In Defense of Vecsey

[Josh Ozersky <josh_ozersky@yahoo.com>]

I respectfully disagree.  Vescey is not the dean of
basketball journalists for nothing.  He is the ne plus
ultra of reliabiltity among hoop writers, with
apologies to my friend steve at bskball.com (who says
that he doesn't hate Vescey, but rather "dislikes him
the intensity of a thousand burning suns.")  Vescey's
stuff isn't always true, either because he is
misinformed by sources, or because things don't go
through, and/or because people (like Kemp and the
Sonics) want to cover their asses.  If you fault him
for not giving away his sources, then you have to
fault all journalists for the same thing, because
that's the price of having sources.  

 If you look at how many things he has actually
predicted, most of them happen.  He has far and away
the best sources on every level.  Even if you look at
the recent Penny Hardaway story, you will see that he
scooped everybody, and that he never claimed that the
deal was done, just that the Celts were seriously
considering it.  Which they clearly were, having
admitted as much.

--- Ryan Falcone <FalconeR@nvg.com> wrote:
> Great article about what a sleazeball Pete Vecsey
> is.  I remember a few
> years ago when during the halftime telecast of a
> primetime Saturday
> game on NBC, Vecsey--citing anonymous sources--broke
> the "story"
> that Shawn Kemp revealed to his teammates that he
> was an alcoholic
> during a team meeting, and that this "problem" was
> contributing to his
> poor play during his final year with Seattle.
> 
> The story prompted an immediate response from Kemp,
> Payton, et al from
> the Sonics, categorically denying the allegations. 
> Further, Payton
> explicitly denied that Kemp had made any statement
> that might have been
> remotely construed as such.  He went on to flat-out
> call Vecsey a liar,
> and challenged him to reveal his sources.
> 
> During the Sunday game (the next day), Vecsey stood
> firm behind his
> ostensible "scoop."  The other NBC  broadcasters
> (apparently having a
> tad more journalistic integrity) pressed him for
> more information about the
> story, and made references to Kemp's / Payton's
> unequivocal denial. 
> Vecsey was adamant about the accuracy of the story,
> but it quickly
> went away, and ended up not being true.  For the
> record, he never made
> any sort of retraction or apology, despite the
> slanderous nature of his
> insinuations.
> 
> I always disliked his short-lived column in USA
> Today, but after the Kemp
> incident, I can't take anything that he says
> seriously.  Lest I be mistaken
> for a Kemp fan, I assure you that I am not, but that
> specific incident
> always bothered me. 
> 
> Sorry to rant on about something unrelated to the
> Celtics, but I've
> probably referenced that "Pete Vecsey" memory dozens
> of times when
> explaining to my friends what I think about the
> validity of his analytical
> insight.  95% of what this guy spouts is complete
> "BS."  
> 
> Ryan
> 
> 

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