Video chat from Tampa
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Feb 10, 2009 
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Thanks to everybody who participated in the video chat this afternoon. It went for about 30 minutes. It was great that some of the regulars were on and asking questions. Because I’m a nitwit, there’s like a 35-second delay in the beginning when I just sit there.
Meanwhile, question for those techies out there. I have a MacBook and I’m using the built in camera and microphone. The camera is fine but the mic has some static in it. Are there external mics you can use or any idea how to fix that?
Drop me an e-mail with any advice.
————
Meanwhile, here are the results of the polls we ran during the live chat:
Should the Yankees cut A-Rod?
Yes: 3%
No: 95%
Depends on what kind of season he’s going to have: 2%
How many homers will A-Rod hit this season?
More than 57: He’ll top his all-time high: 14%
Less than 30: Too much pressure: 4%
Right around 35, last year’s total: 82%
Do you believe that A-Rod only took steroids for 3 years?
Yes: 53%
No: 18%
Undecided: 29%
Did you feel Alex’s confession was sincere?
Yes: 69%
No: 16%
Can’t decide: 16%
Pete:
Your blog should feature some sort of interactive fantasy baseball game where bloggers can predict the stats for Yankee players and the closest blogger wins something. Just a thought.
If anyone wants to hear her spew more garbage she will be on Kay’s show later, missed what time though.
Kay says Alex disparaged her. SO I take it won’t be a hard hitting interview.
The Frauds face was orange…him…looked like Carrot Top….me wonder…Hughes reporting to camp early??? That is funny…for what….I am sure he got injured getting out of the car. Release the Fraud and eat the money Hal and Hank…save face for us Yankee fans
I’m sure next week SI will run the rest of the list.
Kay now has Marvin Miller on the phone.
Selena is running a huge risk of overexposing herself with this thing.
In todays 24/7 news cycle, you can go from investigative journalist to tabloid-like agenda person very quickly in the eyes of some people.
It’s what cost her with the Duke Lacrosse story.
It will be interesting to see if she can tone herself down on this story.
If she comes across a too shrill, she hurts her crusade, IMO.
SJ- What did it cost her? Yeah she lost her job at NYT, But she probably went to a higher paying job with SI.
I love Jim Kaat; however, he wants Joba in the ‘pen:
Joba, in my opinion, hasn’t had enough starts to give him a foundation and a good routine that a starter must possess. I’m not saying he couldn’t do it, I just don’t think he’s been prepped enough to do it over a full season. Starting 50-75 games in the minors is the best preparation. How to work out of jams and use all your pitches and know when to use them. Knowing when to conserve your best breaking ball for the key situations. Find a cruising speed for your fastball and be able to put a ‘little extra’ on it when necessary as Dizzy Dean used to say. As a reliever, you’re more of a thrower than a pitcher. The key to the Yankees success will be Joba and Mo at the end and finding a combination of righties and lefties that can get a few key outs before that.”
http://kaatskorner.mlblogs.com.....nkees.html
Pete – just hang back from the mic a bit and it will sound fine, your manly man voice is too much for it at close range.
Jennifer:
She didn’t lose her job with the Times. She was hired away by SI for more money. The Times wanted her to stay. A job as SI is considered the best in sports journalism.
And as far as Duke goes, she was writing opinion columns for the Times. I personally did not agree with her opinion but she has the right to an opinion. To my knowledge, she did not break the story or cover it as news, she wrote columns.
Again, I did not agree with her opinion. But there is no right or wrong with opinion, it’s an opinion.
Kaat seems to have no idea that Joba was always a starter before his stint in the pen in 2007.
SJ44,
Roberts does not fear overexposure. The more exposure she gets, the better. She wants to make a name for herself as the authority on all things ARod. She wants to be part of the story.
She is not a serious journalist. She figured out that ARod could be her meal ticket and devoted herself to digging up every speck of dirt on him she could find. Most of her pieces on ARod contain no facts and could have been written by anyone.
It cracks me up that when she breaks a meaningful story about ARod for the first time in her career, other sportswriters are willing to look the other way on all the crap she wrote and hail her as a model journalist. No one even seems to care that she might be sitting on some of the other 103 names on the list.
Just as ARod could be the new face of the steroid era, Roberts could be symbolize the sad state of sports “journalism” today.
Marvin Miller’s general thoughts on this:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3896888
Frankly I’m so tired of the overblown outrage over steroids. It’s more of a health issue than screwing up the baseball stats.
Steroids don’t improve your hand-eye coordination or help you field ground balls.
The changes made to bats/balls/mound/stadium size has a faaar more profound impact on these beloved “stats”.
Yes a player can be bigger and stronger & endure the rigors of a season and maintain their peak performance. But you have to have a good performance to begin with.
Baseball is a SKILL sport, this isn’t powerlifting. Therefore “he’s a cheater” while technically correct, it’s waaaay overblown.
I stand corrected than.
Pete
Don’t know if this was mentioned today…but if the list is confidential, why not just release the list of all the players that passed the test
Jennifer,
To go from a columnists position with the NY Times to just being another writer with SI is a big step backward.
She’s not even a columnist for SI.
Big hit to take for a story she has yet to offer an apology to the players and their families.
I’m just saying, with the book she has coming out, she runs the risk of turning people off.
Take it to the Apple Store. There’s one in the airport down in Tampa. I work at the one in Long Island. They should be able to help you out.
