Inky reporter vs. Brett Myers

Cold one of your choice first/next time we share a bar. There's your props.

And it was nice to see DyePack crash and burn.

 

I appreciate you Gutter. As soon as you found out about the outing, you were here.

Kudos.

 

Sorry for the confusion, Gutter. Nice job.

 

I know I sure appreciate you, buddy ... thanks.

(But I almost wish the dunderhead would stick around long enough for a beatdown. It's always good for a pity laugh.)

 

I've been covering baseball for 10 years and I've done that a million times. I covered one pitcher who said "I thought I pitched pretty well" every time, even if he gave up 10 runs. I never once thought of saying to him: "You really thought you pitched well?"

None of this is to excuse Myers, by the way. He plainly acted like a jerk.
[/quote]
What is wrong with challenging an athlete on BS statements. You say a pitcher you interviewed always thought he pitched well. Why would you not challenge him on this if he is obviously feeding you Bullshit

 

No, JC, but you could follow-up with, What specifically were you happy with?

 

Because I asked him his opinion, and he gave it. Who am I to say his opinion is wrong? If the facts plainly contradict his opinion, I can point that out in the story or the readers can figure it out themselves.

If you are a beat writer and have to talk to the same guys every day, there is just no reason to irritate them on relatively insignificant issues like this. Does it really matter if he says he pitched well or he says he didn't? In the end, all that matters is what happened between the lines.

If I'm going to challenge someone on an answer they give, it had better be based on facts, and not opinions. And it had better be a case in which the answer somehow is newsworthy, not just a quote that is used to provide color for a story. Like this...

The manager doesn't use his closer and the team loses in the bottom of the ninth.

Reporter: "Is everything OK with Joe Closer?"
Manager: "He's fine. I just liked the matchups better with Bob Setup."
Reporter: "Well, Joe pitched to those guys last week."
Manager: "Yeah, well, that was a night game and the ball carries better in the day."
Reporter: "Well, how come Joe had a big envelope with the letters MRI on it when he came in today?"

In this case it's clear that the manager is lying about something newsworthy, so you have to press him. In the case of a player's opinion on how well he pitched, it's just not worth starting a fight over.

 

Bobcat, it's not about being confrontational. It's about being thorough.

A pitcher gives up 10 runs. You ask for his opinion on his performance. "I thought I pitched well."
You, not wanting to irritate someone you work with on a daily basis, leave the athlete and go interview someone else. You asked for his opinion. He gave it. Nuff said.

Your competition, though, stays behind and asks "Pitcher, you mentioned you thought you pitched well. What specifically were you happy with?" Then the pitcher explains that he had the best control of his curveball that he's had all season. His fastball was crap, but that will come around. A better curve makes him a better pitcher down the road.

Yes, that's a best-case scenario but I dont think it's far-fetched.

 

bob, that really was a best-case scenario.

 

what struck me, after hearing the audio and thinking that the writer shoulda shut up after the clever line asking Myers to spell "retard" was this:

dude, i saw you on video, mr. myers, and your stupid goatee makes you look like a total assclown.

and then he confirmed it by saying someone disrepected him by pointing at him in a locker room.

*** gasp ***

yeah, i know you represent your company and all that as a reporter -- the company that will downsize you in a minute, by the way -- but there's something to be said for a writer who gives it back to a jock.

the message, i hope, is this: We don't necessarily kneel at your altar, Jocko. You're not some kind of god, so quit acting like you are. Tall people, or built people, have a way of assuming that they're better than anyone else in the room. They're not, unless they can prove it. I'd walk 10 miles to meet Hank Aaron, but you couldn't wake me up if Barry Bonds or Warren Sapp or Leonard Little was in the room.

Brett Myers wanted to swagger tough in front of the camera, and so he did. But he also comes off as a major asshole, just because he thinks he sits on a throne and we're all supposed to kneel and beg for The Enlightenment of Brett.

Brett Myers is an asshole. I'd find a way to ask a good question, then make it a point to turn and walk away as he's trying to answer it.

 

And that's why you'll never be as good as Casey McCall.

 

fixed