Jason Giambi auditions for a job at the Daily News.

From what I can tell, Jason Giambi was 0-for-5 last night.

The Daily News didn't like it, the New York Post didn't like it, Newsday didn't like it, the Star-Ledger didn't like it, with varying degrees of moral outrage.

Torre, Cashman, & Steinbrenner sound like hypocritical clowns, but they've got an investment they're trying the protect.

Of course Giambi had nothing to say. Of course Giambi sounded intellectually vapid and morally bankrupt. Of course he was evasive and shaky with the facts.

Who does Giambi think he is? Mike Lupica?


The New York Sun was also unimpressed with Giambi, making it a clean sweep, but at least they've got something thought-provoking and contrarian to say about the matter:

"It's hard to tell exactly how Giambi let down the press. I'm a member of the press; I'm not offended or disappointed or surprised by his drug use. He didn't harm me in any way.

If anyone has harmed the press, it's been the press, which offered nothing more than innuendo as ballplayers swelled grotesquely in the 1990s. Our job is to cover baseball; the job of a ballplayer is to play it. Players owe writers nothing but the common decency and respect any person owes another. If Jason Giambi can avoid disappointment when I put whiskey in my body, I can avoid disappointment when he puts testosterone in his.

It's similarly hard to tell exactly how Giambi let down the fans. They were more than happy to cheer for him when he looked like a pro wrestler, and only the youngest or most willfully naive fans could have illusions about what made him look like that. Players owe fans nothing but their best effort, not an accounting of what goes into their bodies.

It's still harder to tell how Giambi let down the Yankee organization. It strains credibility past the breaking point to imagine that they didn't know what he was doing when they signed him. They were happy to reap the benefits of his drug use; he owes them no apology now that the consequences of that have embarrassed them."

Giambi is guilty of something, so are lots of ballplayers, so are lots of people. But his biggest crime from a fan's point of view might be hitting .208; his biggest crime from a writer's point of view might be giving bad press conferences.