SJ44, Earlier you made reference to the fact your nephew lost roster spot on a travel select team…Is this the same nephew that was playing for the BC Eagles ????
Pete,
You really think she is in a better spot than being a columnist for the Times?
I know SI jobs are coveted but, how many female columnists have their been for a paper like the Times? That was a pretty significant gig.
SJ44:
In fact she has written columns on the back page where Reilly used to. She is part of their rotation. And given the state of newspaper salaries, she took a step forward. People are dying to go from newspaper to magazines.
Damon Hack and Lee Jenkins also left the Times for SI. I suppose they took a step back, too? It’s a better job, period. You have better deadlines, more money, more support, etc.
Jeremy: She was employed by the NY Times and is employed by SI. She is in fact a serious journalist by any definition.
As for the list, she is not sitting on the other names. People seem to think journalists have access to the list. It was seized by the government. You need somebody from the feds, MLB or the MLBPA to give you the names. They decide what names they will give you. So far, only one name came out. It was leaked to her, she didn’t steal the list from somebody’s desk.
She would get fired if she had all the names and didn’t tell her editors. Why would she do that?
Look, I understand that people are unhappy she did this story. But to make up lies about her credentials, well you’re no better off than what you are accusing her of.
Pat M,
Yes. Ironically, the kid who beat him out ended up testing positive for steroids the following season and my nephew ended up at BC and is now one of the Top 50-60 prospects in the country, and a pre-season All-ACC pick coming into the season.
A strange, strange world we live in these days.
hmm, now i’m curious, did she get fired or leave NYT for more money with SI?
SJ:
I have no idea but I would bet she got at least a 30 percent raise. Plus you write once a week, not 3x a week. You can live where you want and you get time to write what you, exactly how you want it.
Papers are in wage and hiring freezes and anything that costs money (travel, etc.) is being severely cut back. She took a better job.
She did not get fired by the Times. That is simply not true.
thanks pete
Wow. Lots going on.
Totally o/t, but how stupid was the owner of the bong in the Phelps photo? He tried to sell it on e-bay for $100K. The SC police arrested him and 7 others (I know, stupid). I hope the person who made money of the picture gets their share of trouble, though. That was just so uncool.
Pete,
Nice job with the video chat and I hope you do more of them. This is the first time in about 5 years I havent attended any ST and I admit I’m jealous! Remember Mazzaro’s in St Pete for great Italian deli.
Your thoughts about how you will assess the steroid era candidates with your HOF vote are very fair. At some point voters are going to have to decide to either consider how players stack up against their era’s peers or mostly discount them altogether. Most of the steroid class are yet to be eligible.
Great to hear Posada looked ok swinging the bat.
Like a ton of readers, I do wish that someone in the press would at least acknowledge that Selena Roberts butchered her last high profile story (the Duke lacrosse case) and never retracted her error. She certainly has a financial motif in the A Rod story. The uglier it gets the more books she could sell. When you have a writer that has made large errors in judgement in the past and now has a huge profit motive to sensationalize her next subject,those are fair questions the fans are asking. It’s interesting how players tend to protect their own for the most part and we see writers doing the same.
In any case, nice job covering the baseball questions.Here’s hoping the on the field matters are our primary focus from here on in.
Kevin Page,
We don’t know what PEDs are available to elite athletes or exactly what they do. We know PEDs don’t magically make a bad player good, but PEDs do create an imbalanced playing field, especially in a sport where the difference between success and failure can be infinitesimally small.
A friend told me that as far back as 20 years ago, steroids were available that allowed people to completely transform their body type far beyond what exercise and diet alone could allow. More knowledgeable readers on this site will roll their eyes at this, but I’d never thought about it before. PEDs can literally make you a different person.
I agree that the self-righteousness on this subject is insufferable, especially when the same media that condemn baseball players who juice will gloss over doping in football. There’s a theme in baseball writing that baseball is a pristine sport and that anyone who cheats is committing sacrilege. This, of course, is utter BS. Athletes in any sport cheat until the drawbacks to cheating outweigh the benefits. Baseball is no different.
There’s also a view that professional athletes are role models, so it sends a bad message to kids when they cheat. (See Michael Kay’s latest comments.) This is equally absurd. There is no reason why athletes we don’t personally know should serve as anyone’s role model.
The problem is that PED use is real and the benefits are real. I fear that MLB’s condoning of PED use for so long created a vicious cycle, where clean players starting using PEDs because the beneficial results of PED use were impossible to ignore.
The moralizing and sanctimoniousness should go. But the facts that MLB ushered in the Steroid Era by looking the other way on PEDs, that many of the best players of our generation are either PED users or suspected PED users, and that we really have no idea whether MLB’s drug testing system is effective in deterring PED use today, are huge stories.
There are some bombshells waiting to be dropped that are far bigger than any individual player, including ARod.
S I is the best job in sports writing?
I wouldn’t have figured that. Who reads it?
Pete, you have the best job in sports writing!
Pete,
I gotta tell ya, if the SI gig is better (I believe what you are saying), you need to write for SI.
She is writing a tell all book on Arod that is about as far from true journalism as it gets.
No doubt, she got this story right. As you know, I’m not questioning that.
Her methods? You and I will have friendly disagreements as to how she has/is conducting herself to get dirt on Arod for the book and how she got her hands on his failed test.
