The need to name names

Posted at 10:56 AM on July 7, 2011 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Media

Curt Schilling, the former Major League Baseball pitcher, said no team has won a World Series in the last 20 years without cheating to do it.

Broad brush, anyone?

These sorts of statements sound like wicked honesty, but they also tend to destroy reputations needlessly and where's the courage in that?

Schilling made his comments in an article in the Sporting News...

When asked if he ever suspected any of his 1993 Phillies teammates of using steroids, Schilling replied, "Oh, absolutely. It wasn't something you would walk up to someone to talk about or ask them. You had your ideas. When guys showed up with 25 extra pounds on them after three months after you had seen them during the winter, you had an idea."

Twenty years? Do the math on that. In 1991, your World Series champions were the Minnesota Twins. Anyone want to guess who was on steroids on that team?

This is the problem with "tell all" articles. They tell very little while needlessly -- in some cases -- impugn the character of people.

Take the comment from former Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau that's gotten some traction in the last 24 hours.

In an article on Huffington Post, Molnau appears to take a swipe at former governor Tim Pawlenty ...

"He has a tendency to not be a good judge of what he needs," Molnau said. "A lot of us like to have people around us that think like we do and agree with us because we don't take criticism very well. Well that's a good thing because you don't have a lot of white water conflict. The thing is you never know when you're going off because everyone's afraid to tell you, or, the people who do, you don't see as trustworthy anymore."

"He surrounds himself with people that say 'yes' and tell him how good he's doing, but he doesn't have a lot of people who can take the chance at critiquing him, and that's a problem he's had for a long time," Molnau added.

Is that all of the people? Some of them? Which ones? Without names, we don't know whether it's former spokesman Brian McClung, former chief of staff Dan McElroy or even former lieutenant governor Carol Molnau.

It's a question that reporters need to at least ask reflexively, "who?"

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Comments (4)

My money is on Al Newman. Look at how big he's grown!

Posted by doug sandels | July 7, 2011 11:17 AM

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Bob, I think you've hit the nail on head. You can say anything about anyone, but I think the real test is if you can back it up with specific and verifiable examples.

Posted by Jim B. | July 7, 2011 12:02 PM

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I learned everything I needed to know about Curt Schilling when I saw him on stage with George W Bush during the 2004 campaign. That said it all.

Posted by Disco | July 7, 2011 1:15 PM

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"It's a question that reporters need to at least ask reflexively, "who?""

Particularly when they're already speaking with one of members of said inner circle, not only as running mate, but cabinet member as well. That should demand the followup "what did you want to tell him but chose not to, because he didn't want to hear it?"

Posted by bsimon | July 7, 2011 1:57 PM

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