'Dr. V's Magical Putter'

Caleb Hannan wrote what he called the weirdest story he's ever worked on.
http://grantland.com/features/a-mysterious-physicist-golf-club-dr-v/

Cliff's Notes version: Physicist invents putter that captures people's imagination and seems to work based on physics principles. She says the story should be about the tool and the science, not her. Upon attempting to verify her bona fides, Hannan discovers a lot of discrepancies, which leads him to keep digging ... and find out that she was a transexual. Dr. V ends up killing herself -- which is included in the story.

Reaction was initially positive, now turning negative.
http://gawker.com/twitter-explodes-after-trans-subject-of-golf-article-ki-1504164978

ESPN has released a statement:
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1rvvd45

I'm kind of torn on this. On the one hand, I can appreciate the need to turn in something, particularly for a freelancer, which Hannan is. On the other hand, the handling of Dr. V's gender identity seems ham-fisted, to put it mildly.

 

Five-page thread on this already:

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/98655/

 

It really should be a journalism discussion on the ethics of some aspects of this story.