That said, man what a sad state of journalism if she is in the SI rotation. There are some excellent female sportswriters out there.
Regardless of the Arod stuff, I wouldn’t put her on the list of excellent writers.
Can the 30 minute video chat you did be replayed now somehow? Thanks.
Pete,
These video chats are not work friendly. How about less of these and more mailbags? I think you’re probably excluding the large portion of your readership who can’t watch/listen at the office.
So that interview Marvin Miller had with Kay was..interesting.
I think a few more people (sarcasm at its best) read the NY times than Sports Illustrated, so I beg to differ that for Roberts that is a step up. SI might have been a powerhouse in the late 90′s but it has lost its luster in my opinion.
Pete,
Sorry it took so long for me to write my post. I see you already started addressing a lot of what I had to say.Thanks. And enjoy the warm weather.
Why don’t you like Edwar, lack of consistency?
Regardless of A-Rod’s steroid use I question Robert’s motives. She really didn’t care about saving baseball or exposing the truth, she cared about selling copies of her upcoming book!
Pete,
Who do you see as the favorite to win the World Series? In the NL, Philly didn’t do as much to improve as the Mets, the Dodgers lost Manny, the Cubs are the Cubs, and the Brewers lost their 2 pitchers.
In the AL, the Angels lost their closer and best hitter, and the White Sox and Red Sox didn’t do anything significant to improve. The Rays should get better with age, but is it possible to have another year as healthy as last year?
Even if the Yankees get as unlucky with injuries as they did last year, they’ve got much more depth and talent than last season.
So who’s your team?
Pete
Would you show up at Arod’s house unannounced?
Do you think she might be using Arod to sell her book?
Do you think she was using The Duke players,(consequences be damned) to just get out her opinion?
SJ:
I’m not going to get into the quality of her writing one way or another, that’s opinion. All I am saying is that she has been employed by two top-notch places and her work has never once been questioned for its veracity as far as I know.
I understand that people are upset she is pursuing some unseemly sides of Alex’s life. But to the best of my knowledge, everything she has written about him is factually correct.
And again, if Alex doesn’t want people asking him questions or pursuing him, don’t take steroids or do other things you shouldn’t. Once you open that door, people are going to come through it. When you choose to play baseball for a living, you run the risk of people being interested in your life. So how you lead that life has consequences, good or bad.
And please understand, I personally want nothing to do with this whatsoever. I hate these sorts of stories. I got into this field because I love sports, I love writing and I live the idea of informing people about their teams. Writing about drugs and crap like that is not fun by any means. If I wanted to do that, I would have written for the news section.
It’s not like the fans brought Selena Roberts into the controversy. She did it herself. If you’re going to use information that is sealed under court order there certainly are legitimate ethics and legal questions to be raised.
As if A Rod’s right to privacy hasnt been compromised enough by her , word is now spreading that her book may even touch on his sexuality. She’s not exactly writing War & Peace here.Questioning her agenda is fair game and she has no one to blame but herself.
“She was employed by the NY Times and is employed by SI. She is in fact a serious journalist by any definition.”
Yet you can’t point to anything of substance she ever wrote until now.
While writing for the Times she wrote five or so hatchet jobs on ARod. One accusing him of being a slumlord and tightwad because he has an interest in low-income housing in South Florida. It was a classic “don’t let the facts get in your way” editorial masquerading as an article.
The rest of her ARod articles had even fewer facts in them, and were basically recycled versions of the same “ARod is a selfish loser” story that you can find in the comments section of any baseball blog.
If she was a serious reporter, where was the reporting?
Sadly, that the Times and SI employed her mean nothing. Her work speaks for itself.
As for the list, how are you so confident that she does not have any additional names? My understanding of her interview with Costas is that she refused to confirm or deny that she had additional names.
Your statement about how the list is sealed is a non sequitiur. She got ARod’s name. If she won’t deny that she has any other names, how do we know that’s all she has?
It is all Selena Robert’s fault. She forced Arod to take steroids. I think she got them from GNC, {over the counter steroids.}
I do not believe Arod didn’t know what he was putting in his body, either by needle or ingestion.
His legacy is tarnished forever. Who cares what home run records he breaks, he wasn’t clean.
LOL @ the first 45 seconds of pete staring at the camera not talking.
Jeremy,
I almost forgot about her hack job with the times regarding Arod. The article about him as a “slumlord” literally had me laughing outloud. I had to check the date of the NYTimes to make sure I wasn’t getting an aprils fool joke pulled on me.
So are you guys saying she did break into A-Rods house. That she was cited for harassing him at the gym and at his home in New York?
If your answer is no, then clearly the guy lied last night. Funny how someone declaring himself a new honest man, spends a majority of the time NOT being honest.
All of the media are really making a much bigger deal out of the whole Arod thing than most fans are. It is like the media is trying to tell us how we are supposed to feel about it and what we should have gotten out of his interview.
It is easy to sit back and dissect his interview, but who wouldn’t be very, very nervous in that position and stumble over some words or phrases.
Personally, I think all these baseball writers are trying to shoot themselves in the foot by trying to bring down the sport.
Plus is shows just how out of touch they are….most fans don’t really care, they just want to watch the games.
There are very few people, baseball writers included, who don’t have something in their past that would be terribly embarassing if it were to come out in front of the whole country.
My feelings are, go Arod, and go Yanks.
After listening to Marvin Miller with Kay on 1050…I would have to say the players would have been better off with him than Fehr.
