Sports Illustrated Protects Its Own: How Selena Roberts Rescued Joe Torre and Tom Verducci

When I first heard about the Joe Torre book, written with Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, I was a little irritated. I have a problem with coaches writing books about their players so soon after having coached them. Call me corny, but I still think of coaches as pseudo-parental figures (especially for younger players) or at least bosses. Often they seem to write such books just to make sure the team will fail without them, airing the team's dirty laundry to cripple their successor.

For once, I wasn't the only one to have problems with this, as various Yankee fans (click link to see her video take on this), former players, and columnists expressed their disgust and annoyance with Joe Torre. It's ironic that a man who preached loyalty to the team and supposedly had such a good relationship with his veteran players would so casually throw A-Rod, Clemens, and others under the bus. Funny how authority figures who are getting paid stop preaching about loyalty once they stop getting paid, isn't it?



However, in the midst of all this negative publicity about Joe Torre and Tom Verducci, amazingly, a distraction appears. It's ok that Joe Torre mocked A-Rod, because A-Rod is really a steroid user! (This explanation is a little bit like saying "It's ok that the police beat that one guy, because I heard that guy cheated on his taxes once." There's no connection between those facts! no causality! no cancellation!). Now, which intrepid reporter helped someone violate the confidentiality agreement on tests that happened six years ago? Why, Tom Verducci's colleague at Sports Illustrated, Selena Roberts. What a coincidence! Hmm, I wonder, could Tom Verducci have helped pass along this tip to Selena? Isn't it interesting that with the book under full-fledged attack, some news magically appears to discredit the person Joe Torre most criticizes in the book?



Alex Rodriguez's positive steroid tests have nothing to do with the fact that Joe Torre went out of his way to attack an emotionally fragile player just to boost his book sales. When Alex moved to New York City, he foolishly thought that Derek Jeter was a real friend who would make his transition into a close-knit team easier, and that Torre was a player's coach. (Torre seems to have only been loyal to his original Yankees from the 90's; free agent acquisitions did not get any such respect).



Who hasn't made such a mistake when moving? You latch onto the only people you know in the area because you're new, only to realize that they really aren't interested in being close friends--come on, that's happened to many of us. So Alex Rodriguez got the cold shoulder from Derek and the mockery of his manager. And when Alex finally was going to get the sympathy he deserved from the public because Torre over-reached to punish him one more time, Verducci gets rescued (how convenient!) and Selena Roberts twists the knife a little deeper. Who says print media is dead? Looks like the pen is as sharp a sword as it ever was.



Side note: I'm fascinated that while searching for photos of Joe Torre with fans to accompany this post, I can't find one photo where Joe is actually smiling. Let's hear it for access-hungry sports reporters who turned a grouchy millionaire coach into a sympathetic, long-suffering saint. The photo below is the biggest smile I could find from Joe Torre when taking a photo with fans, and I'm sadly not exaggerating.

NBA H-O-R-S-E: Free Bubbles Hawkins!

I can't believe they're bringing back H-O-R-S-E for All-Star Weekend. Yes, I said bringing back. The funny part is, the NBA has tried this before, during the 1977-1978 season. They held a tournament which included such stars as "Pistol" Pete Maravich, Bob McAdoo, and George Gervin. Videos are still up on Youtube. But there's a reason you haven't heard of it--it was boring! For example, here's Pistol Pete pitted against Bubbles Hawkins, who really deserved a chewing gum endorsement deal:



Does that excite you? Did you actually watch the whole thing without fast-forwarding? It's Pete Maravich, one of the most exciting players of all time, and it's still boring. In fact, just to prove I'm not picking on just one bad game, here's Pete's highlight reel from the event:



It's not bad--the shots at the :30 mark and the end are decent--but it's the highlight reel for a Hall of Famer, and it's still mediocre. Let's hope it's another 30 years before the NBA tries H-O-R-S-E again, because based on these 1970's videos, it's not going to be that interesting.

