Steve Simmons, the guy who erroneously reported about the fictional hot-dog-eating habits of former Toronto Maple Leaf Phil Kessel last year, wrote a new hit piece about Toronto Raptors players DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph on Thursday and it doesn’t involve sandwiches.
According to Simmons himself or someone who relayed the information, Carroll and Joseph were spotted walking through a Cleveland casino at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, the same day the Raptors would get pulverized by 38 points at the hands of the Cavaliers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Tip-off for Game 5 was about 18 hours after Carroll and Joseph were allegedly seen, but it’s time to question peoples’ character because of this.
This may have had nothing to do with how or why the Raptors were decimated and embarrassed 116-78 again by the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final. But it makes you wonder.
Why?
Why would DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph put their own reputations in question, possibly put their team in question, by being seen wandering around in the middle of the night?
“Wandering around in the middle of the night.” Goodness. They were in a casino, not traipsing through a wood area.
Can you imagine believing that a six-touchdown loss to a team that already creamed you twice had anything to do with two guys playing blackjack or craps a good 18 hours before a game? Unless they were visibly intoxicated or vomiting into a roulette wheel, can you imagine a bigger non-story if you tried? “Grown adults walk through casino at 2 a.m.” Get lost, man.
What if Carroll and Joseph were nervous before Game 5 and wanted to take a walk with some friends? What if those friends had just lost a puppy and Carroll and Joseph volunteered to help search for that puppy? Or, what if they wanted to play a few hands of blackjack? No matter what, who cares?
Then there’s the possibility this may not even be true. When Simmons claimed Kessel was eating hot dogs like Slimer, it took about 20 minutes to debunk the story. If it turns out Carroll and Joseph were asleep in their hotel rooms — there’s actually a line in there where Simmons admits he never asked the players about this after the game, which, wow that’s great — you shouldn’t be surprised.
When Simmons received blowback from “bloggers” about his Kessel piece, here’s what he had to say about that:
“All the bloggers, a lot of them don’t even have names, who have taken shots at me… one phone call, which is all it would have taken, could have averted all of that,” he said. “When you’re reporting on what someone said or wrote or whatever, journalism rule #1 is you contact the person.”
So if you’re reporting on a reporter, always speak to that person. When reporting on basketball players potentially being in a casino, you don’t have to speak them and you can just blame your deadlines.
Here’s another terrific snippet from the story.
That’s why the backdrop of Carroll and Joseph being caught out late has to be troublesome. It may not, as Casey said, be the reason they lost. It wasn’t. But what if it was symptomatic of something else? Players not necessarily prepared? Players not taking their jobs seriously?
So, this wasn’t the reason the Raptors lost (it really wasn’t) but let’s write it as though it matters and take it as a jumping-off point to question the preparation and dedication of everyone else on the team, who, in theory, wasn’t at a casino at 2 in the morning.
They say nothing good happens after 2 a.m. so it’s safe to say Simmons started writing this at 2:01 a.m. Wednesday.
(Via Toronto Star)