As for Kay bringing up Lyle Alzado and Ken Caminiti…I think miller put him in his place…I mean Caminiti died from a cocain drug overdose not steriods.
As for how Miller points out that congress wants to clean up the game from steriods in regards to health issues…bringing up tobacco was brilliant.
Alcohol and tabacco are some pretty bad things which every american has access to…oh and by the way, which the government also profits from.
I also loved how he said there are columns writen every week by reporters/columnists…which Pete will tell you are just opinions…and thats what they are…so why do people read them and not understand that.
Jeremy, you’re being silly. There are dozens and dozens of columns she wrote in the Times archive that are excellent pieces of writing.
She also did deny she had the other names. She has said that consistently.
And the person who violated his civil rights was the person who leaked the info, not the reporter. Again, people seem to think she found this list blowing down the street one day. Somebody in a position to have the list leaked it.
I have no idea what her agenda is. I know her to say hello and that’s it. All I am is saying is that people are being silly to impugn her credentials. She has done award-winning work for two well-respected companies.
I think people are missing the point. Alex took steroids and that info was coming out one way or another. The person who leaked that info was going to find somebody to print it. This didn’t come out only because she pursued it. Many people were pursuing it. She got there first.
I do believe that A Rod is going to have a season close to the one he had in ’07. If he does he will have proven he can indeed dominate while being clean. The rest of his career will be a lot easier for him,especially if the Yankees have a successful year.
SA posted an interesting link to an ESPN.com interview with Marvin Miller.
Very interesting. Years ago, when I was a kid and thought I knew it all because I read it in the newspapers, I despised Miller as some sort of communist. How dare ballplayers be anything but eternally grateful to their lords and masters?
But as I have grown up, and had to have a real job, I have come to change my mind. I now find that Miller was ahead of his times, and spot on right about many things.
One of the most important is individual rights; which, when you think about it, is a very American principle.
He makes some good points in the interview, some of which I’ve long considered.
What makes a drug “performance enhancing”? Seems a straightforward thing. Anything that helps performacnce.
Did Sandy Koufax take a PED? He took regular cortisone shots. Yes, they were for inflammation and resulting pain, but, by controlling those things, they enhanced his performance, no? Just because drugs enhance by differing biochemical mechanisms, does that make one good and one bad?
What is the scientific literature that shows that taking anabolic steroids, or HGH, makes an athlete perform at a higher level? Where are the controlled studies? Do they really exist, or is all this supposition, based on seeing the bodybuilders of the world? Just because you have more muscle, does that mean you can hit a baseball better? If that were the case, then Arnold Schwarzzenger and Mr. Atlas should have been terrific ballplayers.
Just a few thoughts. Now, let me stop before I turn into Dave.
This is a portion of an article Selena Roberts wrote about the Kobe Bryant case:
“Over the past three weeks, the Kobe Bryant devotees who have defiantly defended their hero’s character against sexual assault charges have turned the accuser’s anonymity into a sham and her reputation into a passage fit for a bathroom wall.
Want to know her address and phone number? It’s on a Web site. Want to know what four-letter descriptions are linked to her name? The filth is for the finding online.”
“The judge can hermetically seal the lips of lawyers and the police, but he cannot put a lid on the Internet stream of unfounded accusations, titillating rumors and false information pouring from the twisted minds of the only truly anonymous and protected elements of this case: the cybersnipers.
This rant-and-run activity cannot be dismissed as chat-room nonsense, not when the fans are provided instant credibility for their hyperbole when the message boards they use are linked to news establishments. ”
See any links between Kobe Bryant, Duke Lacrosse Players, and A-Rod? Accused of mistreating women/cheating on their wives and Selena Roberts sticking her nose in it?
See any links between courts sealing the lips of lawyers, police, and drug tests, but not being able to seal internet bloggers or whoever she used to get A-Rod’s name from that list?
Arod has 14 years, at least, before even being considered for the HOF, Peter. Does he have a shot at getting in?
Trade, not cut. He needs to be off the team, but we can still get stuff for him. Get a good young player and maybe a pitcher. Anyone.
Selena Roberts on now with Kay
Tarheel did you hear that Tejada was charged with lying to Congressional investigators and supposedly has a plea deal? The interesting thing is that it’s lying about steroids, but not his own use. It has to do with lying about Adam Piatt.
It appears to me that Congress ain’t plauying around with this steroid crap.
Meanwhile Pudge Rodriguez and Maglio Ordonez, both fingered by Canseco, continue to live la vida loca because, well because I guess Selena Roberts has no axe to grind with those guys.
Marvin Miller is the reason why I decided to get into the business.
The guy is my professional hero.
91 years old and is still the smartest guy in the room when it comes to labor law.
A true genius and a guy that should be in the Hall of Fame.
His PED was his brain. The smartest man to be in baseball over the last 50 years.
Pete,
As you know, I make no excuses for Alex. He did what he did and has to pay the price for it.
The leak? No matter how you slice it, that’s a felony and I hope the judge in SF, who is making noises about conducting an investigation to find the leaker, does so.
You just can’t defy court orders simply to “get” a guy.
As far as Selena, we all know that book about Alex isn’t a collaboration.
Either way, it is what it is. At this point, I’d rather talk baseball.
