Terry Pirates SI’s Class

I would think that if today there were a round table in some fancy New York hotel where the literary elite sat around and shared, Sports Illustrated’s main editor Terry McDonell would be there. Not to say that he’s what passes for the literary elite these days, but he’s got some game. Having earned his stripes at SI, Rolling Stone, books, television and now standing in as the Widow Plimpton’s second on the board at The Paris Review, McDonell has that heir of integrity that they so foster at Time, Inc.

McDonell usually has remained above the fray at SI, mostly limiting his writing in it to those cutesy editor’s notes at the front of the book that serve so well in commending in-house staffers and cultivating favor from outsiders.

Not so with this Alex Rodriguez thing, where one of his cherished writers has come under some spotlight. Perhaps it wasn’t enough to come out in the New York Observer declaring his support for Selena Roberts’ coverage of the A-Rod leak. Now we have four columns worth in SI of detail about A-Rod’s brand, public relations team, apology to Roberts, professional handlers, discussion with Katie Couric, date with model Melissa Britos, $3.9 donation to the University of Miami and so on.

Thanks Terry, we needed this parental letter that reads very similar in tone to one written to my parents when I blew the class trip for everybody by getting caught with a girl in my room.

It’s one thing for Alex Rodriguez, under the guidance of the Rambos of PR, to leverage the sensationalized attention of the media, but it’s another thing altogether to use your reputable magazine to return your personal volley. My guess is that it plays well into your ranks as an example of “standing up for your own.” It reads more like another rant from what Maureen O’Dowd would call a “virtuecrat.” Maybe next week we’ll get something on A-Rod’s hopes for the hall of fame.