Verducci : Bud Must Admit Culpability.

[Boom_70]

In this weeks SI Tom Verducci tell baseball what needs to be done to recover from Mitchell report. One is suggestions he makes is that Bud Selig needs to admit culpability for problem. No mention of fact that Verducci wrote not one but two stories about Clemens advanced traiing methods and personal trainer Brian Mcnamee. In neithther did he raise the steroid issue.


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/tom_verducci/12/18/now.what1224/index.html

 

[Flying Headbutt]

He's dead on about Selig. What a joke he's made the commissioner's office.

 

[Boom_70]

He's dead on about Selig. What a joke he's made the commissioner's office.

Maybe so but it does seem a little odd coming from a writer who was so close to Clemens and failed to raise the steroids question.

If Tom has started out by admitting his culpability I would have felt better.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Well who has more culpability, Selig or Verducci?

And what all could, or should have Verducci been aware of that he missed? Could the same then be said of those who were on the Yankees, Mets, or Orioles beats, for instance?

 

[BYH]

Anyone who wrote glowing praise about Roger Clemens' workout regimen--or waxed poetic about the summer of '98--needs to write he was fooled.

All the grandstanding in the world about the sanctity of the game is otherwise nothing more than self-serving bull****.

 

[zeke12]

Even better than writing they were fooled: Writing that they didn't care. That maybe that puts them out of the mainstream of public opinion, but that they just didn't give a ****.

 

[BYH]

Even better than writing they were fooled: Writing that they didn't care. That maybe that puts them out of the mainstream of public opinion, but that they just didn't give a ****.

Actually, I'd argue that puts them squarely in the mainstream.

 

[zeke12]

Even better than writing they were fooled: Writing that they didn't care. That maybe that puts them out of the mainstream of public opinion, but that they just didn't give a ****.

Actually, I'd argue that puts them squarely in the mainstream.

Perhaps.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

Why does baseball need to "recover" from the Mitchell Report?

The paying customers have shown the steroid issue doesn't matter to them.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Why does baseball need to "recover" from the Mitchell Report?

The paying customers have shown the steroid issue doesn't matter to them.

If the massive payroll inequities haven't sunk baseball, steroids certainly as **** won't.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

He's dead on about Selig. What a joke he's made the commissioner's office.

As opposed to the glory days of Kuhn administration? Or Ueberroth's brilliant collusion plan?

 

[dooley_womack1]

What particular needs is there for the rending of garments and self-flagellation? Is it like Catholic penance or something? The public at large doesn't give a **** what Verducci wrote four years ago; they don't have crisscross files at the ready to sniff out contradictions, as some here apparently do. Focus on things as they are now; Mitchell is right.

And Smasher, your Andy Williams is creeping me majorly. Looks as if his face is about to melt off.

 

[outofplace]

What particular needs is there for the rending of garments and self-flagellation? Is it like Catholic penance or something? The public at large doesn't give a **** what Verducci wrote four years ago; they don't have crisscross files at the ready to sniff out contradictions, as some here apparently do. Focus on things as they are now; Mitchell is right.

And Smasher, your Andy Williams is creeping me majorly. Looks as if his face is about to melt off.

I think the point above was if Verducci is going to insist on Selig admitting his mistakes, he should admit his own. I don't know that the general public cares, but it would still be the right thing to do.

 

[Boom_70]

What particular needs is there for the rending of garments and self-flagellation? Is it like Catholic penance or something? The public at large doesn't give a **** what Verducci wrote four years ago; they don't have crisscross files at the ready to sniff out contradictions, as some here apparently do. Focus on things as they are now; Mitchell is right.

And Smasher, your Andy Williams is creeping me majorly. Looks as if his face is about to melt off.

Why you ask ? Simple one word answer : CREDIBILITY with his readers.

I take what people write seriously and also remember forever inconsistencies.

If you put a story out like "Rocket Science" and write stuff like this :

Between outings Clemens religiously adheres to McNamee's tightly choreographed program of distance running, agility drills, weight training, 600 daily abdominal crunches and assorted other tortures. "One time he wanted me to ride a stationary bike, and I told him I never thought it gave you much of a workout," Clemens says. "He told me, 'Give me 17 minutes.' After 17 minutes I thought my legs would explode."