A Cautionary Tale for Eagles Fans

When he became an NFL starter, he met with instant success. He quickly led his team deep into the postseason, a rare example of success among a peer group that was mostly known for failure. In fact, his skills were so great that his coaches began over-relying on him. They limited his protection and/or started to neglect the running game despite the presence of Pro Bowl talent in the backfield.

As a result, this star was hit early and often. The team's performance started to plummet, and he was injured and had to be replaced by back-ups. Strangely, those back-ups often out-performed him, because the coaches finally remembered they had running backs who could run and block, not just catch passes. Public sentiment started to move against him. Perhaps he had just been lucky, and now, as he aged, the game was passing him by? But they failed to notice the team's poor draft record in filling critical need areas, and the coach's stubborn refusal to learn clock management and switch up his offensive system as the rest of the NFL started to catch up.

The player I have described is...


Strange, isn't it? There is an odd symmetry between the careers of Kurt Warner and Donovan McNabb that you wouldn't expect. The years do not match up perfectly, but the storyline does. It's something that should give Eagles fans and Andy Reid pause. Oh, Donovan has probably earned himself a few more years by taking the Eagles to the NFC Championship game, but I thought it was worth bringing up here.

Bloggolalia: Is Sports Blogging All Grown Up?

I've been doing some thinking lately about the future of this blog. Now that it's been a little while, the truth can be told as to why I started writing here in 2006. It was mostly out of irritation that many good stories were being ignored by the top blogs. I felt like many of the top bloggers were just hanging out with each other and copying the themes in each others' work. As I've complained before, it seemed like every writer fit the same generic template: NY/DC dweller, male, aged 24-34, white, well-educated, middle-class, liberal, and non-religious. Thus, the biases and lack of diversity in writing drove me to start my own blog.

However, it seems to me that sports blogging has turned some sort of corner in 2008. Yes, many bloggers still lazily fail to get to the root of a story. Many bloggers still believe that biased snap judgments on minority (and majority) groups is their god-given right.

But I also think that the storytelling has gotten a little more balanced. Voices like MODI, D-Wil, Dave Zirin, and Michael Tillery no longer seem to be shouting into a cyber-space vacuum. Modi and D-Wil have pointed out some significant improvements in the blogosphere themselves. I would say the bottom for sports blogging was coverage of the Vick story. But the blogosphere, as a whole, did well in covering stories like Sean Taylor, the Fanhouse's attempt to supplant normal sports bloggers with fantasy sports girls, and Lebron James Vogue story. To be honest, one of the reasons I stopped writing for SOMM was that I didn't have as much fire in me anymore to write. I felt that things had improved so much that there was a lot less for me to complain about, ha, and thus my writing was dry and becoming forced.

So what do you think? Have I overstated the immaturity of the early days of sports blogging, or was there really a problem? Has sports blogging changed for the better, and what still needs to change? Or have I gotten soft and sold out to "The Man", seduced by promised links and kind words? (Understand, I hope this post doesn't read as "Oh, sports bloggers are writing more like me/my biased agenda, and that's a good thing." No way! My writing is long-winded and a bit pretentious.)

Missing Marty Burns

A week before Christmas, Marty Burns announced that he was leaving SI.com. I haven't really seen many articles covering this, so I wanted to give full credit to him for all the great writing he's done over the years.

I always appreciated Marty Burns' writing at SI.com, yet I could not think of one particular article that truly stood out to me. Yet, every time I saw his column up on SI.com, I would instantly click the article. For most writers, I carefully check the content first to see if it was worth my time. Some of you probably don't know who he is, but you might recognize him by his SI.com headshot:



I was rarely disappointed. He always had something interesting to say. I enjoyed how he could write a good article without gimmicks. He didn't have to make references to popular culture or convince us how funny or brilliant he was. He was willing to let other people be the focus of the story. I struggle with doing this myself, so I greatly admired his ability to let the story speak for itself without making it overly dramatic.

