Ibanez, Inqy Give Undeserved Cred To Blogger
June 10th, 2009 by MattThis whole Raul Ibanez vs. previously anonymous midwestern blogger thing has really taken on a life of its own.
The blogger was on ESPN today with the Inquirer’s John Gonzalez and Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal. Why ESPN had to go outside their vast stable of baseball pundits to get Ken Rosenthal’s opinion is beyond me, but that’s another story.
Watch the video here:
Gonzalez tried a heck of a lot more than Rosenthal did to treat the blogger with a modicum of respect. Frankly, the blogger has catapulted himself into this sort of scrutiny with his writing, so whatever beating he takes is fine with me. I give him some credit for having the guts to go on ESPN and debate more polished speakers than he is.
What I find most infuriating about this entire episode is that this controversy was really the creation of John Gonzalez. Roughly 40,000 visitors go to this guys website every month, which in the grand scheme of the internets and the google machine is nothing. Were it not for the Inquirer’s article, no one would even know what one guy sitting on his couch with his laptop who has Ibanez on his fantasy team thinks about the chances that he might be on steroids.
The lines are blurring between old and new media, but has it really come to this? That some hack in the Midwest’s opinion is now national news? That Raul Ibanez feels as though he has to defend himself against said blogger’s wishy-washy post?
I guess Ibanez had no choice in this environment but come out with his response to this ham handed attempt at investigative journalism, but I wish he didn’t need to. It’s a huge waste of time, and frankly, I just don’t care what this guy thinks. Like you and roughly 100% of the rest of the world didn’t know who he was before today, and we’d all be better off had it stayed that way.
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The blogger is actually a professional writer who is very accomplished at Internet based investigative writing You should do your homework on him. I give him credit for sticking to the focus of the interview which was “Is Ibanez Fair Game” versus pounding his own chest and touting his accomplishments. Even after the beating he didn’t feel the need to rub his quantcast numbers in Gonzalez face. In terms of Rosenthal, “10 years ago. . .10 years ago”. Get with the times.
Speaking of credibility, why is this comment section on your site so quiet?
David, a couple of things:
1. Do most “professional writers” who are “very accomplished at Internet based investigative writing” admit in their posts that they ran out of time to do sufficient research, and then backpedal once they realize people might actually have an issue with what they wrote?
2. Your friend was right to not “rub his quantcast numbers in Gonzalez face”. Are you saying that 1400 visitors a day would have shut Gonzalez up, or made Gonzalez’s points less valid? Hey, I’d love 1400 visitors one day, but let’s not act like that makes him the next Bill Simmons.
3. Regarding comments, luckily I don’t tie my self-worth, or my continued blogging, to how many comments my site gets. This site has been around for less than 8 months, and I clearly don’t have as much time to devote to it as your buddy does. Since I have no plans to sell advertising, or opine on ballplayer’s steroid use, I’m in pretty good shape and not even remotely sweating my comments section. I do appreciate, however, your contributions to it!