FALSE RUMORS DAMAGE A PLAYER'S SOLID REPUTATION

If you're a journalist or reporter, what's worse?

1. Reporting crap and trying to pass it off as a story
2. Trying to scoop the first reporter who reported crap with the same report but claim you heard it 3 weeks earlier?

My opinion is simple, both are irresponsible.

I'm saddened by what's happened to actual reporting and the looseness they now have when it comes to "rumor".  And no, I don't consider myself a writing genius by any means. I'm small potatoes with a little blog and a few readers, but if it looks like crap and smells like crap and if the story "rumored" to be from 3 weeks earlier smells like it too...well, then it's crap. Don't know what I mean? I mean this...

Robinson Cano did not test positive for PEDs and the fact that some North Carolina reporter named Dan Tordjman could float a story about Robinson Cano testing positive for PEDs based on a rumor (said he couldn't confirm HERE) and then a guy named Peter Gammons, a guy that is praised by Major League Baseball as an elite voice, would then attach himself to this same false rumor (Gammons also said he couldn't confirm the rumor HERE) but also "claim" he "heard" the "rumor" 3 weeks earlier than everyone else, is not only bad journalism, it's desperate.  The whole thing stinks. This isn't just a Yankee thing, this is a life thing. You don't spread BS about people unless you're 100 percent sure that BS is true. And for the record, if it's a damaging story, like this PEDs accusation against Cano, wouldn't it make sense to reach out to Cano's people and try to confirm the information before spreading it on Twitter? Wow. This is pretty shocking to me.

The whole thing reeks of smugness and the best part of this rumor is it's false. But it doesn't go away, no way. Now Cano's going to be asked a ton of questions about it. He won't be able to go anywhere without someone talking about it. It will be on his mind during the final 2 weeks the Yankees could really use him to play solid ball. It's a distraction.  Yet, Dan Tordjman can just "chalk it up" as a rumor he "heard" and he just skips away living his life.

Bottom line, no athlete is free from accusation anymore, but to try and own a story without facts is pretty horrendous. I like the rumor season when it's about trades.  I hate the rumor season when it's about a player or person's reputation. Individuals spend years building a solid reputation so they can be looked highly upon by their peers. Dan Tordjman did in his career I'm sure. Peter Gammons did. Peter's totally respected in the baseball world. Again, I'm shocked he tried to attach himself to this story. Anyway, back to reputation.

Yes, if Robinson Cano tested positive for PEDs, he would have done it to himself and I would not have sympathy and all this rumor stuff would have been made by him. He would have damaged his own rep.  But if he didn't take PEDs like it was carefully reported by Mark Feinsand HERE, but rumors still flew that Cano did anyway, suddenly the reputation Cano built is tarnished. People believe what they want to believe.  That's terrible. That player is now being embarrassed publicly and for what? So Dan Tordjman and Peter Gammons can top the rest of the journalism world?

But this is the worst part. Now all these baseball guys that got it wrong can just turnaround and say "Hey, it's a rumor" or "it was an unnamed source" and suddenly their off scot free. But not Cano. He's got to deal with the collateral damage and the microscope that will now be on him.

Now look, I'm glad the rumor is false and I hope we never hear about Cano and PEDs, but as I've said so often lately, the whole thing is destroying the sport I love so much and I gotta tell you, it doesn't help that the "respected" guys are tangled in this web too. I see no end in sight, it's disgusting. But hey, I guess I'll have to somehow learn to adapt. But I'll tell you, I won't sit here and read BS from guys that want to continue to be relevant and then take a hands-off approach if they're wrong. They need to own it from beginning to end and if that means an apology at the end of the day, so be it.

This stuff really needs to stop.

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