse.”

So, who do you believe? Or do you seek out and extricate the truth and the facts – and whom to trust – yourself?