"If a player wanted to deny (the charges made against him)," Mitchell says, "why didn't he come in and deny them to me?"
Come on, now. You're a lawyer.
If I say Mike Lupica is a computer-generated avatar, the burden of proof is on me. Lupica is not compelled to deny charges which have not been proven.
This is precisely why this report is widely criticized and widely dismissed. Without the legal power of subpoena, and the accompanying legal defense, it's just a bunch of people saying stuff.
Pettitte's defense is, "I did not do it. Your sources are liars. I didn't deny it then, but I am denying it now." That's it.
If you want the players to defend themselves, then charge them with something.
"The TV guys were saying that Mitchell was sloppy before they'd even read his report. He's sloppy, they say, his reporting is sloppy. Mostly because they don't like it. They treat George Mitchell like some fan who fell out of the stands and onto the field trying to grab a foul ball, as if he could broker peace in Northern Ireland and be undone by drug cheats in baseball. Like Mitchell was some kind of rank amateur, not getting his facts straight, not even knowing what questions to ask."
I don't think this is accurate. A lot of people think this report is a waste of time and a lot of people question his relationship with MLB ownership in general and the Red Sox specifically. But I haven't seen any personal attacks on Mitchell himself.
I found it somewhat distasteful and self-serving to continually bring up Northern Ireland during the press conference, but it's a minor complaint.
I was also ironing at the time, so my attention was divided.
More interestingly, who the heck are "the TV guys"?
As opposed to the "radio guys" or "the newspaper guys"? As opposed to the "TV gals"?
Tomorrow morning, on ESPN, won't Lupica be a "TV guy"?
If Lupica was watching commentary on television, then the commentator had a name.
Be a man, Lupica, and name the commentator with whom you have beef.
"TV guys" is a bit vague, don't you think?
1 comment:
"people were running down his report on Thursday before the ink was dry" as if that midget didn't have his story written before the report came out.
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