The Daily Cannibal

Posted: 31 Jan 2013 10:20 PM PST

Where there’s smoke…someone might be smoking. And something doesn’t quite smell right here.

The Miami New Times, a weekly free “alternative” newspaper, reported on Tuesday that it had evidence to prove that Alex Rodriguez had used prohibited substances on a regular basis over the past several years. Immediately the media, including the New York Times, latched onto the story, which swiftly went viral on the internet. And not one person, not one publication — no one — seems to entertain the notion that this story — where Rodriguez is concerned at least — could be a complete bunch of crap.

But here are the actual facts at present:

The evidence comprises a series of “personal notebooks” and other records that purportedly belonged to Anthony Bosch, a shadowy figure from the sports doping underworld. These records were “found” by Juan Garcia, an investor in Biogenesis, Bosch’s business, and viewed by Tim Elfrink, the MNT reporter who broke the story:

The names are all included in an extraordinary batch of records from Biogenesis, an anti-aging clinic tucked into a two-story office building just a hard line drive’s distance from the UM campus. They were given to New Times by an employee who worked at Biogenesis before it closed last month and its owner abruptly disappeared. The records are clear in describing the firm’s real business: selling performance-enhancing drugs, from human growth hormone (HGH) to testosterone to anabolic steroids.

Elfrink also spoke to several people connected to the operation:

Interviews with six customers and two former employees corroborate the tale told by the patient files, the payment records, and the handwritten notebooks kept by the clinic’s chief, 49-year-old Anthony Bosch.

“Corroborate” what tale? Because no one seems to have anything to say about A-Rod. Most of what is in the article seems plausible, and is likely true. The article is lengthy, well-researched, and filled with detail. But almost none of it concerns A-Rod. And without A-Rod it’s just another drug den story, of no interest to anyone. Other than a name scribbled in notebooks found by a disgruntled investor in the seamy business, who seems to be the primary source for the article, and turned over to Elfrink, the only other connection is the tales told by Bosch himself:

“He was always talking about A-Rod,” says one former employee who asked not to be named. “We never saw any athletes in the office, so we didn’t know if he was just talking bullshit or not. But he would brag about how tight they were.”

Bosch hardly seems like a credible witness, and wouldn’t be the first fast-talker to promote himself by expropriating someone else’s fame. Further, Elfrink mentions another figure, A-Rod’s cousin, who has a lengthy history of dealing in banned substances:

On a 2009 client list, near A-Rod’s name, is that of Yuri Sucart, who paid Bosch $500 for a weeklong supply of HGH. Sucart is famous to anyone who has followed baseball’s steroid scandal. Soon after A-Rod’s admission, the slugger admitted that Sucart — his cousin and close friend — was the mule who provided the superstar his drugs.

Was Sucart in fact Bosch’s customer? Did Sucart ehance his leverage with Bosch with intimations or assertions that he was acting for A-Rod? Who knows? This much we do know, according to the the New York Daily News:

Tenants of the building that once housed Biogenesis — located in a beige, non-descript office building near the University of Miami — say they never saw A-Rod.

At the end of the day, the content specific to Rodriguez in the story comes down to this:

Sixteen entries of names or aliases for Alex Rodriguez, in records and/or notebooks allegedly belonging to Bosch, and found by Garcia after Bosch fled, with various notations of medications dispensed.
Comments by an unnamed employee that Bosch often bragged about a relationship with Rodriguez.

It all seems a little to neat for us. Garcia, an angry partner, stiffed by Bosch, goes to — the Miami Herald? ESPN? – no , to the Miami New Times — with a boxful of notebooks that “appear” to be Bosch’s, with a dozen or so ledger entries containing references to A-Rod, and says “here’s proof that Alex Rodriguez used banned substances as recently as 2012.”

As we said, it could be true, but the closer we look, the funnier it smells. Something here just doesn’t make sense — and as a wise old sage once pointed out, if something doesn’t make sense, then there’s something you don’t know.

First, why did this story come out at all? Who benefits? Not Garcia, the shortchanged investor. Is he out for revenge? On whom? Bosch vanished well before the story came out two days ago; he only responded to calls yesterday, saying only that he had no comment. Clearly his business was already in flames. Was Garcia motivated by a sense of civic duty? Does that seem even remotely possible?

Second — did Rodriguez really deal with someone like Bosch — already deeply implicated in doping through the Manny Ramirez scandal and other high-profile doping investigations? People do insanely stupid things, but this seems pretty unlikely.

We do not in any way doubt that Elfrink, the reporter, believes his story is accurate, and that they present a strong case against Rodriguez. But we also know well that this wouldn’t be the first time a New Times publication has been taken in by a lurid story told by someone with an axe to grind.

Back in 2007 , the Miami New Times’s sister publication up the road, the Broward New Times, published two articles alleging that a prominent financier had married his own daughter in Westminster Abbey. This article was subsequently thoroughly debunked, as much of its so-called ”evidence” was even flimsier than that presented — where A-Rod is concerned, at least — here in this story. And who owns the New Times family of publications? A group of investors who only recently purchased the company — called Village Voice Media — from Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey, notorious owners of Backpage.com, the subject of a national campaign against online teen prostitution. Larkin and Lacey divested Village Voice Media when advertisers began blacklisting the publications because of their affiliation with Backpage.com.

Village Voice Media is struggling. Deprived of its cash cow Backpage, it needs a healthy shot in the arm to boost its revenues and keep afloat in a world notoriously hostile to publications of all stripes these days. We don’t suggest that they published this story in bad faith – far from it. We do suggest that what they have published may be a thorough indictment of Biogenesis, Bosch and even Garcia — but when it comes to Rodriguez, we think they may be on shaky ground.

Caveat emptor. Let’s see what comes out. Because something will.

Siliguri Page

Friday, February 1, 2013

The Daily Cannibal

The Daily Cannibal

No comments:

Post a Comment