Deadspin
So something interesting happened yesterday, in the wake of all those Canseco stories. The "mainstream" sports world went nuts — poor Joe Lavin, the guy who bought the book, found his name on the freaking ESPN crawl — but you guys, the actual sports fans out there, responded with shoulder shrugs and collective yawns. We found this telling.
We've been arguing for the last couple of months, to anyone who will listen, that sports fans are so exhausted of the whole steroid "scandal" that they just don't care about it anymore. Yesterday was further proof of that. Alex Rodriguez and Jose Canseco have drifted into what we called in the book "The Nancy Grace Zone." The postulate states that when a sports story reaches the cable news channels, it immediately becomes a story that actual sports fans no longer care about. This has happened to the steroid story. We remember watching the "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams" — yes, we're 94 years old — the day Roger Clemens played his famous phone call with Brian McNamee. It was the third story on the national news broadcast, after the presidential election and before the war. We had literally received one email about the call all day. People who take the time to read a sports blog all day, actual sports fans, could not care less. The steroid mess is for the casual, just-peek-in-every-once-in-a-while fan.
Which, we think, bodes poorly for the current state of "mainstream" sports journalism. They're freaking out over stories that, frankly, their core customer doesn't really care about all that much. But good luck finding substantial fantasy baseball coverage in your local newspaper.
This is just a theory, and a somewhat half-cocked one ... but yesterday, when we were doing our Canseco due-diligence, we felt like we were kind of going through the motions, researching a story that only media people really care about. Yes, yes, we're all supposed to be fired up that Alex Rodriguez was mentioned as a steroid user in Jose Canseco's book. Right? Right? So where are all the emails? Anybody out there?
Nope. Most emails were about the Red Sox-A's game, Pac Man Jones and beer taps at your table. We couldn't agree with you more.
Comments
Jose Canseco cares about Jose Canseco. And not so much about A-Rod.
So what about these beer taps?
But which ESPN blonde girl did field reporting on this story?
A-Rod does not do steriods; he does she-male hookers. Jeez, can't anybody read anymore? Seriously, I think Jose needed a hook to sell this book and A_rod is better copy than Pujols.
The NBC NIghtly News? Have you even *heard* of the Internet?
Not enough ass-stabbings in those stories to care about.
@Suss--: Eric Byrnes is still with Fox, right?
Yeah, but if they don't, they run the risk of being labeled apologists. Fact is, there are more than enough cranks who write into the NY Post about the very things we don't really care about.
Personally, I care about these stories only insofar as they provide fodder for jokes and Photoshop mayhem on this here site.
Que?
I'll decide if I care after I have seen the poorly concocted SNL skit on it, and not a moment sooner.
We really need to see pictures of Canseco's wife so that we can judge for ourselves the validity of the accusations.
Call me when A-Rod buys new toys for his daughter.
The steroids scandal stories are like the Day After Thanksgiving sale stories on your local news:
You know it's coming every year, you tune in just to see whose getting trampled, and you can't believe that some people actually get riled up about it.
HGH taps at the table would be something to talk about . . .
I will be interested when Pacman shows up at a Canseco party.
I bet "The Nancy Grace Zone" smells like decaying carp.
It royally pisses me off that Congress is now investigating the Federal Reserve's role in the Bear Stearns deal and has put the steriods issue on the back burner. Good luck getting me to vote this year.
Wow, now that would be an event: watching an A's-Red Sox game with Pac-Man Jones and having beer taps at your table!
"Eric Byrnes is still with Fox, right?"
Depends, is Fox still just as UNPREDICTABLE EXTREME WABBIDY SLOO as always?
George Lopez seems to have kept busy with exercise since his show got canned.
*Sports fans, actually.
There's a joke in there somewhere about A-Rod being half-cocked, but I just don't care enough to make it...
Someone needs to hurry up and kill their white wife if this story is going to get any traction.
Who's the idiot: the guy who doesn't do it when everybody else is, or the guy who does it and gets caught?
Just sayin'. They're all juicing, and so no one's juicing.
/soapbox
Do I care if A-Rod bought steroids? Yes. Do I think we will ever "know"? No. Do I think that the he said she said bullshit and overanalyzing/overexposure of this story makes it even harder to learn the truth and actually make sure the games are played fairly? Yes.