Clemens takes great pride in having stopped his baseball biological clock. He will tell you that he still runs three miles in 19 to 20 1/2 minutes, that he still weighs 232 pounds, that he still wears slacks with a 36-inch waist (though they must be tailored to allow for his massive thighs) and that he can still reach for a mid-90s fastball at will -- the same specs he had at least 10 years ago. "He's a freak of nature, the kind of pitcher who comes along once in a generation, maybe every 25 to 30 years," says Devil Rays pitching coach Bill Fischer, Clemens's

Before you can become the conscience of baseball it might be better to explain how you were mislead also or just choose not to raise the steroid issue with Clemens. Verducci wrote 2 major stories for SI on Clemens during the time when rumors of steroids were rampant in baseball. In neither story did he ever raise the possibility that Clemens was juiced.

Verducci history on steroid story of baseball is at best selective.

 

[dooley_womack1]

And why would he raise the possibility? Did Verducci make up the workout routine he witnessed? If not, he's fine. This **** is all dandy to say in retrospect.

 

[Boom_70]

And why would he raise the possibility? Did Verducci make up the workout routine he witnessed? If not, he's fine. This **** is all dandy to say in retrospect.

Verduccii was asking questions of many other players about steroid use. Why not Clemens? How do you write an article in 2003 about training regimens and not ask about suppliments or even ask for a comment on Barry Bonds workout routine.

My theory - Verducci did not want to lose access to The Yankees or Clemens. Its the SI way. Peter King does the same thing.

Its the media who has been telling us we should care about the steroid era. Why not back it up with consistancy.

 

[Gold]

I have heard this "sportswriters are to blame because they didn't recognize it or write it" argument for a while now.

I used to cover local government. A lot of times you know something is wrong, but you can't get the smoking gun that would be needed to get it to an editor. Think how often, probably the majority of times, big investigative stories are a result of somebody coming forward rather than a journalist's own initiative. That's not saying journalists are lazy, it's just that you need a road map. Watergate doesn't happen without Mark Felt. That's not to say Bernstein and Woodward didn't do a lot of work, but you need a roadmap.

Knowing something and being able to get the proof necessary to publish are two different things.

 

[steveu]

I'm taking Mitchell's advice and moving on. This is a huge story and will be a dark mark on the game, but baseball's survived worse and thrived. Witness the labor strife of 1994, which IMO did much more to damage the game than steroids.

Kudos for mentioning the great Peter Ueberroth. Way to try to wind the game back to the reserve clause days, Pete.

 

[outofplace]

I have heard this "sportswriters are to blame because they didn't recognize it or write it" argument for a while now.

I used to cover local government. A lot of times you know something is wrong, but you can't get the smoking gun that would be needed to get it to an editor. Think how often, probably the majority of times, big investigative stories are a result of somebody coming forward rather than a journalist's own initiative. That's not saying journalists are lazy, it's just that you need a road map. Watergate doesn't happen without Mark Felt. That's not to say Bernstein and Woodward didn't do a lot of work, but you need a roadmap.

Knowing something and being able to get the proof necessary to publish are two different things.

Which is fine, but this wasn't just a matter of being unable to get the story. If Clemens really did use steroids, it was printing the wrong story.

 

[Double Down]

I have heard this "sportswriters are to blame because they didn't recognize it or write it" argument for a while now.

I used to cover local government. A lot of times you know something is wrong, but you can't get the smoking gun that would be needed to get it to an editor. Think how often, probably the majority of times, big investigative stories are a result of somebody coming forward rather than a journalist's own initiative. That's not saying journalists are lazy, it's just that you need a road map. Watergate doesn't happen without Mark Felt. That's not to say Bernstein and Woodward didn't do a lot of work, but you need a roadmap.

Knowing something and being able to get the proof necessary to publish are two different things.

Gold what you say is obviously right, but if you know something isn't right, even you can't prove it, you at least you write your stories with some measure of skepticism.

I don't think anyone can look at Verducci's two Clemens stories and say he aproached them with much skepticism, especially the second one, which came a full year after Verducci himself had essentially dragged the steroid scandal into the public eye with the Caminiti story. It's written, certainly looking back, like his head was in the sand.

I don't think we're being overlly critical of Tom for bringing this up. I think he's the best in the business, and should be held to a high standard. And while the public may not care, dooley, I bet deep down, Verducci wishes he'd been more skeptical of Clemens. It's obvious they're friends from reading the foreword to Verducci's anthology, and just like any political reporter would get skewered for failing to look closely at a politician's record because of their friendship, we're doing the same for Verducci.