Selena Roberts’ reporting is irrefutable, she said so herself.  I’m not sure why you’re even bothering to refute it…and attaching names to the sources!?  Foolish, really.

Has Roberts been proven wrong about anything so far?

So how long before Law & Order does an episode about the young female reporter with an axe to grind turning up dead and an embattered sports star the most likely suspect?

(spoiler alert: the super-Agent with a God complex did it)

Well as Ms. Roberts anonymous source, I saw A-Rod giving away pitches to the opposing hitters. It was very obvious for anyone who knows what to look for.

Now granted, I “may” have been drinking, and I “may” have lost one of my shoes (I think in a bet), and I “may” not have actually been at the game, but rather watched it on TV, which “may” have been off at the time.

And the only reason I’m anonymous, is because I can’t remember who I am. But I definitely know what I saw. It’s all very clear to me. And players wouldn’t be able to tell the tip-offs because they were telepathic.

“she’s the one making the case here. It’s her burden to prove that she’s right, and we won’t know if she’s carried it until her book comes out and we can all read and assess it”

I understand that she’s the one making the case.  I’m asking if, in previous cases where she broke new facts, she’s been shown to be wrong.

The Duke Lacrosse case was an embarrassment for her, as is her general disdain for A-Rod, but that (as you yourself pointed out) is not the same thing as her being wrong in the facts that she herself brings forward.

To be fair, ARod’s system could have been a bit more secretive than someone on his team might have noticed. Remember, you make signs so that the dumbest on your team can understand them but the smartest on the other team cannot. In this instance, his team was the other team. I don’t know what it would have been, but his signals could have escaped the notice of his teammates.

And another thing…If Roberts’ informant knew that Rodriguez had a deal with certain players to swap pitch tipping, what do we make of the fact that the other players aren’t named?  Either the informant is saying that he *knows* ARod did it but he doesn’t know who he did it with, which seems like a serious credibility issue, or that the informant/Roberts/both know who the other players are and aren’t saying, which would seem to make this an ARod witchhunt.

Any other scenarios to explain this…?

Re: Selena Roberts’ facts. A blog called The Yankees Republic mentions how she deduced the Duke players were guilty (even after they were proved innocent). Her proof was “irrefutable (jock) culture” of “misogyny, racial animus and athlete entitlement” and fans who were the “khaki pants crowd of SAT wonder kids.” As the blogger notes, though she said evidence was ‘irrefutable’ she didn’t cite any of it. He notes her NY Times article, “Closing Case will not mean Closure at Duke,” 3/25/07. On 3/31/06 she writes of Duke University, “virtuous on the outside, debauched on the inside.”  This was a statement of fact by Roberts which might have been true if Roberts had been right in her thesis. But her thesis (that they were guilty) did not prove true. She apparently wanted it to be that way. Or her bosses wanted it that way. In any case, the word ‘respected’ should never be used to describe a person who has freely chosen to go into Roberts’ line of work. (Blogger’s post entitled, “Selena Roberts’ Poison Pen: An Inoculation.”

Lots of Joe Morgan-types here. You’re supposed to read the book before you criticize it or question it’s claims.

All we have are excerpts, and we could be missing quite a bit.

I know Roberts has a dubious track record with the Duke lacrosse story, but that doesn’t mean she’s incapable of reporting. She has a career as a reporter, so she must have done something right along the way to get where she is.

What really bothers me though are the responses from Brantley. His answers just too insistent to be taken seriously.

Ben—I’ve never once disputed that A-Rod is a liar. And in fact, if you read my posts, you’ll also see that I’ve never called Selena Roberts a liar.

The point is that A-Rod can be a liar and still not be worthy of the hit pieces she has already written about him and whatever this book is going to turn out to be. The point is that Roberts can be 100% accurate about every distinct fact yet still commit an act of slanted, hateful, and irresponsible journalism.  Writers do it all the time.

Life is more complicated that a true and false test.