(At Legends Field yesterday, doing his best Randy Johnson impersonation)
(flanked by Stiv Bators, left, and Peter Gallagher, right, 1988).
(At Legends Field yesterday, doing his best Randy Johnson impersonation)
(flanked by Stiv Bators, left, and Peter Gallagher, right, 1988).
It’s been evident for several months that Mr. Steinbrenner either a) had a stroke, or b) has early-onset Alzheimer’s. And this would be a national story, wouldn’t it? The kind of story a newspaper or magazine would love to break. It could even generate an increased public awareness of Alzheimer’s, or spark a debate on public funding of research and stem-cell research. Yet, as far as I can tell, no reporter has asked Howard Rubenstein, point blank, “Does Steinbrenner have Alzheimer’s?” It can’t possibly be a privacy issue, not in a country where rape victims are routinely named and celebrities with HIV are outed. Is Rubenstein really that powerful and fearful? Where’s Don Zimmer when you need him?
Jimmy,
Murray Chass has commented on the Boss’ recent disappearing acts a few times, and CSTB’s own serial commenter Rog has suggested that Steinbrenner is in fact, dead, ala “Weekend At Bernies”.
http://cstb.wpengine.com/?p=7333
but yeah, while the Alzheimers notion is hardly far fetched, it most certainly is a privacy issue. Regardless of whether or not Rubenstein is powerful, I doubt any reporter with the temerity to ask such a blunt question would escape his shit list.
GC,
A privacy issue established by what law or custom? It’s fine to say the media is respecting Steinbrenner’s desire to not address his health and to keep the matter confidential. That might even be a lovely thing for the media to do. But since when does the media treat public figures that way? Britney? Rock Hudson? Thomas Eagleton?
Weekend at Bernie’s was so successful, they made a sequel. If Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman can fool everyone into thinking that a stinky corpse leaking body fluids all over the place is still alive, then the Boss’s inner-circle can certainly create the illusion that George is still running the team, right? How can the media report that Steinbrenner has Alzheimer’s when they’re fooled by Cashman’s clever chicanery? I’ve met plenty of sports writers in my day and you have to trust me when I tell you that they might really not be smart enough to figure out that there’s anything wrong. They probably haven’t noticed that Cashman and Randy Levine always prop him up whenever he is seen in public, or that he doesn’t move his mouth when he ‘speaks.’
Jimmy,
I’ve always tried to respect Britney’s privacy.
Rog,
I’m just looking forward to the NY1 interview with the woman who did it with the Boss but wasn’t aware he was dead. And I don’t mean Patty Scialfa.