Mad World
Beware The Messenger
By Mark Madden

The move of Alex Rodriguez to the New York Yankees has electrified baseball fans everywhere. Well, in New York and beleaguered Boston, anyway. Yet the national baseball media would have us believe that A-Rod's arrival in the Big Apple is something we should all be following with baited breath; something that should make us overlook the misery being peddled at PNC Park and get excited about baseball again. Why is that?

Because that's where the money is.

Who is telling us how great this is? How exciting this is? How terrific for baseball this is? "Journalists" who depend on baseball, and only on baseball, for a living, that's who. Why would Peter Gammons ever say anything bad about baseball?

Gammons may look like he's on loan from a wax museum, but he's no dummy. He's not going to bite the hand that feeds. Same goes for Jimmy Roberts with golf. Billy Packer with college basketball. Barry Melrose with hockey. They all do the best they can to promote the game that lines their pockets. I'm not calling them wrong for doing that. But I'm not calling them journalists, either.

Post-Gazette columnist Ron Cook was recently on ESPN's Outside the Lines to debate the pros and cons of the A-Rod move. Also on the televised dais were baseball broadcaster Joe Buck and some geek who covers baseball for The Sporting News.

Cook acquitted himself extremely well, basically saying that the A-Rod deal and similar moves kill hope in low-budget baseball cities. He also pointed out that not every baseball fan in the world is interested in the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.

Buck and Geek were incredulous. Absolutely dumbfounded. Eyes bugging and jaws slack, they couldn't believe that Cook thought this was bad for baseball. You can win anywhere, they bleated. Look at Oakland. Look at Florida.

Oakland. Is that the same Oakland that used to have Giambi, Tejada, Damon and Isringhausen? How come those guys aren't on the A's anymore? Florida. Is that the same Florida that won the World Series in 1997, then sold off the whole team right after? Hey, who is Pudge Rodriguez playing for this year? Buck and Geek just didn't want to hear it, however. They make money based on the health of baseball. Guys like that have been spouting the company line so long that they've forgotten what it feels like to think independently.

Newspapers and TV networks walk a fine line in this regard. Do you keep reporters/columnists in their area of expertise forever and risk them becoming part of the machine? Or do you make them switch beats every so often for the sake of objectivity? Making this decision tougher is all the ex-jocks in the business now. Bill Walton obviously can't cover anything besides basketball.

Frankly, I don't really care. Nor should you. But when a talking head opines, realize what's at stake for him if the sport he boosts goes south. Then consider his thoughts accordingly, preferably with a grain of salt. Or better yet, think for yourself. Novel idea, huh?

If you ever want to examine the unexpurgated babblings of sheer idiots, however, check out an Internet message board. My favorites are the PittsburghLive.com Steelers and Penguins message boards. They're absolute riots.

All the posters on the Penguins message board hate the Penguins, and hate Mario Lemieux in particular. Their disgust with the organ-I-zation is such that some of these cretins have been posting dozens of times per day for several years. The phrase "get a life" is clichˇd, but has never been more apropos.

I would have thought that die-hard fans would post on a Penguins board. I expected an oasis of optimism. Instead I got reality on crystal meth.

The posters on the Steelers message board are slightly more analytical, and their hatred is much more focused. They hate Cowher. Everything that's gone wrong with the Steelers is Cowher's fault. Plex is stoned? Cowher sold him the spliff. Maddox is immobile? Cowher dropped a cinder block on his foot. Scott stinks at corner? It's Cowher's fault for continuing to play him. Actually, they may have a point with that last one.

There's a Pirates message board at PittsburghLive.com, too. But why would I check that out? I don't care about the Washington Generals. I mean, the Pirates.

Want to know how to make message boards better? Make people post under their real names. When your nom de screen is "PensSuk4Life," you're not going to consider the consequences of what you post very much.

In the movie "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back," Ben Affleck accurately described the purpose of the Internet as "slandering people anonymously." Then again, I just saw Ben on TV whining about the A-Rod trade, so I can't take him seriously anymore.

Mark Madden hosts a sports talk show 3-7 p.m. weekdays on ESPN Radio 1250.