SFist's inbox was flooded this noontime with panicked emails from folks linking to an NBC Bay Area story headlined (at the time) "McCovey Cove Naming Rights Sold? Now It’s Called #BoatboundBay, Company Says" and a press release from a company that describes itself as "America’s leading peer-to-peer boat rental marketplace" that read "Boatbound Acquires Naming Rights to McCovey Cove." However, according to the SF Giants, this is all bunk.

"The cove will now be known as #BoatboundBay and will play host to a large crowd of boats, kayaks, and other vessels under its new name, starting today, when the San Francisco Giants host the Kansas City Royals in Game 3 of the 2014 World Series," the company sickeningly announced.

Here's the entire release if you want to read it.

"Boatbound’s director of marketing, Craig Battin, told NBC Bay Area the naming rights will last beyond the World Series," the broadcast station wrote as of this afternoon.

But, apparently not, as the SF Giants tweeted this afternoon that "The claim that naming rights of McCovey Cove have been sold is a hoax and completely false."

So what gives? Boatbound is an actual company (I'm not linking to them at publication time just in case this is an SEO scam), but pretty much anyone can send out a press release. It doesn't have to be true, or even verified. But, NBC did say that they talked to their guy, so...what?

Well, 45 minutes later, we know, as Boatbound has now tweeted this non-apology:

On the company's site, to which I will continue not to link to, they say the following:

This morning, we announced the official renaming of San Francisco’s beloved McCovey Cove to “#BoatboundBay.” As much as we’d love to have our name on one of the best boating hangouts in the Bay, we’d never dream of stealing Willie’s thunder by renaming his cove. The public response was overwhelming and we wanted to jump in before it went too far.

McCovey Cove is still McCovey Cove and as far as we know, always will be.

As further support of our hometown SF bay, McCovey Cove, and the Giants, Boatbound will be making a donation to the Port of San Francisco to help with the upkeep of McCovey Cove so it can be enjoyed safely for years to come. We hope that this hoax will help encourage the city to take this chance while it’s in the public spotlight to remove the “unofficial” name McCovey Cove and make it permanent.

You know what? Fuck you. We don't need your fucking donation.

Also:

And, finally: