[Dave Bing]

From NY mag:

A-Rod Book: All Your Questions Answered

Selena Roberts’s much-anticipated A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez hits stores today, and her media tour, which kicked off last night with a Bob Costas interview on MLB Network, takes Roberts from the Today show to Extra to WWOR to ESPN. It’s the great unveiling of "The A-Rod Steroid Book," as it has been billed since February, when Roberts (with David Epstein) broke the news that A-Rod had tested positive for steroids in 2003. The book’s more tabloid-worthy elements — that several Yankees thought A-Rod used steroids while with the team, that he might have used in high school, that he had “tipped pitches” to pad opposing players’ stats when he played for the Rangers — leaked last week, but as of this morning, the book is finally out there for the world to see. We snagged a copy over the weekend and have read it. You have questions, we have answers.

So, is this book a biography of A-Rod, or is it just about steroids?

It starts out as a biography — there’s a fascinating detail about his father (who left the family when A-Rod was 10) possibly being a freedom fighter in the Dominican Republic — but by the time he’s signing his $252 million contract with the Rangers, the book has mostly devolved into a catalogue of A-Rod’s various dopings. Roberts doesn’t have a specific smoking gun — she doesn’t, for example, actually have a photo of A-Rod injecting steroids into his ass — but she comes about as close as you can get, quoting teammates, friends, and various managers and executives about specific times and seasons A-Rod was juicing. Roberts is a bit too moralist about steroids for our tastes, but you can’t deny her reporting, which is diligent, detailed, and overpowering. This is not a book of conjecture: It’s one of hard, bootstrap journalism. She even visits an apartment complex in Florida that A-Rod owns and has let fall into disrepair; he has lost more than $10 million from his investment. The sports-biography landscape is littered with halfhearted, quickie, SCANDALOUS, sloppy books with no depth, research, or legwork behind them. This is definitely not one of those.

What kind of guy is the A-Rod in this book?

Vain, deluded, confused, and not particularly bright. Roberts calls him an “adulation junkie,” and that pretty much sums it up: A-Rod, like many athletes, surrounds himself with people who tell him how great he is and will expel anyone who does otherwise. He stares at himself in mirrors incessantly, sometimes wears glasses in public because he thinks they make him look smarter, and carries around a bag of facial creams with him at all times. He’s not an evil person, and is in fact sometimes touchingly naïve and innocent; mostly, he’s just awkward, sheltered, impressionable, and rather dim. Also, hilariously, a friend is quoted as saying, “Alex can’t stand fat people. He really just can’t be around them.” Yet he still lives in Florida! Mostly: A-Rod just wants everyone to love him and tell him how amazing he is, which is ironic because he’s pretty much the worst person in the world at making people love him. Yet he keeps trying, making it harder and harder on himself.

Is the book really all that salacious? We had heard she gets into A-Rod attending swingers clubs and what not.

Not really. Roberts does touch on A-Rod being spotted at a Dallas-area “couples-only lifestyle club” called Iniquity, but if there was truly dirty stuff in here at one point, the HarperCollins lawyers appear to have scrubbed it out. There’s still plenty of embarrassing A-Rod With Ladies dirt, though, including:

1. At functions involving Yankees and their spouses and families, he once used several pickup lines on players’ wives. When confronted, he claimed he was joking.

2. At clubs, he has been known to approach women by saying, “Who’s hotter: Me or Derek Jeter?”

3. At one point, Roberts describes A-Rod, as his marriage to Cynthia Rodriguez dissolved, as an “insatiable hedonist.”

What about Madonna?

Oh, she’s in here. Roberts describes A-Rod’s 2008 as the year he was truly “lost,” obsessing over Kaballah (he goes nowhere without the signature Kaballah red string around his wrist), purposely baiting paparazzi, helicoptering with Madonna to Jerry Seinfeld’s private yacht, and leaving last year’s All-Star game early to go see the pop star. In an awesome dig, one Yankee says, “I’d give him a high five (for Madonna) if it were 15 years ago. It’s like sleeping with your mother.” A-Rod is obsessed with Joe DiMaggio — that’s the reason A-Rod agreed to allow Pulitzer Prize–winning author Richard Ben Cramer to write a biography of him; he didn’t realize Cramer’s A Hero’s Life was deeply unflattering to the Yankee Clipper. A-Rod hadn’t read it because it was “a thick book.” He considers Madonna his version of Marilyn Monroe.

Is A-Rod ever going to be the same again?

By the end of the book, A-Rod is failing in interviews to explain his steroid abuse. (And, weeping before his ESPN interview, calling Roberts a “stalker” before giving here a half-assed “apology” and then rehabbing his rib hip injury in solitude, away from the game, the only thing he has ever been good at, for the first time in his life.) Which A-Rod will we get when he returns, as soon as next week? The book makes a pretty solid case that it’ll just be another A-Rod creation, hastily slapped together for public consumption, a lonely manboy who never figured out what he was supposed to be. But at least he’ll be on the field. That’s the one place that has ever made sense for him.

