Raul Ibanez, responding to a blogger's speculation that his career-best numbers may be due to performance-enhancing drugs:
I'll come after people who defame or slander me. It's pathetic and disgusting. There should be some accountability for people who put that out there. Unfortunately, I understand the environment we're in and the events that have led us to this era of speculation. At the same time, you can't just walk down the street and accuse somebody of being a thief because they didn't have a nice car yesterday and they do today. You can't say that guy is a thief.
You can have my urine, my hair, my blood, my stool ... anything you can test. I'll give you back every dime I've ever made [if the test is positive]. I'll put that up against the jobs of anyone who writes this stuff. Make them accountable. There should be more credibility than some 42-year-old blogger typing in his mother's basement. It demeans everything you've done with one stroke of the pen.
I'm in complete agreement with Ibanez when it comes to the increasing number of people willing to just toss out steroid accusations like it's nothing. However, why in the world is he responding to some random article written by someone who goes by "JRod" on a blog that seemingly has a minimal readership?
"Ibanez rips blogger" makes for a juicy headline and the mainstream media loves nothing more than a good blog-bashing story, but why is this even on Ibanez's radar? Or perhaps more accurately, why did someone in Philadelphia put it on his radar? There are thousands of blogs, just as there are thousands of radio shows and newspaper columns and fans talking at bars. Throw a rock and you'll hit someone accusing a player of steroid use.
Why does this particular unsubstantiated accusation matter compared to all the rest? Credibility shouldn't be about the platform you're on, it should be about whether or not the things you say and do are, you know, credible. There are plenty of mainstream media members with huge audiences who're miles from credible and there are plenty of little-read bloggers who're extremely credible, and there's everything in between. I'm not sure why Ibanez would pick this battle to fight or why there's even a battle at all.
With all of that said, I do appreciate Ibanez's efforts to keep the "blogger typing in his mother's basement" meme alive, because I was worried that it was falling too far into the parody realm to live on at this point. Also, as long as he's getting into the "responding to bloggers" business, someone ought to tell Ibanez that there's no "stroke of the pen" involved. We use keyboards in our mothers' basements now.
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Good for Raul. I don't really care why he chose this guy to battle with but I think he has every right to defend himself however he see's fit. I certainly don't feel sorry for the blogger that felt like it was his duty to accuse someone of something without a hint of evidence that would point in the direction that Raul has done anything other than do his job well. I wish I had his ability, but if I did somebody that is jealous of my talent or income would have to find a way to bring me down to their level. I understand that the world of sports is under a microscope because of recent history, but don't forget that they're not all juiced.
I think someone is a little bit insecure about himself.....and just for the record im not in my mothers basement....
It is tiresome how some people think they can just say or write anything that comes to their mind without any validation. You cannot get away with that in school, why can they publish a piece without any references or sources? Especially when considering how that type of article can affect someone's career that they have spent their life working towards. I don't care how much money the athletes make, they do not deserve to be slandered by some moron who happens to have access to the internet.
This 'athlete wanna be' or 'journalist for hire' is completely jealous of what Raul has accomplished. He thinks that he can just blog about speculations because of the numbers he is putting up. Guys like Raul have nothing more than bust his butt, pay his dues, and sacrifice plenty to reach the level of being one of the best in his profession. I know from experience because I too played at the professional level for 10 years with the Cubs and Twins. I worked hard during and after the season to prepare and compete at extreme high levels. That is one obvious trait that you probably do not have since you have the need to rip on someone because he is having a great season.
Regardless of where the heck you are blogging from, find your proof first before making fantastic speculations on Raul and any other athlete that is clean. Believe me there are more out there than you know. I made it there without taking anything. And strangely enough, I played against Raul in the minors when he was in the Mariners organization. He's a heck of guy. Great ball player!
"I'll put that up against the jobs of anyone who writes this stuff. Make them accountable. There should be more credibility than some 42-year-old blogger typing in his mother's basement."
Is he really willing to bet jobs against an unemployed blogger living in a basement? Why wouldn't the unemployed guy take that bet?
The problem is, has and continues to be the REAL media outlets that choose to air this stuff because it is sensational. Shame on ESPN, MSNBC, CNN-SI or any other outlet who quotes bloggers. They are not required to be answerable to anyone and pretty much say whatever they want. Then an outlet grabs it and says "This was posted on loserkidinhisbasement.com..." as if it is coming from a legitimate person just because there is a dot com in the title. Cripes, any loser can pay $3.95 a month for a website.
Many baseball fans, across the country, are now so disillusioned by the joke that baseball has become, they take it for granted that all of today's players who can hit the ball hard are juiced. It is Mr. Ibanez's misfortune to play in an era when so many have desecrated the game, that he will be unfairly lumped in with all of the trash.
I care very little for the game now. It had been my escape from the day to day, normal frustrations we all face for the vast majority of my life. Now that is gone.
