The smearing of A-Rod

Sports journalism these days, it seems, is all about, “Can you top this?” In a day when blogs and 24-hour networks rule the roost, it’s about who can get the information out the quickest, whether or not it’s 100 percent accurate. It’s doing whatever you can to get people talking and reading, i.e., John Tomase.

I don’t plan on reading “A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez,” the new book written by Selena Roberts of Sports Illustrated. I won’t read it because I don’t really care enough to drop the 20 or so bucks. But SI did run an excerpt from the book this week, and while Roberts was correct when she claimed A-Rod took performance-enhancing drugs, which he later admitted, her reporting, at times, is shoddy at best.

In the book, she writes that A-Rod, when he played with Texas, tipped pitches to opposing hitters during blowouts in the hopes off getting the same treatment. That’s a pretty serious accusation, not to mention a monumental violation of the players’ code. Quoting only “former Rangers” and “former players,” Roberts felt as though she had enough to go on to put that in the book.

I’m not saying these claims are true or false, but if you’re going to report the “facts,” attribute the information correctly. Failing to do that is irresponsible journalism, and personally, I feel this book just seems like a smear job.