[Medz]

Bill Simmons: Now that jocks talk to us directly, the press is boxed out - ESPN The Magazine

Now that jocks can talk to us directly, the press is boxed out.

by Bill Simmons

When I was Li'l Sports Guy, The Boston Globe's John Powers wrote a book called The Short Season about his experience covering the 1977-78 Celtics. I read it, like, 20 times. Every anecdote seemed to come after Powers ate steaks with John Havlicek at the Scotch 'n Sirloin or hung with Dave Cowens at the hotel bar. And he got to see the games for free, too? What job could be better? My decision was made: If I couldn't play sports for a living, I would write about it.

Three decades later, I have my column. But I can't even imagine the access Powers had. Most players have no interest in dining or drinking with writers anymore. And frankly, I don't blame them. If I played, I'd be a blank slate. All pre- and postgame questions would be answered as if my humor coach were Davis Love III. All TV interviews would be handled with the gregarious candor of Barack Obama's discussing stem cell research. Occasionally, I'd get my PR team to orchestrate a puff piece -- say, a TV feature in which I sat in my lavish living room, showed off my trophy wife and spouted clichés.

"Accolades aren't important to me; winning is important to me."

Translation: And this house! I mean, look at this room! This bear sofa cost 65 grand!

"When I'm done, I want to give something back to the game."

Translation: Like body fluids. I'm still hoping to have sex with groupies. They'll still like me when I'm retired, right?

"Leaving when it's time, protecting my legacy and the memories people have of me … that's what matters most."

Translation: I'm going to play as long as they're willing to keep paying me.

You get the idea. We learn nothing from today's superstars beyond the spin. Take Spike Lee's upcoming Kobe Doin' Work, which could be headed for an Oscar next year -- not for best documentary but for best actor. Blanketed by 30 cameras covering his every move during a 2008 game, Kobe tries to be funny, supportive, helpful, charming … really, there hasn't been a performance so convincing since There Will Be Blood. I nearly impaled myself with a Twizzler near the end, when Kobe jokes on the bench with Pau Gasol (who has an "I didn't even know Kobe knew my name!" look on his face), followed by Spike's cutting to Kobe's kids holding MVP signs. I had to take a postmovie shower.

Then again, kudos to Kobe Day-Lewis. This is how you use the media. Control the access, provide your own filter, say nothing profound, play a part, derive the benefits. Nowadays, teams routinely break news on their websites. The Patriots announced each 2009 draft pick on Twitter. Curt Schilling retired from baseball on his blog. Hundreds of athletes keep in touch with fans digitally. We're getting close to a day when players save postgame quotes for their own blogs. Wanna know why I'm limping? Check out my website, sponsored by Bob's Discount Furniture!

During the Scotch 'n Sirloin era, beat writers, local sportscasters and SI were our conduits because we didn't have Google, cable TV, blogs or SportsCenter. If you missed a game … you missed it. No TiVo, no VCRs, no YouTube clips, no message board recaps. Athletes cooperated with the media because they needed to. How else could we follow them? How else could they get us to like them?

Things changed once cable, talk radio and fantasy took off and sports became a 24/7 industry. Locker rooms swelled with reporters of all types. Fans wanted more access, more info, more everything. But as salaries climbed, star athletes no longer cared about fan approval as much as they cared about shaping their personae in an electronic age. They began to deal with reporters and writers only on their terms. They spoke candidly, but not really. As they retreated further into little bubbles, PR people and agents protecting them, the dynamic shifted completely.

In 1980, the late Pulitzer winner David Halberstam followed the Trail Blazers all season for The Breaks of the Game, or as I call it, The Best Sports Book Ever Written. Virtually every member of Portland's franchise gave him tons of time, and the access made the book special. Over the next two decades, the NBA had changed enough that Halberstam decided it was time for a sequel, this one centered around MJ's '98 season. Although Jordan kept his distance throughout, he promised a sit-down after the playoffs. But when the time came, he changed his mind. He'd decided to write his own book.

For sports access, this was the tipping point: Our most famous athlete had refused a journalistic icon's interview request, and the reason -- gulp -- actually made sense. Around the same time, Tiger Woods spun his own cocoon, never to say anything interesting again, after feeling he had been burned by a magazine profile. Our two most famous athletes had become impenetrable. Great.

Fast-forward to the Twitter era. Access for reporters and writers has dwindled faster than A-Rod's pectorals. With newspapers dying and the Internet not yet subject to the same libel scrutiny, journalism is getting nastier and more detached -- fewer stories broken, infinitely more snark. That will cause stars to weave even stronger cocoons, and the chasm between us will keep growing.