My recommendation for Mr. Ibanez is to not blame the fans, blame your colleagues.
I'm not sure why any pro player would put so much attention to some knuckleheads accusation. Especially when they get yelled at in visiting stadiums across the country. Unfortunately, steroids in baseball have left a bad & bitter taste in a lot of fans. It’s ok to voice your opinion but one should never be judge & jury. To all the guys typing in their mother’s basement…take a break & clean up your room!
Did Ibanez even read the blog post before he flew off the handle? Did any of the people trying to defend Ibanez read it? The blogger never accused Raul of anything. He just said that he couldn't eliminate the possibility of steroid use as an explanation for Ibanez's performance which is a perfectly sensible and honest thing to say. If anyone is guilty of libel it's Ibanez. Raul totally misrepresented what the blogger wrote.
Forget about the automatic presumption of PED's, what I want to know is why is there an automatic presumption that ALL blog writing occurs in mom's basement. It just seems unlikely to me. The odds don't favor it.
It's the knee-jerk, ad hominem argument of choice to attack any blogger. But what's really strange is that it occurs frequently on posts ... on blogs! And since posting is one (very large) step below blogging, I'm going to say that every post-er that makes this generalization should be presumed to be writing from their Grandmother's Sub-Basement. So there.
Mr Ibanez you are a gentleman and a credit to the game. Your performance this year versus the likes of Manny Ramirez with his enhancements is like a breath of fresh air. I hope to hell you continue your terrific season and go on to hit more HRs than that other cheat Barry Bonds. Youngsters who play the game need baseball heroes and for this 65 yr old you certainly are that. Keep hitting them as the late great harry Kalas would say, "Outta Here !"
I believe he chose this one, because some major media outlet in Philedelphia picked this up and went on an hour long rant on the radio about how Raul was a steroid user using this blog as the backup of his rant. (shows the crediblitily of the radio host. But still, when you have 100,000 watts behind you, you can see why Raul would get upset).
Especially when people keep saying Raul "came out of nowhere". He didn't come out of nowhere. He was putting up fantastic numbers for Seattle with a horrible offense (where Raul was always being pitched around) and in an extreme pitchers park 81 games of the year. Now he's in a fantastic lineup, a hitters park, and gets to play against a couple AAA/major league teams like the Nats a bunch all year to pad his numbers a bit more. Are people actually surprised that Raul is doing so well? As a long time Mariners fan, who's watched this guy for years, I am not surprised at all. I was expecting this and posted such on my blog before the season (which I run from my mother's basement ;-)
Raul made a broad, vague and unsubstantionated slander in response to a broad, vague, unsubstantionated slander. HE WAS MOCKING THAT BLOGGER!! If you guys can't the curveball you don't belong in the big leagues
Wow, great reporting. This speculative piece of garbage is almost as bad as the blog post that started this whole mess. If Aaron Gleeman had actually *read* the Inquirer article he linked to, he'd see the third paragraph reads:
"A column in yesterday's Inquirer brought to light an Internet blogger who wondered if Ibanez had used such drugs."
Ibanez was responding to this particular blogger because the major newspaper in Philadelphia devoted an entire column to his claim, at which point it started getting national attention. Next time try doing a bit of research before you waste people's time with this junk. Or maybe you should just start posting on JRod's site.
Ibanez wasn't responding to the blogger. He was responding to a column by the baseball reporter of the leading Pulitzer Prize-winning Philadelphia newspaper (Philadelphia Inquirer) and his coverage of the blogger in mom's basement. That's the heart of the problem: the mainstream media, particularly print, is so bamboozled by the way the Web and other 24/7 media outlets have destroyed the longstanding media order, they don't know who or how to treat with authority and who is just some jack**s ranting on his barstool cause he misses Pat Burrell. Prior to the Web, the other three idiots hanging around the bar and the long-suffering bartender would be the only ones to hear this idiocy - now the world does, and the professional news outlets, who ought to exercise professional editorial judgement about what is and IS NOT credible and report-worthy, abandon their ability to do their jobs and just engage in mindless pot-stirring. The furthest thing from my mind about Raul's performance this year (obviously I'm a Phillies Phan) was performance-enhancers - it never occured to me till I saw a reputable columnist talk about in my daily paper. And you know that columnist had to discuss the issue with his Sports Editor before the column was written, or posted -- so at least two responsible sports journalists blew it, and Raul had to respond, otherwise the blogsphere and radio talk bloviators would have turned the silence into it's own controversy.
To many reporters just saying whatever & not being held accountable these days, aka Selena Roberts. Now reporters just accuse someone & not bother to get facts. Even the court system pretends your innocent before being found guilty. Where are the so called reporters ethics. Oh yeah, they went out the window when they helped coverup the Steroid story, so they could sell newspapers on the home run chases. Bunch of frauds.