I'm not entirely sure why Jay Mariotti decided to wait a whole two weeks to chime in on the Raul Ibanez/Blog thing, but I'm more interested in the premise of his article. Mariotti is now about the 30th mainstream media member to comment that "steroid guessing is bad journalism", but forgetting what he has written about the subject in the past. Before we get into all of Mariotti's accusations about members of the Cubs, let's look at what he wrote late last night....

Yes, given the staggering bulk of guilty names and relentless flurry of new information, we all wonder to ourselves if every major leaguer who has played since 1995 used steroids. But that doesn't mean anyone has the right, legally or ethically, to start speculating for public consumption just because he has a functioning computer, a miniscule niche in cyberspace or a column in the dying newspaper industry. The methods of dissemination may have changed, but journalistic standards suddenly shouldn't go to hell.

If you know an athlete who uses steroids, convince us that it's true with corroborated material.

If not, please keep it to yourself.

Okay then. That's certainly an opinion someone can get behind, and if people want to follow that journalism tenet, I obviously have no problem with it. What I do have a problem with, is when it comes from someone who wrote the following:

The joke isn't funny anymore. Every time I ask Sammy Sosa about ster-oids, he uses a four-year-old punchline about his favorite vitamins. "I take my Flintstones once a day," he says, smiling as always.

But now that baseball's worst-kept secret finally is out of the medicine closet--vast numbers of players are juiced up on 'roids--it is incumbent upon Sosa and other prominent big-leaguers to start speaking up and taking a responsible stance concerning the sport's latest self-destructive issue. Very simply, he needs to tell the truth. If he hasn't used steroids, tell us. If he has used them occasionally, tell us. If he uses them regularly, tell us.

He really should just grab the cup, piddle in it and send it to the lab. It's the only way Sammy Sosa ends all suspicions, quiets the riffraff, blows away the steroid clouds and lets us resume enjoyment of his immaculate career, currently in an innuendo warp. He is sadly mistaken when he says, "The whole world knows that I am innocent."

For some reason, mainstream media members continually forget the words they wrote, if not days ago, at least a few years ago. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, what is wrong with speculating? Sports as a whole is speculation, and whether it's who used steroids?, or will Albert Pujols win the Triple Crown?....What's the big deal?

Also, what's worse in your mind? Writing out a debate with your friend about a player you have on your fantasy team, and trying to defend his stats? Or telling a player in a national publication to send his pee to a lab? Sure it was Sammy Sosa, and we all know how that turned out, but back then it was complete SPECULATION.

It's also funny to me that someone who has been taken for task about doing zero research by both clubs in Chicago, is calling out people for laziness.

Steroid Guessing Is Bad Journalism (Fanhouse)
Letter To Chicago Sun-Times (White Sox and Cubs)

Got this photo from reader JB via the guys at Storming The Floor, and I think it's time that we take a trip to Kinkos to make a few copies don't you (click for larger)? Here are the various media passes for the Tournament this year....



I love how ESPN gets their very own pass (they couldn't be lumped in with all media) and for some reason the term "Media Upper" makes me laugh. Anyone have photoshop handy?

It cracks me up how some people in MSM get the idea of blogs can email you and actually contribute positively to the current state of media at the moment (they know who the are). Then there are the Pat Forde's of the world who decide to use a 2-year old joke to describe the medium. From Inside The Hall via Wrigleyville...

Since I am an old-school newspaper guy, I do have some issues with blogs as they exist today. First, how many bloggers actually report news themselves? Do they throw rumors at the cyberwall and hope one or two stick? Do they simply repeat other people’s gossip? Do they know how to conduct interviews? (Props to you all for at least reaching out and asking questions.) And if they don’t report news independently, where would they be without the mainstream journalists who do? What I don’t like are blogs that exist simply to snipe at mainstream media that does the heavy lifting of reporting the news.

Also: While I support everyone’s right to sound off on public affairs and events, I don’t find a lot of it interesting or entertaining. Everyone wants to be Bill Simmons, but to my knowledge there’s only one him. Two hundred thousand bloggers cracking wise from their living in their underwear all want to be the next Simmons, but how many of them are being paid (handsomely) to do it?

I find it funny that he chose Bill Simmons name. Does he think that Bill Simmons is/was a blogger? Also, what if I want to be the next Pat Forde??? I guess I would have to become a smug dick on television and not just on the internet (tough to do I'm sure). He also spent a paragraph before this stating that they are are good thing.

But in all seriousness.....I'm really less concerned with his weak jabs at blogs than his use of that joke. Does everyone who uses that description think they are the first person to say it? Is it a plagiarism thing, or do they really think it bothers us??? Inquiring minds want to know (and please don't give me the "I'm just bitter" line. I'm really curious). Usually by the time you're the 40th person to make a joke to the same crowd it gets pretty old.

Pat Forde Imagines You In Your Underwear (Wrigleyville)
Q and A: ESPN’s Pat Forde (Inside The Hall)