Today's technology means athletes don't need a middleman anymore. You know how you won't hear a peep out of Jennifer Aniston for a year, then she'll have a movie to promote and you can't get away from her? She shows up when she wants to show up, always on her terms. It's no different from Tiger's making himself "available" every summer when his video game is released. Okay, he's a superstar; he can pull that crap. But what about the other guys? I see a day when the following sequence will be routine: Player demands trade on blog; team obliges and announces deal on Twitter; player thanks old fans, takes shots at old team and gushes about new team on Facebook. We will not need anyone to report this, just someone to recap it. Preferably with links.

If Jordan was the harbinger of lost access, LeBron ushered in the I'm-controlling-every- interaction-I-have-with-you era. We've been hearing from him since high school, and yet I can't remember reading a single memorable feature about the guy. We think we know him through his entertaining antics with teammates, only I don't remember one funny thing he's actually said. He talks of becoming a global icon, of becoming the Jay-Z of sports, which makes perfect sense because we don't know anything about Jay-Z, either.

Only 24, LeBron has already erected the perfect see-through wall between him and us: accessible and exclusive at the same time. I see him controlling every documentary, reality show and book to come. I see him communicating with common folk through his blog, Facebook, Skype or whatever innovation comes next. I see him earning an Oscar for LeBron Doin' Work. And if he's enjoying a juicy steak at the Scotch 'n Sirloin, I definitely see him letting us know with a tweet.

This isn't a good thing or a bad thing. It is what it is, and maybe how it always should have been.

[hack]

I wonder about that last graf, seems to contradict something else he's said, not to mention the general tone of this story -- when the Garnett-out-for-playoffs story broke, he wrote on how the Celts wouldn't have been able to keep this a secret in the age of real reporting, and that Bob Ryan would have had the access to break the story...

[Medz]

Simmons always has difficulty ending his column. He relies too heavily on trying to link back to his opening anecdote, which seems a bit amateurish - a high school journalism class gimmick. That said, I do agree with his overall point. I'd much rather learn about a story from a professional journalist than a PR firm. Yao's 'documentary' was a fluff piece, and it looks like Lebron and Kobe are going down the same route with theirs. Beat writers have to become talking heads on ESPN screaming at eachother about pre-scripted point/counterpoints to stay relevant.

[THE PISTONS]

They should write a book about former Texas Rangers players WHO DIDN'T do steroids when Canseco was there.

Isn't it amazing that they were basically terrible all of these years?

[hack]

Originally Posted by Medz

Simmons always has difficulty ending his column. He relies too heavily on trying to link back to his opening anecdote, which seems a bit amateurish - a high school journalism class gimmick.

No, that's Plan A for all of us, tho some are better than others. I've never noticed that he sucks at endings, I'll have to check for that. In this case, it was just a sudden burst of neutrality in a story that was obviously slanted.

[Medz]

Originally Posted by hack

No, that's Plan A for all of us, tho some are better than others. I've never noticed that he sucks at endings, I'll have to check for that. In this case, it was just a sudden burst of neutrality in a story that was obviously slanted.

When done well, it's very effective. When forced, it feels tacked on. I've always felt like he writes his columns, then goes back and adds an intro and a conclusion that have very little to do with the rest of the article. It's just a pattern I've noticed with him that always irked me, because I really enjoy the rest of his work.

[THE PISTONS]

In that article the ending definately was tacked on. It's kind of obvious.

[mn3]

How good will A-Rod be when he isn't on steroids. Doesn't a lot of the steroidal effect go away when you aren't using them for awhile? I assume he's trying to stay clear now, since the heat is on him, and he's being watched so carefully. It seems to me that Pudge lost most of his power when he stopped.

[bozo the clown]

If he was 'roid user, I don't really care how much power he loses either way.

[DYNOMITE]

Everything I read tells me A-Rod will still be good when he returns but not as big, fast, and strong as he was when he was on the juice.

[Dave Bing]

Is he a better infielder than Stuckey? Chris Paul?

[DYNOMITE]

I heard his coach say something about a "combo-infielder." I assume that is real bad.

[THE PISTONS]

Originally Posted by mn3

How good will A-Rod be when he isn't on steroids. Doesn't a lot of the steroidal effect go away when you aren't using them for awhile? I assume he's trying to stay clear now, since the heat is on him, and he's being watched so carefully. It seems to me that Pudge lost most of his power when he stopped.

As long as he keeps lifting, he should maintain the muscle. Steroids have a bit of a psychological advantage in that you feel stronger too.

Lifting won't provide as much strength gain either. That is what I hear from people most who have taken steroids. They frequently add 10 lbs to their bench a week. Without steroids, it takes months and for some, years.

