Randy Johnson is a bit more complex than Pearlman makes him out to be
Jan 6, 2010, 1:04 PM EDT
Following up on the Pearlman thing, here’s a link to a lengthy story from 2002 by the legendary Pat Jordan in the New York Times. It’s a profile of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling during their Diamondback heyday.
It’s a nice compare and contrast. Jordan doesn’t sugarcoat Johnson’s surly demeanor. He’s definitely a hard man to get to know and a harder one to like. But unlike Pearlman, he at least tries to understand it and puts it in an understandable context.
After reading it, ask yourself: did Jeff Pearlman ever actually try to get to know Randy Johnson before calling him an “pathetic human being” and a “punk?” Or did he simply walk up to him on a day he pitched and expect him to open up his world to some writer with an obvious contempt for his subjects?
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- Ryan - Jan 6, 2010 at 1:24 PM
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I’m sure the players themselves don’t talk amongst themselves about which members of the media are pricks and which ones aren’t. /sarcasm. If Pearlman is generally known as a prick, then of course RJ was a prick right back to him, and he was right to.
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- jwb - Jan 6, 2010 at 1:29 PM
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Any excuse to link to a Pat Jordan article is a good one.
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- Corey H. - Jan 6, 2010 at 1:47 PM
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I just saw a funny comment on the Pearlman article suggesting he was like the annoying reporter in 61*. You might be right, Ryan…if a guy was a douche, I would probably not be able to not be a jerk to him.
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- Roger Maris (aka Old Gator) - Jan 6, 2010 at 3:53 PM
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You should believe everything the press writes or says about ballplayers. They never lie, they’re totally objective, and they’re always right.
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- The D - Jan 7, 2010 at 1:36 AM
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Why does Randy Johnson have to be a good person? We know who he is because he can throw the hell out of a baseball, not cuz he’s a nice guy.
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- spiro - Jan 7, 2010 at 2:00 AM
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I like Pearlman as a sportswriter…he has a cynical, unflinchingly honest perspective that most sportswriters are too sentimental and simple or too afraid to show…but he’s probably being more than unfair to Johnson. I can relate to Johnson reading this article, I’m the same way. I’m generally quiet, private, and I genuinely prefer being left alone most of the time, and as a result most people lazily pass me off as being an angry misanthrope or a “jerk,” much like people seem to have done with Johnson. I can relate to Johnson’s frustration, and I will further admit that people like Schilling (at least as he is portrayed in this article) irritate me quite a bit. But I guess that’s enough rambling for one comment.
