Andy's Admission

During the fallout of the Mitchell list, many of the player’s named on the report have taken different approaches to defend themselves. Some have vehemently denied the allegations, some of accepted responsibility for their actions, and some fell somewhere in the middle. Andy Pettitte is one of those guys whose admission was somewhere in between admitting guilt and denying the charges. After being named by his former trainer Brian McNamee, Pettitte admitted to using human growth hormone twice in 2002. "If what I did was an error in judgment on my part, I apologize," Pettitte said in a statement released by his agent. "I accept responsibility for those two days." No, it isn’t much of an apology. I’m not so much going to comment on Pettitte’s apology itself but rather the reactions it has received. Most Yankee fans were quick to accept his apology without a second thought, praising him for being honest and being able to admit that he made a mistake. Pettitte has always been thought of as a class act by the fans and the league. He was even trusted with a $16 million player option by the Yankees for the 2008 season, something that most players do not receive from their clubs. Journalists, on the other hand, were pretty quick to criticize Pettitte’s apology as disingenuous and a lie. Some journalists went far enough as to say that Pettitte was not using the HGH just to recover, but to gain a competitive advantage, as if they were stating this as a fact. How they could know what was going through Pettitte’s mind as he did it is beyond me, but apparently they’ve mastered the art of mind reading and perhaps should share the secrets of it. Journalists are often paid to share their opinion, but to accuse some one of a blatant lie with no proof and to do so in a way as if they were stating a fact rather then an opinion. I do have a specific article in mind while writing this but I will refrain from calling out a much more accomplished journalist then myself, even if I disagree with his tactics and opinions. Still, such a form of analysis is not only useless, but it irresponsible for someone in a position to influence so many readers. Anyway, as for Pettitte, I tend to believe what he says since I have no reason not to, nor does anybody else. Everything Pettitte says is in accord with what McNamee reported, so there is no reason not to believe him except for those of us cynical enough to automatically assume that he’s lying without any real proof of it. Granted, Pettitte’s apology showed his annoyance over the situation, but that could be because he truly does not believe he did anything wrong. After all, according to his and McNamee’s testimony, Pettitte only tried HGH twice in 2002 while in the disabled list, and before it was a banned substance by Major League Baseball. Those two times seem highly unlikely to effect his performance much, to say that anything he or the Yankees have done is tainted because of that would just be foolish. This story will likely remain in the news a little while longer, but by admitting this, Pettitte has likely ensured that come a few weeks from now, nobody will be talking about this ugly situation.