The first real post

I just have a brief post about what you might call journalistic integrity.

In case you’ve been under a rock for a week, you probably heard that:

1.  Barry Bonds just broke the all-time home run record, and

2.  Alex Rodriguez just became the youngest player ever to hit 500 home runs.

Neither has ever tested positive for steroids, but Bonds is under constant suspicion for using them, for various reasons.  A-Rod, on the other hand, has generally sailed above that sort of thing.  It makes some sense; Rodriguez hit .358 with a .414 on-base percentage, 36 home runs, a triple, 54 doubles, and Gold Glove-caliber defense in 1996, a year in which he did not turn 21 until the season was more than halfway over.  If you’re unaware of how good that is…well, it’s tremendous, MVP quality.  He was a skinny kid then, he’s a rather skinny/fit man now, and he has not had any unusual home run spikes in his career, which is to say, nothing about him makes anyone think, “wow, I wonder if he got that big by eating his Flintstones vitamins everyday, or if he possibly took illegal pharmaceuticals to help him build muscle.”

Then this week, Braves third baseman Chipper Jones pointed out that in this day and age, being as good as A-Rod is–or even as good as Chipper is, which Chipper even pointed out–makes you susceptible to steroid whispers.  Well, the New York Post, showing the kind of unique, evenhandedness it’s known for (oh wait…no) ran a headline that read, “A’ROID SHOCKER:  Chipper says drug questions will dog Alex.”  The New York Daily News said something similar, and while I was at work, ESPN’s SportsCenter went to commercial with a tease that was very much like those headlines.

The problem was that Chipper didn’t imply that he took steroids, and didn’t imply that A-Rod took steroids.  It’s apparent from hearing or reading his quote.  He was just pointing out that Bud Selig and Major League Baseball turned a blind eye toward a problem until it got out of hand, and now no one is safe from suspicion.

I just want to know who the papers think they’re fooling, or if they know they throw their credibility out the window by silly, sensationalist yellow journalism like this.

(By the way, Chipper Jones was understandably angry about all this.  I also thought it was funny that  ESPN.com ran a story about how Jones was upset about what the papers wrote, even after their flagship program used the same sensationalist, obvious misinterpretation of Jones’ statement.)

For ESPN, this is part of a pattern.  They’re slowly turning into the “Access Hollywood” or “Us Weekly” of sports journalism.  So, media, take note:  just give us the facts, and quit making up stories.  That goes for all of you.

Filed under: journalism, media