Take a look again at his last column. It's his farewell column...and he waits until the very last paragraph to talk about himself! He instead talks about the great Jerry West and how hard-working all the NBA players and coaches are. Read his last paragraph:

These kinds of basketball conversations with the men who made the NBA great are one thing I will miss as I get ready this week to leave SI.com. To widen my court, so to speak. Whether or not I continue to write about the NBA in the future, I will remain a fan of the game and an admirer of those like West who care so much about it that they will never close their minds to ways of making it better.

It's very classy of him to say that. I encourage you to read some of Marty's old work in the archives of si.com. Thank you, Marty, for your consistently good writing about the NBA, and for your willingness to put the story first. Marty mentioned in his last column that he has a family, and I'm sure they've had to sacrifice at times so that he could do justice to the column. So I hope the lay-off is a blessing for them and that he can then soon find work again. Wherever he ends up, I'll read him there too.

Can't win with (without) choirboys

I'm not a betting man, but the Giants/Eagles matchup tempted me like few games have. The Eagles admitted after their second meeting that they were able to pressure the Giants much more easily without Plaxico being in the line-up. The Giants had no answer for this, and so the Eagles were able to shut down the Giants running attack.

I see some interesting parallels between Plaxico and Manny Ramirez. In both cases, a very talented minority athlete who was more of an irresponsible goofball rather than some sort of thug was ushered out by a championship-winning organization. And in both cases the teams fell short of the championship game because of it. I believe that with Plaxico, the Giants would have beaten the Eagles (6-2 against them with Plaxico in the line-up) and then thrashed the Cardinals (behind the Giants pass rush).

I was on several high school teams where the coaches were forever clashing with the best athletes. The best athletes often are stupid, ok? Let's not cover over this. Very few individuals are extremely talented athletically AND very smart AND socially/morally responsible. It's just rare that one person has all those skills, which is why the media fawns so much over the David Robinsons of the world.

However, the problem is that after a little success, coaches and managers get arrogant. They think that they can win with character instead of talent, and that their brains can scheme up plans to overcome the diminished talent. They are almost always wrong. Great accomplishments require great talent. It's one thing to jettison the over-rated Shockey; it's another to dump your only truly game-breaking receiver. It's funny now to read the NY or Boston papers around the time that the so-called "trouble-maker" was dumped. What's truly more responsible and ethical; to work with a complicated athlete who for the most part has broken no laws, or to give up on them and dump them? John Thompson had it right when he was saying Georgetown needed more "thugs." A strong program is able to incorporate some individuals who are quirky or a little off and make good use of their skills.

Now, you can't win with thug teams either. Go back and look at the 86 Mets...76 Raiders...95 (Barry Switzer) Cowboys...all of them one-championship wonders that could have instead have been dynasties. I can't help but think that those teams actually needed some good characters as well. For example, there was an interesting article on ESPN.com's Page 2 on how a critically needed Raiders defender was high for the 77 AFC championship game, and how that helped cost the Raiders the game.

Overall, though, the lesson is clear. In any walk of life, you have to be willing to put up with some headaches from your top performers. They must be punished for failings; fines and suspensions may be needed (see Steve Smith in Carolina). But this high-horse moralizing from sports reporters acting like a GM is courageous for getting rid of All-Star talent like Manny or Plaxico for little in return is completely inappropriate.

Love is a Game: "Wanna Kiss My Boo-Boo?"

So over Christmas break, I played as much basketball as I could. I got poked in the eye my second game out, and got some nice marks to prove it. It didn't hurt bad, but it looked kind of cool, except when my friend asked me if I was wearing mascara (ouch!).

I was talking to a girl on AIM (yes, I'm about 15 years old, ha, I still use AIM), and suddenly realized that I might be able to milk the injury. So I took a quick snapshot and sent it along, trying to play the "wounded warrior." It failed miserably, mostly because I look like I'm posing for my domestic violence lawsuit:

Your Honor, my client was merely asking his wife for another sausage from the pan when she maliciously and fervently ground the tongs in his eye! Just look at the photo of the damage!

So what about you all--have you ever tried to milk an athletic injury to get some attention from a crush, and did it work? Were you the type to get lots of autographs on your cast, or were you the poor soul who had to write on his own cast to make it look better?