In one corner stands one of the most notorious local trolls in the sports media, John Steigerwald of the Observer-Reporter in Washington, PA. In the opposite corner is Ryan Lambert of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy. The subject is Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin and a possible link to steroids that is as flimsy as Shaun Bradley or the latest Brett Favre madness from ESPN.
Steigerwald hypothesized in a recent column that Alex Ovechkin’s recent drop in production is due to his getting off performance enhancing drugs. Steigerwald doesn’t even go the ESPN/Favre route citing sources, rather he goes all the way to “whispers.” If that doesn’t scream Pulitzer I don’t know what does. The article is a joke and just another pathetic way to get his name in the headlines. Skip Bayless thinks this article is an insult to journalistic standards. But that’s what this guy Steigerwald does. If you’ll remember, he was the one that said Dodgers fan Bryan Stow brought a savage beating upon himself by wearing a Dodgers jersey to a Giants game.
Lambert, a writer at Puck Daddy, eviscerated Steigerwald and his admitted speculation in a column yesterday in a victory for common decency. In response, Steigerwald then invited Lambert on his daily radio show today to discuss their difference of opinion and thankfully Puck Daddy has the clip. It’s quite long at just under a half hour, but this is radio hand to hand combat at its best and includes Lambert suggesting Sydney Crosby may indeed be a vampire due to similar “whispers.” At the very least, I’m guessing it was more interesting radio than “Wrestling Reality” which immediately followed Steigerwald’s program on TribLive Radio. It’s the hockey fight of the year thus far, and Lambert is the winner in a unanimous decision…
Ironic, isn’t it? I thought it was the bloggers that were supposed to be the ones to make wild, unfounded, speculative accusations with absolutely no basis… and the real sportswriters were supposed to be the ones to professionally debunk them in a regal, noble sort of way. Well, well, well how the turntables…
Listen to the Ryan Lambert vs. John Steigerwald radio battle – Puck Daddy
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