When It Counts

A columnist in today’s Sun-Times piled on shortstop Addison Russell now that the Cubs have released him.  “Goodbye and good riddance,” wrote Steve Greenberg.  “Without Russell, the Cubs are instantly better.  Or, if not better, then at least less offensive.”  If only I could say the same about Greenberg’s column.

It would be nice to know if Greenberg sensed anything wrong beyond noting how in June 2017 Russell “seemed tense and distracted and had become less pleasant to speak with” in the clubhouse.  Did you ask him what was wrong, Steve?  Did you dig?

Greenberg would’ve been better off devoting his column explaining the role of the reporter/columnist in sports.  Is it merely to report the news at hand, ask what happened on that particular play and nothing more?  That’s pretty much how reporters went about their business during the steroids’ epidemic that struck baseball.

Think about it.  Sportswriters were around ballplayers from the start of spring training through the end of the season, and yet hardly a peep was heard about the sudden, unnatural muscle mass that appeared on bodies.  Yeah, I hit the gym this offseason, and I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn I’m looking to sell.  Most sportswriters bought the bridge.  If I’m not mistaken, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, who broke the BALCO story, were investigative reporters for the San Francisco Chronicle, not sportswriters.

So, spare me any tough talk safely after the fact and tell me what you thought was wrong with Russell back in 2017 and if you would go public with evidence of abuse should a player let it slip.  Or would you be content to buy a bridge in Brooklyn?