“Whatever occurred between Bryant and a 19-year old woman from Colorado on June 30 — whether it was rape or consensual sex — he is the one who put his career, team, family and image on the line by placing his libido ahead of the risk. If Bryant had been savvier, he would have discovered what several NBA veterans have said privately over the years: a professional stripper has no strings attached; a relative stranger is the greater danger. In other words, pay up front, not later.” – Selena Roberts, New York Times
“The person who leaked that info was going to find somebody to print it.”
I think that the point that has so many fans irritated with the press. Who has a higher ethical standard: someone who turns down information that they know was procurred illegally or someone who takes the information and profits by it?
A Rod, like any of us, have rights. When a court seals a document with my name on it, I have the right to that privacy.
I live in the heart of Red Sox Nation and I can tell you the vast majority of the feedback I heard today from Sox fans ( and they are usually viscious) is that A Rod is being unfairlry singled out. Few people appreciate the way Roberts received her information.
someone should forward the poll results to arod. perhaps it will pick up his mood.
David Eckstein is the Friedrich Engels of this story.
Poor guy.
I don’t believe for a minute that the only name she got from someone was Arod’s and I don’t believe that you believe it either Pete, despite what you say.
Something makes me think that if Carl Bernstein, for example, exposed the Arod story there wouldn’t be the same hue and cry as there is with Roberts because of the appearance of her being out to get Arod. If you actually believe otherwise you’re pretty naive.
SJ44,
Speaking of baseball, how close is Mark Melancon from helping the Yanks? I know Pete touched on it in his live chat,but I missed his answer.
Pete,
I realize I am sounding like a conspiracy theorist by saying Roberts has more names than she’s letting on, but I just don’t think we can know for sure at this moment that ARod was the only named leaked to her. Of course I understand that she didn’t find the list in someone’s desk drawer while snooping around in the dark with a candle and magnifying glass. If she has no other names, then I believe she reported this story honestly and responsibly.
I also admit I’m not familiar with all of Selena Roberts’ work. I’ve read her pieces on ARod because, well, they of a high than anything else she did aside from the Duke Lacrosse story. They are shoddy, distasteful pieces that no one should ever associate with serious journalism. They also reveal animosity toward ARod, or at least a desire to impugn his image.
What I’m saying is that when a reporter who has written nothing but scathing, highly personal articles about a celebrity breaks a bombshell about that celebrity, months before her book about that celebrity will be published, we should look at the reporter’s methods very carefully.
Believe me, I’m not saying ARod deserves a pass for taking steroids. But it’s not fair to say “ARod bad, therefore Roberts good.” They could both have done dishonest things.
Epstein. David Epstein
not Eckstein. although he’d grind his way around being gritty and what not.
Pete
She may have the story correct (this time), but it doesn’t change her M.O.
A majority of your bloggers think she has little or no integrity. That’s just an opinion.
SJ44, Catcher ?? how far into scool is he and will he consider coming if drafted in the first 4-5 rounds ???
“I live in the heart of Red Sox Nation and I can tell you the vast majority of the feedback I heard today from Sox fans ( and they are usually viscious) is that A Rod is being unfairlry singled out. Few people appreciate the way Roberts received her information.”
Absolutely. The WEEI sportscasters and Tony Massarotti have been extremely supportive of Arod and continue to express the feeling that Roberts’ selectivey singled out Arod, and they think it’s pretty deplorable.
“they are of a higher profile than anything else …”
Who knows, maybe this fiasco will be good for baseball. It sucks that we may never have a clean HR record but I can’t blame a writer for that. That’s on Alex.
How many homers can he attribute to PED’s? 30? 40?
Alex could have been considered the best ever and he threw it away for a few dozen HR’s.
And we need a book to tell us what a moron he is?
“Alcohol and tabacco are some pretty bad things which every american has access to…oh and by the way, which the government also profits from.”
So true (well, and alcohol has been socially accepted since…well, forever. But it still is bad for the body). Money makes the world go round.
How many controlled substances wouldn’t be illegal, if the government could profit from it?
Jeremy:
She would be fired if she had those names and didn’t tell her editors. Please explain in what way shape or form it would make sense for a journalist for any media entity to have those names and not disclose them? It would be the crowning achievement of their career.
Meanwhile, her Duke and Kobe columns were opinion. There is no right or wrong in opinion, it’s opinion. She is free to have it and you’re free to disagree with it. But in this case and in this job she wrote a news story that was 100 percent correct.
Alex flat out lied about her breaking in to his home or trespassing. She did no such thing based on what the police said. She was never cited. Police were called because she asked them to be called to find out what her rights were.
Again, please don’t misunderstand what I am saying. I’m not saying I agree with anything she has written as opinion. I have no idea what her agenda is. All I am saying is she works for a reputable company. Her every word was approved by editors and a legal team. She has never broken the law.
The person who leaked Alex’s name to her? That person should be locked up. That is a violation of his civil rights. But it is not the duty of the press to do that person’s job.
Well, actually she has had criticism from her editors and the NYT over her reporting. This link points out some questions:
http://durhamwonderland.blogsp.....ading.html
I think this allows people to question her “sterling” reputation that Verducci cited.
What’s interesting is that not a single reporter will acknowledge that maybe she can be a means to an ends kind of reporter.
Pete, all you journalists just stick up for one another…just admit it.
This woman is trying to get her 15 min of fame by tearing down a famous ballplayer, like she tried to tear down some innocent college students.
