Why Giambi got away with it
Columnist William C. Rhoden of The New York Times notes disapprovingly that while accused drug cheat Barry Bonds can't get a baseball job, admitted drug cheat Jason Giambi is the toast of New York and the inspiration for Yankee Stadium's recent Moustache Day.
"What's the message here?" Rhoden writes. "That you can do wrong and make it right -- after you're busted -- by groveling, granting media access, begging for mercy by playing ball with the powers that be?"
I think there's more -- or less -- to it than that.
It's true that if Mark McGwire had 'fessed up and asked for understanding instead of refusing to "talk about the past" to that Congressional committee, he'd be a hero still.
And if Bonds hadn't spent his entire career alienating teammates, reporters and fans, he'd get more sympathy. Bonds didn't become known as a bad guy because he used performance-enhancing drugs. More like performance-enhancing drugs became known as bad things to use because Bonds did it.
I have no idea if Giambi is a great guy all the time. Some "media darlings" are more darling to columnists, magazine writers and out-of-town reporters than to those who must deal with them every day.
But I had one experience interviewing Giambi. And it was off-the-charts good.
In 1991, when Giambi was with the Oakland Athletics, I walked into their spring-training clubhouse in Phoenix after most of the players had gone to the field for pre-game warmups. In fact, the only player in the long clubhouse was Giambi, sitting at a cubicle in the middle of one wall, putting on his cleats.
Seeing me from 30 feet away, Giambi turned and said, "Can I help you?" He actually rose from his chair as he said it.
(At this point in the telling, listeners usually say, "Was he putting a bottle of pills back on the shelf?" No.)
Mind you, it's not as if he was greeting an old friend. We'd never met before, and we've never talked since.
We wound up talking for 15 minutes that day in '01, until Giambi had to get to the field. Giambi gave me some good thoughts for a story about the major leagues' new higher strike zone.
I've known plenty of athletes to be friendly and accommodating. But Giambi is the only one I remember acting as clubhouse greeter first.
Should this sort of behavior give Giambi a pass on the drugs issue? Should Bonds' brusk personality convict him of crimes against baseball? Of course not.
Their demeanors might explain, though, why fans root for one and not the other, and why teams choose to have one and not the other in their clubhouses.
About this blog
Kevin Modesti watches sports from a new angle since his promotion from sports columnist to sports editor for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. In his new blog, Modesti not only comments on the big sports stories of the moment-- he talks about what makes them big. Think of it as a conversation with readers about how these stories should be covered.
Leave a comment