Backtracking is often the unfortunate side effect of being a professional gossip. Sometimes you get things wrong. Sometimes your sources lead you askew. Sometimes you're so self-sure of your own version of events that you put blinders up against the common thinking that everybody else subscribes to, ignoring tell-tale signs and well-sourced reports so you can do the Slate-y thing and zag where others zig.

It explains how Fox News gossip Roger Friedman went from denying any possibility of Madonna romancing with Alex Rodriguez to plotting out how the duo might've maintained their secret affair. Get on the bus!

On Tuesday, Friedman was explaining away the Madonna/A-Rod relationship like so:

Madonna, dear friends, is not having an affair with New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez. I know this is disappointing, but here’s the real story.

The singer and the ball player — who could be the new Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe but aren’ t — are both managed by Guy Oseary.

In every picture offered by US Weekly and the New York Post as evidence of this wild affair, there is only one man featured: Guy Oseary. He’s not invisible, so I have to think that the tabloids simply don’t identify him because it would ruin this fantasy.

And, no disrespect to Madonna, but why in the world would Rodriguez, who’s 32 and could cheat with any number of nymphets if he so chose, be interested in a 50 year old? And does anyone really think such an affair would be conducted in Madonna’s apartment while three children are there? Are people really this gullible?

The answer is: Yes.

On Thursday, Friedman followed it up with:

The whole Madonna-Alex Rodriguez nonsense got even funnier yesterday when stories broke that A-Rod’s wife was seen in Paris with Lenny Kravitz. Now they’re having an affair! As I told you in yesterday’s column, all these people are managed closely by Guy Oseary. Now, he’s either their manager or their matchmaker. You decide, dear readers. Masterfully, Oseary has now added Kravitz to the mix. Who’s next? His only other big name clients are magician David Blaine and “American Idol” star Katherine McPhee. Will Blaine now be linked romantically to this gang? Or McPhee? Is the public really this gullible? Does Oseary have such a low opinion of the fans of all these people? All you can do is laugh…

But, oh, what's this? A different tune to sing? From today's report:

Yes, we’re still scratching our heads over the Madonna-Alex Rodriguez story. One of the oft repeated elements: that A-Rod was seen a few times coming and going from Madonna’s apartment building on Central Park West and 64th St.

It didn’t make sense, did it? Madonna wouldn’t have a lover come to her apartment while children were there. Not even Madonna would do that.

So it turns out that Rodriguez has another apartment, separate from the one he and his wife share on Fifth Avenue in a Trump building. I’m not even sure Cynthia Rodriguez knows about this: according to my sources, Rodriguez has been subletting a place in the condominiums above the Mandarin Oriental Hotel on Columbus Circle. That would put him exactly six short blocks from Madonna (four up and two over).

[...]

How long has Rodriguez been there? The answer would be: at least for several months. A doorman at the Time Warner Center said he thought maybe Rodriguez was gone now. He also told me that Madonna had been a frequent visitor to the apartment building. “I think she has someone up there,” he said. “Like a manager.”

But Madonna’s manager, Guy Oseary, who’s also been managing Rodriguez since December 2007, lives in Los Angeles. And anyway: mega super stars rarely visit their managers at home.

All this sound familiar? Indeed, it's exactly what Entertainment Tonight found itself doing when it mis-reported Angelina Jolie had given birth, but then didn't want to be left off the gravy train of gossip now that she's still pregnant.