I have to laugh at the values and morality of anyone who says it’s okay for court-protected information to be leaked. To me you’re no better than the scofflaw who leaked the stuff.
So is it okay that court-protected information is leaked in general? Just when it deals with public figures? And if one and not the other, what’s up with the hypocricy?
Why in hell have court-protected information? Should we consider reporters who help someone break the law heroes?
How about it Pete committed some crime when he was younger and managed to have his records sealed (as often happens as part of an agreements made through attorneys and with courts.) How about some reporter who loathes Pete comes along and just “happens upon” the information, say from a court employee who also loathes Pete – and the reporter causes the information to be printed. Is Pete still going to be lauding the reporter and holding that person blameless?
Does anyone else believe in following the law?
Pete I asked this the other evening,,,are you defending her as much as you’re defending your profession ????
Rob Neyer asks a timely question:
“…while I try to figure out why the same people who are shocked and saddened by steroids have given the players of the 1970s and ’80s a Get Out of Jail Free card when it comes to the rampant use of amphetamines in that era. And I don’t mean that rhetorically; I keep asking the question, and I’m still waiting for a reasonable answer. Anyhow, onward and upward …”
Greenies were used to enhance performance right?
Tarheel:
I’m sticking up for her because people wrote on the blog that she was fired by the Times and broke the law pursuing the story on Alex. That is simply not true.
As to the rest, I have no idea. I don’t know her.
I do know this: If Alex doesn’t take steroids and do all the other stuff he did, none of this is an issue. I don’t see anybody investigating Jeter, Rivera, Posada, Wang, Matsui, etc. That is the bottom line. If Alex doesn’t want people looking into his life, he should lead a life that doesn’t invite investigation.
If Kevin Youkilis cheated on his wife with a stripper, took steroids and lied about it and all the rest, you’d want to give her the Pulitzer Prize. But because it’s Alex, you’re upset.
I get that fans are fans. It’s emotional. But to suggest she is some hack because you don’t like what she is writing is just silly.
Why is Roberts protecting her source then? She’ll protect one criminal to expose another?
“She would be fired if she had those names and didn’t tell her editors. Please explain in what way shape or form it would make sense for a journalist for any media entity to have those names and not disclose them? It would be the crowning achievement of their career.”
It would make sense because she has a conflict of interest. She has a book coming out about ARod.
Besides, this story is already the crowning achievement of her career. No one cared about Roberts before this story broke, except people who were livid over the Duke Lacrosse piece. She was not a big name. Now she’s a big name, and when her book comes out she’ll be a bigger name.
I am phrasing my position too literally. You are right that she probably does not have the list in her desk drawer and is pretending there’s just one name on it. My concern is she was interested in ARod at the exclusion of anyone else. Did she have an opportunity to get more names out of her sources? How could she find four people who would tell her ARod tested positive but wouldn’t tell her anyone else’s names?
If you don’t find Roberts at least worthy of scrutiny after reading her pieces about ARod and considering that she stands to profit from any controversy about him, I don’t know what else to say.
I agree with your other points.
Selena Roberts:
“Before long, Bryant had the Madison Avenue smile and GQ style to go with his Cirque du Soleil court skills and championship rings. And, as it turns out, Bryant also channeled Mike as a scoundrel behind the cardboard family image and the ruthless teammate inside the locker room.
Bryant was exposed; Jordan was not.”
“Where did Bryant go wrong in his imitation of M.J.? It began somewhere in suburbia when Bryant was the boy in the bubble, with his needs indulged by a doting family, with the ball always in his hands.
Bryant got what he wanted from the beginning: a draft-day trade to the Lakers in 1996. He bounded onto the NBA scene as a player celebrated for his maturity, cerebral capacity and poise. It was all a ruse.
Unschooled in reality, too aloof to appreciate O’Neal’s presence, Bryant never learned the NBA code: choose pole dancers over hotel clerks, teammates who make you better and discretion over snitching.
For two years, Bryant has violated all of the above. Instead of abiding by the “keep it real” index of NBA players, Bryant outed himself as a phony. The first sign was triggered when Bryant, a self-professed glowing father and husband, was accused of rape by a townie in Eagle, Colo.
Instead of being humbled by the scandal, Bryant responded with an odd mix of arrogance and insecurity. As if to boost his street cred, Bryant got his first tattoo – which seems like a Cracker Jack press-on when applied to his biceps.
Bryant’s engraved rite of passage didn’t make him one of the fellas, though. Without showing any conscience, he parlayed his free-agent capital into a cudgel to run off coach Phil Jackson and O’Neal.
Still, many gave Bryant a pass on hypocrisy until he was publicly exposed as a rat fink this year. All those seasons of ball hogging, and Bryant chose to dish dirt on his teammates.”
Looks like a trend is starting to form. She’s targeted Mark Cuban and Bob Ryan too. Selena Roberts gets angry at successful men that don’t live up to her standards and attacks them in with her version of journalism.
trisha,
Besides our shared penchant for hating the Red Sox I tend to disagree with you more often than not:)
But I do have to admit your last post hits the nail on the head.
By the way, I recently attended a lecture by Bob Woodward. He’s a much better writer than he is a speaker lol
Guys, Pete makes a very valid point. Like one of my mentors once told, “Don’t do anything that you will have trouble defending in public.”
Makes a lot of sense, no?
