Great Moments in Self-Promotion

With the newspaper business in as much trouble as it is, you’d think that reporters wouldn’t do stupid things to hurt their credibility like consult blatantly unqualified sources for expert commentary, but they still do it all the time:

Craig Calcaterra, a Columbus, Ohio, lawyer who applies his expertise and baseball passion to a blog called “The Hardball Times,” said yesterday in a telephone interview: “There needs to be a second half to [testing] for it to mean anything. Since Clemens has admitted to taking B-12 shots from McNamee, unless they also can establish those needles were used for steroids or some other performing-enhancing drug, I’m not sure this advances the story.”

The Post reported that the syringes are being analyzed at the Anti-Doping Research Institute in Los Angeles, where the task, Calcaterra said, is to “put Clemens’ DNA at the scene” of steroid traces.

…Some steroids, such as Winstrol, are more stable and “probably still detectable,” Wadler said. “The same scenario with HGH is a bigger problem. And if [tests for drug traces] turn out to be negative, could it be that, over time, the molecule was significantly altered? Or it never was there in the first place?”

Best part: the reporter — Newsday’s John Jeansonne — was nice enough not to include me yelling at my daughter to stop picking on her brother in the middle of that quote.


13 Comments
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Brandon Isleib
15 years ago

I love how now that you’re on board the entire site is just one big blog.  Way to redefine our back-breaking toil in your barely sweaty footsteps.

Craig Calcaterra
15 years ago

Brandon? You’re still here? Didn’t you get that pink slip I sent you?

Awk-ward.

Jason @ IIATMS
15 years ago

Brandon must be looking for his red stapler.

Nice pub, Craig.  Glad that you’ve officially taken over THT.  It took long enough!

MooseinOhio
15 years ago

All hail the conquering hero.  First, The Hardball Time, next up Baseball America, then MLB TV and finally Commissioner Calcaterra.

VanderBirch
15 years ago

Just as long as Craig is kept a safe distance away from John Kruk, Steve Phillips and John Heyman. I am worried what those guys possess is infectious.

Brandon Isleib
15 years ago

Ah, VanderBirch, but you’re forgetting Pocoroba’s Law: If and when Steve and Craig are ever within a mile of each other, they will explode instantaneously.  Craig matters; Steve antimatters.

Craig Calcaterra
15 years ago

Thanks guys, but I’ll just go straight to the commissioner’s job.  After all of the stuff I’ve said about Costas recently, I have this feeling that I’d be taking my life into my own hands if I showed up in Secaucus.  Sure, it wouldn’t be easy for a half-plastic, 5’2” guy to take me (especially considering that he’d be recalling all of the past fights he’s been in as he’s raining blows down upon me), but he’s tenacious, so I could be in trouble.

Rob
15 years ago

I just assumed that the ‘[testing]’ snippet was covering up you yelling at your kids.

Roger Moore
15 years ago

unless they also can establish those needles were used for steroids or some other performing-enhancing drug, I’m not sure this advances the story.

For that matter, how can we have any confidence in any drug residue found on the syringes?  We know that McNamee had PEDs, and we know he had unrestricted access to the syringes.  There’s nothing that could have kept him from deliberately contaminating the syringes after the fact as a way of bolstering his case.  At the very least, that’s what I’d argue if I were Clemens’s lawyer.

MooseinOhio
15 years ago

Unfortunately stories nowadays don’t always rely on facts to be advanced as rumor and innuendo is often sufficient enough for stories.  I do agree that it may not be enough to advance the case but in today’s media culture I suspect that it is more than enough to fill some copy or airtime needs.

Colin Wyers
15 years ago

I guess if Craig is taking over for all of us, I’ll have to show him how to run all the widgets back here to make the stats come out. Load up a copy of Excel and let me know when you’re ready, Craig.

Craig Calcaterra
15 years ago

Um, I’ll pass on that Colin.  Last time I tried to use Excel I sprained my wrist and was out for 3 weeks.

VanderBirch
15 years ago

C’mon man, don’t slight yourself.  You’ve got baseball passion!