Baseball should either put up or shut up

Ok...so you want to blame sports journalists for failing to expose the use of PED's in baseball, then you want to slam them for going after guys who use them now....you do know what a hypocrite is, right? If you need an illustration, just look in the mirror.

 

Yes, I do think journalists have some accountability regarding the drug problem in baseball. They are certainly not at the top of the list. I've slammed the Chronicle reporters because of the many inaccuracies in what they have reported, not for reporting the problem in general. As I have previously posted, they did get the majority of it right. There are simply parts of what they reported that are flat out wrong. They bought what their sources provided to them hook, line and sinker and without question. Their sources on both sides were using them for self-serving agendas. They should have recognised this fact early on and they did not.

 

744 just landed in the sandbox. Attack, attack, attack, BOOM! Over the wall. Keep it up, Bonds loves to prove the doubters and naysayers wrong.

 

"recognised"


Might creamora be Canadian or English?

 

I'd be embarrased if he's the latter.

 

Have you ever done a story like that? Are you even a journalist? Most of the time, you are dealing with people that have agendas on a story like that. And just because somebody has an agenda doesn't mean that person is wrong. Some people need a motivation to put themselves out there.

I'm sure the reporters knew exactly what they were getting into. There are definitely no good guys involved in the stories on Bonds. The bottom line is they did exactly what you say sports journalists have failed to do, go after somebody they believed used PED's, and you are ripping them for it because you don't like the result.

 

outofplace,

The result a journalist is supposed to be seeking is the truth. I have absolutely no problem with any story written by any journalist as long as it is fair, balanced and accurate. The two Chronicle reporters should be applauded for the parts of the story they got right. They should also be held accountable for the parts of the story they got wrong. There is information in their Chronicle stories as well as their book that is simply inaccurate. Their book is not balanced and contains a lot of information that was obtained from people who have serious credibility issues. Ellerman is certainly one source who lacks credibility. Novitzky is another who needs to be regarded as suspect. The list of questionable people who were used as sources goes on and on. Most journalists seem to have bought their entire story hook, line and sinker, just like they did with their highly suspect sources. Just because a lie gets repeated doesn't trun it into the truth. The story is not over and some of the socalled facts that have been reported are subject to challenge at any time.

 

Because, of course, the folks with credibility (and therefore something to lose) were all just opening their doors to talk to reporters.

 

Ryan Howard seems like a smart cookie.

Below is a recent article that contains a brief interview.


Howard hopes to learn from Bonds

By Kevin Cooney
phillyBurbs.com
May 7, 2007

The luggage was stacked around the Phillies locker room last Sunday morning, ready for a critical 10-game trip that would go a long way towards determining the rest of their season.

Ryan Howard, meanwhile, sat on the big table in the middle of the room, talking about Barry Bonds while waiting to get a haircut.

“I'm looking forward to getting out there and picking his brain a little bit,” Howard said “I'm interested in seeing what kind of advice he could give me.”

That meeting, according to a newspaper report, reportedly took place on Thursday night, with the Giants slugger working on some things to help the young Phils slugger out of his funk.

“I don't think everyone gets to see the true Barry Bonds,” Howard said last Sunday. “You get to see a little bit at times. But you are portrayed however someone wants to portray you and there's not much you can do about it. But I've had the chance to talk to him a few times now and he seems like a pretty cool guy.”

Bonds and Howard are in a very exclusive club right now. Few men in the history of the game have MVP attached to them for the rest of their careers. Even fewer have put up the single-season numbers that both sluggers have in their career years (2001 for Bonds, 2006 for Howard.)

But that's where the similarities tend to end in so many different ways.

For starters, Howard's bubbly personality has ingratiated himself to the media and public at large. The surly reputation - well deserved — of Bonds has scared away advertisers and the masses.

There's also that whole steroid thing. Howard is a big kid who is country strong, with no legitimate accusations ever coming close to his name. Bonds started as a skinny rail before doing his “Bill Bixby turning into the Incredible Hulk” impression in the late 1990's. That fact alone has cast doubt over Bonds' run at Hank Aaron's cherished all-time leading mark of 755 homers.

But Howard is quick to defend Bonds' claim to the home run king crown, even though he has admired Aaron since meeting him at the World Series last year.

“Look, 755 is a lot of home runs and to me, until someone comes up and has legitimate proof with a failed test or something, its history in the making,” Howard said. “Who doesn't want to be a part of history?”

Howard has admired Bonds from a distance for the most part. Growing up in St. Louis, he never saw Bonds play in person until arriving in the big leagues in 2005.

“I think the thing more so, as a player, just seeing the swagger the way he played the game,” Howard said. “To be honest, the way he's carried himself off the field, through all of the controversy and media attention, to keep playing at such a high level is something that I've noticed.”

Howard has been forced to learn how to handle the media attention in the last 12 months. It hasn't always been an easy process. While his relationship with the Phillies beat writers has been extremely good — he joked early in the season about sponsoring a dance contest called “Dancing with the Scribes” with the beat writers — it has been the national media that has obviously taken its toll.

“It's not the everyday guys that get to you,” Howard said. “But its how repetitive things can get after a while when a guy drops in and he's asking the same questions that you've answered everyday for the last two weeks."

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/243-05062007-1342065.html

 

Again, wrong in your opinion. I have not seen one bit of evidence that they got anything wrong. Just becuase you disagree with it doesn't make it wrong.

And my point, which you still either refuse or fail to see, is that you should stop telling us that the media should have gone after the users of illegal PED's, then at the same time complaining about the journalists who go after Bonds. Bonds is a story. Especially in San Francisco. I still maintain that your problem with these guys is that they went after Bonds, not any actual failure as journalists.

Show us some evidence, tell us one exact thing that they got wrong. Otherwise, stop wasting our time.