I know someone who did some baseball related news stuff, and he'd be texting sources left and right during trade time and draft and stuff. Some people reply, some don't. Some of these people have really good relationships with coaches/admin people or whomever. It's rarely a 'xyz is going to happen' - but hints. And let's face it - some of the insider people love the attention. It's something they rarely get - so they play along. As I said, they rarely reveal anything straight up - but there's a little dance that goes on - enough to give someone a story and enough to make the source feel valuable.