Does anyone care about my mini-rant? No.
Man, they'll put anyone in Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.
Nothing says fame like an invite to the Mr. 3000 premiere.
I don't want to see constant steroids stories in any media sources I go to, but Larry King should be doing at least 20 hours of steroids coverage a week.
Eventually, ESPN staff will be sneaking into clubhouses and injecting players with steroids, just so they can continue to discuss this. I can't wait...
@Carlton_Whitfield: Mr. 3000, or as I like to call it, the tramp stamp on Angela Bassett's resume.
I'm a casual, just-peek-in-every-once-in-a-while fan of women's locker rooms. But that's just me.
People who take the time to read a sports blog all day
Hey, I do other stuff too! Like go to the supermarket, pick up my dry cleaning...it's not like I just sit here and look at Deadspin for 10 hours.
/hits F5 repeatedly
Somebody should write a book about sports fans and how so much of this kind of stuff is taking the fun out of sports. And maybe throw in something about how sports fans can get the fun back.
Nah, it'll never work.
Sorry, it isn't that I don't care. I was just looking for someone who knew where I could get some farm-fresh eggs.
@strong like bull smart like tractor: There's an 84% chance that Pedro Gomez has already done this.
Canseco responded with shoulder shrugs too, but they were done with fuckin' six plates a side, bro.
@MeSoHornsby:
Alan Greenspan, "Ace" Greenberg - it's not a coincidence!
/Easterbrook'd
Does anyone care that I am listening to the ambient moog infused electro-pop duo Air?
Not only did Canseco introduce 'roids to baseball, but he's also mastered time travel. He must have, in order to travel back to 1990 and by that Z. Cavaricci outfit.
Most of us don't see baseball (or many other sports) as some sort of sacred trust. We can see a lot of societal realities in them, but as for who's sticking needles in asses -- it's a tempest in a fucking teapot.
The people who get overworked about steroids are the writers who scratch out the same pastoral columns about baseball every year, George Will-style, making intellectual wankery out of it.
@Carlton_Whitfield: Attended with what I call the "power clip" so his cell phone is handy at moment's notice.
@jwaves2007: If it's his ex wife, see Playboy September 2005 for all of her silcone goodness.
@Weed Against Speed: and baby puke. tasty.
@Signal to Noise: It's especially bad with baseball, because it's tied so much to childhood. Playing catch with your dad, going to games, etc.
Therefore, they want the game to be pure and honest and upright, because they think anything else would corrupt kids. When in fact, I'm pretty sure that in this day and age, kids are pretty sophisticated about The Ways of the World.
@shea_guevara: baseball writers are the dads trying to give us "the talk" when we've all made out with someone already and understand some of the basics.
More Media Approval polls, please.
Nancy Grace is playing 3rd base for the Yankees? Whah?
I have learned the persuasive power of interjecting lie detector results into your writing.
Q. Is there a genuine issue of material fact in this case?
A. No.
Done. And. Done.
@jwaves2007: Could we request that these pictures are taken whilst she is wearing one of his shirts?
Well, I care. I am getting married soon and I am concerned that Alex Rodriguez might try and fuck my wife.
WHO.CARES.
@Ladies love Fennis: Summary judgment granted: Canseco is a self-aggrandizing meathead.
@Weed Against Speed: +1. Also, gross.
@Le Kangourou de Kataroo is reading this sexy blog.:
where the fuck did that star come from?
Will, I want a star!
@strong like bull smart like tractor: I imagine they're already planning this with Steve Phillips injecting Steve Phillips as Buster Olney looks on.
Breaking news....Sources report Jose Canseco has a twin brother....
@BigTenObsession: Commenters with a lot of followers get a star now. It's Gawker-wide... but a certain Mr. Leitch apparently hasn't gotten the memo yet....
So how's the hunt for that Ben Ladin guy going? Why won't Congress investigate THAT? If only the Yankees would sign him...
I don't even care enough to finish reading this post. Or read any of the comments. I stopped at "Nancy Grace Zone." For some reason, it seemed appropriate.
Why did Canseco steal his eyes from a charcter on V ?
I am more interested in the scene from Liar Liar when Jim Carrey says "i'm jose canseco!" than I am about Jose Canseco himself.
</