Pete, if it was Kevin Youkilis, it would not be such a big story…don’t try to use that. I don’t condone his steroid usage, but really, I don’t care. I just like to watch baseball. I think most fans are the same. And I still think you are just covering for “one of your own”.
Trish:
So under that thinking, Woodward and Bernstein wouldn’t have been able to chase down Nixon.
You cant pick and choose when the law suits you. You can’t limit freedom of the press just because you don’t like the story. It doesn’t work that way.
Anyway, I have to work I realize there is no convincing people about this and I’m stupid to try. I am proud of what I do for a living and I try to defend the media. It’s a losing cause and I understand that.
But to suggest she be jailed, I mean c’mon.
What about ritalin? There is a dramtic increase in ADHD exemptions in MLB as well? Something close to 8 times what the normal adult population has.
If you are going to be outraged, why short change yourself.
Pete,
I also want to make clear I’m just as disgusted with ARod as you are. He is a liar and a cheat. This isn’t an issue of disliking Roberts because she broke news that’s bad for the Yankees, at least not for me.
Drive
I just started “the War within”. Fascinating first 30 pages.
Pete,
Based on the fact that this lady has gone after Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, the Duke Lacrosse Players, Mark Cuban, and Bob Ryan, do you think there is ANY chance she would have decided to write a book about A-Rod if his marriage problems weren’t made public?
“If Kevin Youkilis cheated on his wife with a stripper, took steroids and lied about it and all the rest, you’d want to give her the Pulitzer Prize. But because it’s Alex, you’re upset.’
Absolutley wrong. You dont get it. Folks are tired of the predatory nature of the press,period. Laws were broken and Selena Roberts is going to profit by it.To prove how wrong you are, why in the world would Red Sox fans ever feel sympathetic towards A Rod? It’s because they are tired of the media going to any length possible so that they can find a carcass and pick it to the bone.
Pete, I only want to limit the freedom of the press when it is at loggerheads with court-protected information. Seriously. I may not agree with press tactics at times because I think there’s a hoard mentality, but I realize they have the right to do what they are doing. Then it’s just a difference in opinion. But giving up something courts say is under seal is always wrong in my opinion.
It really is sickening at how the media trys to tear people down. This lady obviously makes a living at it.
Peter,
Have you ever seen ‘Best In Show’, a mockumentary about people obsessed with their show dogs?
The conversation here lately would be a great basis for a screenplay about a similarly bizarre assortment of fanatics …
Just in case you’re looking for a writing project in the next off-season.
My “problem” with Ms. Roberts is she acts more like a paparazzi than a sportswriter and I’m not sure if MLB should have to issue press credentials to the National Enquirer.
I just can’t imagine Pete, Feinsand and Shermann hanging out in front of A-Rod’s apt. in NY with TMZ waiting for him to come home like Roberts did.
This argument about Selena Roberts is pointless. Regardless where she used to work she is now a writer for SI, the most prestigious sports magazine. Also after this story and her upcoming book she will make a pile of money and it won’t matter how good a journalist she is.
I personally don’t like her or her articles but she was right on the nose with this A-rod thing and deserves whatever compensation comes her way.
Drive,
Amen, I wish folks like Pete would try to put themselves in the shoes of those they try to tear down. It is easy to rip people from afar with a pen.
thanks for coming down here and explaining some things Pete.
i have to think though, there is a legitimate reason she may have the other names and not want to give them out. lets say there 90 or so names that aren’t at all that surprising, but 10 or so big names that nobody suspected. sure, she would get credit for ‘breaking the story’ on all 10 of them. but she is writing a book on arod. a book! if 10 big name guys were just outed, why would i want to read a book about just one of those guys?
Enough about Selena Roberts.Does anyone think Brian Roberts is on steroids?
Joking!!
Not since he was named in the Mitchel report, Drive.
Ah, greenies/amphetamines. Controlled substance since 1970 in schedule III (same category that anabolic steroids is in since 1990?). And does anybody in the media ever point out how that essentially makes all teams criminals for a few decades?
Is Dan Giese coming back this season?
sn’t it amazing that a “journalist” is never in the wrong when they write in opinion pieces or third person narratives? They look a lot alike to me. And, as an extra added bonus, all of your peers will protect you.
Now there is a clown on ESPN saying Alex needs to apologize again…..If I were him, I wouldn’t talk about any of it again.
She does have a great name..Star quality…..I’ve read her pieces over the years and she is a very good writer / columnist…Objectivity is compromised when it appears one of our own are being attacked…That being sais, A-Rod has been ripped apart so many times here by many who are now banging on her….
Tarheel
keep up the good work. Until I return I agree with what he says.
Drive 4-5,
I think Roberts should be forced to attend a Yankee/Sox game in Boston. We would then find out who the fans dislike most by who’s has the most profanity yelled at them and who has the most hot dogs/beers thrown at them. I think its only fair.
“A job as SI is considered the best in sports journalism.”
In all honesty, I’ve kind of forgot SI existed for a long time. I mean for years.
And Pete, you gave me a little giggle watching you waiting at the beginning. Good stuff.
For the love of God cut the strings Boras has tied to your arms and legs. The master puppeteer certainly can spin sh@1 till it shines. How this is coming off as poor victimized Arod by big bad journalist is beyond me. Whatever. I’m a Yankees fan but I haven’t had a lobotomy. Arod would still be an ass with the character depth of a gnat even if he had just said no.
