* Hold the phone on A-Rod

How many of us were aware that Selena Roberts of Sports Illustrated has a book on A-Rod published by Harper Collins due to be released in May?

Here’s my cynicism coming through again: All the to-do about Torre’s book, written with Tom Verducci, another well-respected  SI writer, comes out when there’s a lull in the sports world, the Sunday before the Super Bowl. Now, all of a sudden and after six years, we learn about A-Rod’s juicing — which was supposed to be part of a sealed document — months before another book by an SI writer is due? Is it just me, or this too much of a coincidence? (I’d still love to know who leaked the name; could it be part of the Harper Collins marketing strategy?)

I hadn’t even heard about the book, Hit and Run: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez, before this piece by John Koblin in The New York Observer praising the work of the intrepid Roberts.

There was plenty of material for a write-around. But as Ms. Roberts dug deeper into the story, she started hearing more and more credible information about Mr. Rodriguez’s use of steroids. And so a magazine piece that anyone could have written became, because of careful reporting, a nice, sharp, clean news break.

and

“The book is still a work in progress,” said her book editor…. “I assure you she has more drug revelations as well as other news. Not everything that Selena has on A-Rod’s steroid participation has come out yet.”

I went back to rewrite this entry because when I started I didn’t know about the book. Of course, this could just all be coincidence — and this is by no means meant to alleviate Rodriguez’s behavior, including his lying — but something just doesn’t seem right, especially in the Torre aftermath.

Tagged as: Alex Rodriguez, Selena Roberts, Sports Illustrated