Great article on Strasburg

[19braves77]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/31/AR2009083101875.html

I cant wait to see what the graphers do to this guy in the AFL.

 

[Jaypers]

What the media will never tell you: he said it in a joking manner and was even smiling as he said it.

Fact.

 

[braden]

Man, I hate sportswriters.

 

[steve-a-reno]

What the media will never tell you: he said it in a joking manner and was even smiling as he said it.

Fact.

Mancrush.

Fact.

 

[Jaypers]

What the media will never tell you: he said it in a joking manner and was even smiling as he said it.

Fact.

Mancrush.

Fact.

Never had a mancrush, never will.

And I own 1 card of his. Just one.

 

[steve-a-reno]

What the media will never tell you: he said it in a joking manner and was even smiling as he said it.

Fact.

Mancrush.

Fact.

Never had a mancrush, never will.

And I own 1 card of his. Just one.

Take it easy JP. Just busting your chops.

 

[Jaypers]

[quote="steve-a-reno":17n1uuem]

What the media will never tell you: he said it in a joking manner and was even smiling as he said it.

Fact.

Mancrush.

Fact.

Never had a mancrush, never will.

And I own 1 card of his. Just one.

Take it easy JP. Just busting your chops.[/quote:17n1uuem]

Just giving out facts.

 

[UMich92]

So John Feinstein's article contains a complete fabrication of Strasburg's tone?

Alex

 

[Todd44]

Was Jaypers there? I don't find it too hard to believe that Strasburg was annoyed at the attention (not that he was right to be annoyed; when you really think about it, doing a short Q&A after a two-hour, or less, practice isn't really that strenuous when compared to other jobs).

Here's an interesting and very fair take from the Washington Post's beat writer, who was not there, but has dealt with Strasburg:

Regarding Strasburg, Hype and Media Attention
I've noticed some people here today discussing Stephen Strasburg, in particular his relations with the media and his apparent misgivings about the Sunday workout-session-turned-campaign stop, where four or five journalists showed up to catalog Day One as a pro. Strasburg was thus forced to deliver a post-workout 7-1/2 minute interview, which evidently included 7-1/2 minutes of short answers and avoided eye contact.

Okay, not the best way to make a second impression.

(I'm counting the fireworks news conference from one week earlier as the first impression.)

There are plenty of ways to interpret Strasburg's annoyed request for peace and quiet -- John Feinstein writes here that the 21-year-old should learn, quickly, that attention comes with the contract -- but let me perhaps offer a lamer plea. We probably shouldn't get too worked up over this. Let's not portray him just yet as J.D. Salinger.

I've dealt with Strasburg at length several times now, and always come away with the same impression: He says all the right things. He reveals very little. He's a fairly straight-arrow guy.

But here's what I think Strasburg must still learn. In the past, his contact with the media -- and really, his contact with the public in general -- has been portioned into little doses, a scheduled sit-down interview here, an awards ceremony there, etc. In a way, he's always had an On-Off button, with an ability to toggle between public and private life.

But now Strasburg must learn to remain, at least to an extent, "On." He's a full-fledged public figure now, and learning the full responsibility of that will take some practice. My impression is, being "On" doesn't come naturally to Strasburg, but when he's given the chance to prepare himself for it, he's just fine. (He's spoken before about how he's an uber-regimented person, and needs to be able to prepare/schedule/anticipate.) I'm not striving for much insight here, but I'd bet Strasburg, because he wasn't ready for the attention in Florida, kind of got freaked out by it. So now he should know. He'll have to be ready for it. As his career continues, and passes from benchmark to benchmark -- his Arizona Fall League debut; his first piddly workout in spring training next year; his major league debut -- the attention will only increase.

By the way, Strasburg was on Mike Wise's 106.7 FM radio show this morning. Some time this afternoon, a podcast of the interview should be available here.