Thursday, August 27, 1998

Watchdogs' bites can cut deeply

By Randy Galloway

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

FORT WORTH - The other day at Valley Ranch, Troy Aikman was involved in a lengthy interview with a guy from The New York Times - yes, the very regal New York Times.

But upon spotting one of the local media mutts in the locker-room hallway, Aikman's mood quickly changed from serious to jovial.

"Hey," he yelled, "what about that new picture in the Star-Telegram, with your arms perched up there real dainty like?"

Then Aikman applied his gig. "You'd better watch it, or you'll end up like me. People questioning your sexual preference."

The Times' writer cracked up. I, too, was laughing, but Aikman enjoyed his own humor the most.

Now he can. There was a time, of course, when that subject caused the darkest of moments in Aikman's personal and football life.

A few years ago, a no-longer-around-here member of the local media turned street rumors into a public forum by going to print with them in a book.

It is, unfortunately, a seamy side of the sports media business, locally and nationally. It may be only one of us, it may be many, but regardless, all are lumped together.

Blame it on the media, and sometimes rightfully so.

Mark McGwire now has been unfairly stung by the scorpion. It doesn't matter if it's a legal-in-baseball-over-the-counter substance, his Roger Maris chase has become tainted. And not because of something called "andro," but how the media had reacted to McGwire using it.

Dismissed here is the popular theory among the jock kingdom that only the Albert Belles would be treated in such fashion. As opposed to a Belle, McGwire ranks high in sports on the "media friendly" chart. So, for that matter, does Aikman, who during his decade in Dallas has been accused in print of being everything from gay to racist.

"I came to Arlington in '72," said Rangers' TV announcer Tom Grieve. "Some of the same media guys are still here. But like everywhere else, the role of the media has obviously changed.

"There's much more (media), the competition is more intense, and everything and every topic is fair game. The days of the media just reporting on-the-field stuff is certainly gone."

Grieve has dealt with the local media longer than anyone, first as a player in the '70s, then as the Rangers' general manager in the '80s and '90s, and now he's a media member.

"When I was a player, it was common to go out to dinner with sportswriters, have a beer with them, whatever. There was a line drawn between reporting on baseball and getting personal. But that line has disappeared in most cases. So many athletes today bring negative scrutiny upon themselves due to their conduct, but I think all athletes have had to go on the defensive in dealing with the media, and rightfully so."

Aikman says while the "hurtful times were not pleasant, I do not in any way have a cynical attitude about the profession. I think most in the media want to deal with us fairly. But you do have to learn to take the bad with the good.

"Like I've been asked this week about the McGwire story, and while I don't know a darn thing about andro or steroids, what McGwire is doing is legal by baseball definition. Therefore, it's not a discussion to me. I hate to see this happening to him."

In most cases, the athletes seem to be more forgiving, or at least more tolerant, of the media than the fans. Case in point, the neck slashing incident in Wichita Falls involving Michael Irvin.

Irvin remained media-friendly, as long as the questions were about football. And I still say the best advice Jerry Jones ever received - from where, I don't know - was to issue a long string of "no comments." To this day, at least, no one has publicly accused Jerry of lying to the media about what happened in the dorm room.

On the flip side, Emmitt Smith seems to wants to use the local media as a motivating force. It sounds like mumbo-jumbo, but Emmitt's latest stance is accusing the media of "trying to run me out of town." Then again, if the more he whines the better he performs, the better story for the media he becomes.

Compare that, however, to some members of the Stars, who only 15 months ago were publicly asking the media for more rip jobs on the team. No. 1, they wanted us to give hockey the same intense coverage of other local teams, plus, as Guy Carbonneau said, maybe a little motivational kick in the butt was needed.

But that's a long way from the current media involvement with McGwire, or some of the Aikman things in the past. When the sports media is bad, it tends to be very bad.

(c) 1998, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

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