[Joe_Loco]

Discussions of the envelope finish as literary technique! Only among the freep oldtimers.

Another guy who struggles to finish in my opinion is John Feinstein. He starts wonderfully and gets better from there, then starts circling like Paine Stewart's airplane. Great feature writer who has gotten rich writing fat, repetitive golf books.

A true magician is Gary Smith. Christ, what a writer. By the end of his best articles you're confused and ambivalent, but you damn sure know you've walked in someone else's shoes for an hour.

[hack]

Anonymous and brilliant. I have a big pile of Smith stories I plan to go through to see if maybe I can become 1% as able. One of them is a 9000-word take on LB and Iverson circa 2001.

[The King]

Got a link?

[hack]

No, a word file. You want I should email it? The story's too long to post here...

[The King]

I will shoot you my email via Facebook. A Word file would be awesome so I can print if off and read it during my highly productive bathroom break at work tomorrow.

[hack]

Thanks for the visual.

Since this is the media thread so far, I noted on the scrolling feed uptop that McCosky doubts the shortened-schedule thing. Now, I doubt it too, but I have to admire Ivory Tower's mastering of the ``that thing I got scooped on last week won't ever happen anyways'' story. He should write up a master story, headline it Nothing Will Change, Ever, and file it once a week.

[Joe_Loco]

King, you can use the SI vault to see lots of Gary Smith articles. The Iverson story is here:

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.c...2362/index.htm

And there are more here:

Gary Smith - SI Vault

[DTH]

Anybody ever stay at the Pfister hotel in Milwaukee. Spooky.

Fear of haunted hotel has Marlins bunking up in Milwaukee - Big League Stew... - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

Thu May 14, 2009 3:36 pm EDT

Fear of haunted hotel has Marlins bunking up in Milwaukee

There are any number of things to fear when visiting the fine city of Milwaukee.

Among them: Ryan Braun in the batter's box, a cholesterol increase by simply entering the city limits and being publicly shamed by that noisy delivery guy for not living his supposed high life.

If you're a visiting baseball player, you can also add one more fear to that list: Being harassed by ghosts while staying at The Pfister, a luxurious 116-year-old hotel that's said to be haunted.

According to the Palm Beach Post, "at least two pairs of Marlins" shared a room during this week's series against the Brewers because they're scared of the ghosts that haunt The Pfister.

Though the paper doesn't identify the spooked players, it's a well-known legend that The Pfister is often visited by the spirit of Charles Pfister, who founded the hotel in 1893.

Here's a primer on the hotel's scary story from AllStays.com (and I should mention that the photo above isn't of The Pfister, but just a stock AP photo that came up when I searched the archives for "haunted hotel"):

Pfister still visits to ensure that his guests are well taken care of at his "Grand Hotel of the West." A "visitor" has been spotted surveying the lobby from the grand staircase, strolling the minstrel's gallery above the ballroom, and passing through the ninth floor storage area. He is always described in roughly the same terms: "older," "portly," "smiling," and "well-dressed." Upon seeing a portrait of Charles Pfister, witnesses swore that it was the man they had seen.

The Post reports that several pro players in the past have been scared, with the most famous incident coming when then-Dodger Adrian Beltre(notes) went to bed while brandishing his bat for protection. (The Dodgers no longer stay at The Pfister while in Milwaukee.) Another run-in came last summer when the iPod of Minnesota's Carlos Gomez(notes) kept vibrating even after the outfielder repeatedly made sure it was turned off.

No Marlins reported any paranormal activity or sightings of Pfister during the stay, though it was the subject of some jokes among the young Marlins team.

"Every time there was a noise, JJ would yell, ‘It's the ghosts,''' said pitcher Dan Meyer(notes), who had separate but adjoining rooms with staff mate Josh Johnson(notes).

However, it is worth noting that Florida did get swept by the Brewers this series so maybe The Pfister has become part of Milwaukee's homefield advantage.

(And here the Yankees thought they were the only team with ghosts on their side.)

[Joe_Loco]

I just HAD to post a link to this letters page for Gregg Doyel, the nation's meanest sportswriter. He's so unapologetically offensive, it's actually refreshing. I'd pay money to watch him and Hause eat porterhouse steaks together at the nation's #2 sports bar.

From: Lee M.
Using your platform to call us "babies" and add insult to injury for maligned Cleveland fans? Not to mention a struggling city as a whole? Who the hell are you?

Who am I? I'm a bully. But save the "struggling city" crap. Everyone's struggling, Lee. So I guess my point is this: You really ARE a baby.

Hate Mail: His dream is to eventually write like you - NCAA Division I Mens Basketball - CBSSports.com News, Fantasy, Video

[Fool]

Gregg Doyel isn't good at his job.

[hack]

Wow, what a race to the bottom that is!