Damien Cox... Damien Cox seems to have mastered the art of making bold statements without actually making bold statements. His latest 'Star' column is accusing Jose Bautista, who hit 2 home runs in a 3-2 Blue Jay win over the Yankees Monday night, of taking drugs.
The great news for Bautista is that these numbers will surely net him an enormous increase on his current $2.4 million salary when his contract expires. That would motivate any player to find a way to improve his stats.
The Blue Jays, we know, have quietly become known as a bit of a nest for alleged steroid abusers over the years. Clemens played here. Gregg Zaun has been implicated. Ditto for Troy Glaus.
And now comes Bautista. Blue Jay fans will, of course, angrily respond to the suggestion that everything isn't on the up-and-up, just as I remember getting bushels of bitter emails from baseball fans when questioning Mark McGwire's open use of androstenedione back when he was smashing Roger Maris' record.
This seems to be an implication that not just Bautista, but ever single Toronto Blue Jay in the team's history has been juicing. "Joe Carter? He played for the same organization as Troy Glaus. Think about it, guys: Pat Hentgen played in Skydome, LIKE ROGER CLEMENS DID!!!!"
The beauty with Cox is that he can get away with making his stupid, baseless arguments because he's not alleging that Jose Bautista's cap size has grown by 1000% over the last three months. He's alleging Jose Bautista to have played for an organization that has had some players with steroid problems, like every single Major League Baseball team for the last twenty years.
The post had the side-effect of inspiring a "Cox Bloc" post, where Godd Till alleges that Damien Cox is taking drugs because other writers take drugs, and the argument is virtually the same.
But one is intentionally funny, and the other is just pure stupidity.
After the game, Cox took to Twitter, where he was either distancing himself from his argument or providing further evidence.
"So adorable to watch baseball media circling the wagons. Just like they did with McGwire. . .and Sosa. . .and Clemens. . .and Zaun. . . ."
"Don't forget, it wasn't baseball media that brought down Bonds. They watched McGwire openly keep stuff in his locker, cheered him on."
"My favourite so far is the one that delivers a solemn lecture on ethics and reporting in the cyber era. Gosh, we are so impressed."
I don't get this guy. He's trying to circle the media wagons around Bautista, like they did for McGwire. But now the media are cheering McGwire on and, because we're in the cyber era we're... wait... what?
Bautista said it best after Monday's game ...
ReplyDeleteQuoting Cox's line about the 'question has to be asked', Bautista said "So ask it!" Despite what Cox claims, he failed badly in making the suggestion without asking Bautista.
Damien Cox should be man enough to join the other media on the field at Rogers Centre and interact with the players and coaches. When was the last time Cox was in the Jays' clubhouse?
ReplyDeleteI wonder how the players and coaches would treat him if he were to follow the team as a beat writer. Fact is he does not cover the team, so he is cowardly enough to write that nonsense and feel no need to face the players and coaches.
His comments perhaps are on par with Dick Pound's comments several years back when Pound accused a certain percentage of NHL players of using peds.
I know Cox writes a hockey column for one of the American sports sites. He never writes any of his baseball anti-bias on that particular site. I bet he would never have written that piece on an American site or magazine. Could it be he knows not to bite the hand that feeds him?