“If Kevin Youkilis cheated on his wife with a stripper, took steroids and lied about it and all the rest, you’d want to give her the Pulitzer Prize. But because it’s Alex, you’re upset.”
Aww Pete. Give *some* of your readers a bit more credit. I think I and a few others have been posting on here long enough and been consistent enough in our views on this particular issue, that “if the shoe was on the other foot, you’d change your tune” doesn’t apply to everyone who doesn’t care for her and her particular brand of journalism. Regardless of who is the target of it.
For whatever it’s worth I might point out that there wasn’t a huge hue and cry when the SF Chronicle reporters leaked the story about Bonds and Giambi, despite the fact that it was federal grand jury testimony.
When I read about Giambi I had the same reaction as I did when I read about Arod. I wanted them drummed out of baseball and dumped from the Yankees. Both made peace by talking about it to the press, and for me personally, that changed my feelings about having them killed. But I did not feel any level of personal animosity toward Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, despite feeling the same way about what they did – that it was wrong to leak court-protected information. The difference is that there was no evidence whatsoever that Fainaru-Wada or Williams had anything against Giambi nor that they were stalking him or writing a tell-all book about him. (At least I never heard anything of that nature.)
Again, if Carl Bernstein dropped the dime, I doubt you’d hear the outrage you’ve heard about Selena Roberts.
JMO.
Later y’all.
“Whatever. I’m a Yankees fan but I haven’t had a lobotomy.”
This kind of #$%@Q$ from a few of you just undermines your argument. I disagree with your take on this, because my opinion is that you have never liked him and had made up your mind on what your opinion of that interview was going to be regardless of what was said. And that’s your right. There are people I don’t like, and it would take a lot for me to change my mind about them. So I get that.
But I don’t think you’re stupid or have had some kind of brain-altering surgery because you think this way either. That’s the difference.
Why are some of you ripping Selena Roberts? She did not break the law. Her 4 sources for this story did.
Think of it this way, if Arod did not take steroids, she would have no story. He cheated and got caught. Tough on him.
Do you see anything on Jeter being leaked? They have nothing on him. Only thing I hear about him is the pretty women he dates.
Gee Angel I hope I can sleep tonight and seeing as how you couldn’t pick me out of a police lineup, please don’t pretend to know me.
Oh and as for “if the shoe was on the other foot, you’d change your tune” doesn’t apply to everyone who doesn’t care for her and her particular brand of journalism.
Are you referring to investigative journalism? Yeah I guess facts don’t interest you.
Great causation Joba. And I blame your parents. If it weren’t for their procreation, we wouldn’t have to suffer with your silly logic.
Lara08
And not using birth control is why you are here.
Arod cheated and got caught.
i jus wanna watch them play-not take they blood
“And not using birth control is why you are here.
Arod cheated and got caught.”
********************************
You’re right Joba. Good thinking process you got there. You were 2 for 2.
I’ve been listening to Michael Kay and reading a number of the columns that have come out today, as well as observed the reactions of the listener’s/viewers/readers.
Overall, I have to say that the media is not coming across with a good image right now. Callers on the Kay show are repeatedly showing cynicism towards the media’s “position” on the A-Rod matter and seem to be especially irritated by their moralization and finger-pointing. Another common theme (and it’s been said repeatedly on the blog too) seems to be the sense that the media is blatantly spinning A-Rod in a way that would prolong the story. Callers on the show, as well as many responses to today’s ESPN columns, seem to have become turned off by the nit-picking of last night’s interview and a biased hoarding behind fellow media-member Roberts.
It’s understandable that the media would want to squeeze every possible drop from this story, but it’d be naive to think the public isn’t catching on.
Lara08
Thanks. You are sharp as a tack.
Let me break it down for you. Arod is the best player in the game. He can hit, run, has a great arm and always hustles.He is a smart ballplayer. I wanted him to break the HR record held by steroid head Bonds.
When this story broke, I and many Yankee fans were very disappointed, to say the least. Did I want his name to be leaked? Hell, no!!
I thought he was the one to go to the Hall of Fame with the HR record being one of his many accomplishments of a great career.
So my anger is directed at him for using steroids which may cause him to lose his place as one of the best players ever.
Good video-chat today, Pete.
I feel strange acting as the big champion of Selena Roberts (to be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of her columns when they were in the Times), but I’m still a bit bothered by the hostility directed towards journalists. So what if she had an agenda? I’m sure Scott Boras and the A-Rod camp are thrilled that they’ve successfully deflected attention and garnered sympathy, but why discuss this alleged agenda endlessly, instead of fully investigating the pertinent information that came out of the resulting reportage? Bey9nd the issue of denial/non-denial, isn’t anyone else struck by how reminiscent A-Rod’s PR strategy is of Roger Clemens’ first moves upon being accused by Brian McNamee? Attack, attack, attack the source. Deflect, deflect, deflect. Before tearing down the media and then accusing reporters of closing ranks and protecting their own, take a step back and think about whether you are being completely spun by the player and his handlers, because I think that’s what we’re seeing here.
Selena Roberts was is SI.
Steve Phillips is employed by EPSN.
X is employed by Y.
GWB was employed by the people of the USA.
Pete, that means crap.
Salena Roberts has an agenda…the public can figure out what it is…it’s very obvious. People can recognize the difference among reporting, balanced opinion and bias. That’s why many people think she is a hack.
Thanks for the compliment Joba. Makes my day.