I am a bit surprised that so many people have been so complimentary of Paul Solotaroff here and in the media, although I suppose that some of the latter is just the usual sops journalists throw at each other--and that's fine. But while it is an okay article for what it is, it's not really groundbreaking and is it certainly weakly-sourced. Solotaroff is a competent writer and has immensely leathery skin and enormous chutzpah, which is pretty much de rigeur for an investigative journalist, so all well and good. And he has demonstrated that he has three main interests: New York, sports, and drugs, especially the interplay between the latter two. It is no suprise that the most interesting new details to come from the story are PCP use, and the Bristol connections. But there is also a great deal of the article that is speculative, to the point that it reads as if he decided that a certain version of the story was certainly plausible, and that was enough.
His interview published today with the Globe's Zuri Berry (one of the paper's rather more callow reporters, frankly) is troubling, and demonstrates a rather schizoid version of events. On the one hand, he pegs Hernandez as having been a 'model citizen' until about 13–14 months ago, when his PCP use allegedly began. On the other hand, BB is responsible for callously and arrogantly enabling a thug for his own glory. Kraft should 'hold his feet to the fire' for failing to police Hernandez and 'the other thugs he has been drafting and trading for'; through his own 'machinations' he has collected all power, and 'sabotaged' the team's security crew, etc etc. He admits however, that none of this is owing to his own work, but is rather entirely Borges' sourcing--and it is laughable to think of Borges doing the 'lion's share' of 'heavy reporting' on this or any story (yes, Solotaroff likes to use vapid clichés when speaking). And some of these claims are ridiculous. Frank Mendes has been gone for 10 years--soon we will be told that Aaron Hernandez's drug use, Adalius Thomas' lack of flying ability, Rob Gronkowski's drinking, video camera abuse, and yes Wes Welker's stiffing are a result of poor Frank Mendes being fired all those years ago, and Belichick hiring a smarty-tech guy (a Brit no less!) to coddle and soothe his gigantic ego.
Solotaroff did a decent job with his side of things, and brought to light some new and valuable nuggets of information, and maybe one telltale heart (PCP). The fact that he must now defend the more-laughable parts of his story, even when he looks foolish doing so, is simply part of the job.
I'm not claiming there isn't blame and quasi-tragedy here--I think that the truth is most certainly as Wilde said, though, and the desire, in the name of sensationalism (or in the service of a vendetta, ahem) to simplify the narrative into a Manichean chronicle is a disservice, and both bad writing and thinking.
And Borges is a cheap hack. His thuggish twitter personality is most telling. Anyone who claims to enjoy his columns unconditionally I suspect of moving their lips when they read.
Edit: beaten to the punch by mandro and soxfan...
