I said this yesterday in the game thread. Its not that I dont like Adam Rubin, but what he did was unethical. I would assume he is downplaying it now, his job is at stake, as I am sure the Ombudsman at The Daily News is now launching his own investigation. And if his defense is that everyone in the sports journalism world does it, then it is patently obvious that the majority of the sports journalism world is an open sewer of talentless hacks trying to break into the game. Which is a shame because Rubin did a great job in breaking this story. But now I have to question his motives.

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A lot of fans seem to have confused the anxiety with the team and Omar’s poor verbiage with the real story.

NO ONE including Wilpon has denied that Rubin approached him for advise. That undermines the GM and can hold the organisation to ransom. I won’t be surprised when it unfolds that Omar had Wilpons permission to after Rubin. Of course it would have been better to go to the editor and do it in private.

While I appreciate reading a different side to this latest Mets drama, I believe the basis for your argument is somewhat slanted.

Lets forget if what Adam reported was true or not. Your post was intended to point out an alleged impropriety or conflict where Adam was concerned, and that it really is a bigger deal than some make it out to be. In another industry and in another time, that might be true, but welcome to the information age.

The Mets cannot point fingers at journalists who inquire about career choices. The Mets are the majority owners of SNY and one of their top rated shows is Daily News Live where Adam is a semi regular as is a dozen other Daily News journalists.

That’s an important fact because the Mets created a gray area where they elected to say, the heck with conflicts of interest, we need to fill our programming schedule, and hired all these journalists, and pay all these journalists to appear on their network.

Everyone knows where the newspaper business is going, and the lines of objectivity have been so blurred, especially in the case of the Mets who did most of the blurring.

Ask Jeff and Omar if they knew of any other journalist who asked for career advice and you’ll hear a dozen other familiar names. How do you think Anthony DiComo and Marty Noble got their gigs on Mets.com?

Was it objective of them to take money from the team they cover on a daily basis?

I won’t even mention other SNY regulars like David Lennon, Jon Heyman, Mark Klapisch, etc. Almost everyone except Bart Hubbuch, whom you referred to.

This is a new world and the rules have been changed. There nothing wrong with a beat writer saying, “So, how does somebody get a job in this place?”

The Mets created this situation, so it’s pretty bad when they call somebody out from the front door, while they request resumes from them through the back door.

In my haste I called Klapisch, Mark instead of Bob.

But it sounded like what Minaya was trying to say wasn’t that bad he was just having issues finding the words to say it. It sounded more like when he FIRST heard the story he was suspect because of Rubins interest and that’s why they wanted to investigate on their own, not that he was saying Rubin concocted the whole story.

There’s no way Omar gets out of dodge without first degree burns over 70% of his body.

that Rubin’s motivation for writing the story had anything to do with him having interest in getting a job with the Mets. That doesn’t make any sense. I find it a lot less far fetched that Omar might have dropped Rubin’s name in the press conference as retribution for getting his buddy fired.

If Rubin had written false stories? It seems to me that there must have been some truth to the accusations. If Bernazard hadn’t actually done anything, would the Wilpons (questionable past personnel decisions aside) have axed him just on the say so of one Daily News reporter? I think this may be one of those rare times where things are what they seem, and Omar tried to smear Rubin as vengeance for being forced to fire Bernazard. That being said, I think Rubin should probably have realized that asking the front office he covered for advice might be seen as unethical even if it actually isn’t (and I’m not saying anything either way on that one), and shouldn’t be so surprised or act so hurt and offended. And whether or not I agree with the rest of this, I do agree with James that I am tired of seeing all these other journalists martyring one of there own

I don’t think you can take much of it at face value. Although Wipon’s, GK&R’s and Rubin’s account seem much closer.

Rubin wasn’t asking for a job. He was asking “How does one get a job doing that”. It was more exploratory and seems to fit within the bounds of his job. I don’t think there is a conflict of interest here.

If anything, Minaya should have woken up this moring to a pink slip from Wilpon for such a horrific display.

But Omar definitely came out looking the dirtiest. He was vengeful, spiteful, petty and conniving. I don’t think that’s up for debate. Wilpon knew he was out of line, which is why that second press conference was hastily called. Omar’s accusations only had weight if Rubin’s story didn’t check out. It did, and that’s why he had zero business bringing it up.

You can debate forever the gray area that Rubin crossed and not get a satisfactory answer. He may have gone past a point of no return (Rubin crossing the Rubicon if you will- check out that wordplay, Daily News! I can write headlines! How can I get a job?). I digress. Rubin has the full support of his paper and his job is not in danger. Can’t really say the same about Omar, can we? Although that guaranteed contract sure helps.

If Rubin asked merely in general terms how to break into the business, then I don’t see a conflict of interest. Nor do I see one even if he asked if it were possible to work one day in the Mets’ front office.

If he actually “lobbies” for a job, which involves pressure and persuasion, then I see a potential conflict of interest. However, if he resorted to pressure and persuasion, why didn’t Omar and Jeff report any inappropriate behavior to the editors of the Daily News? Why didn’t they warn Rubin about it?

IMO, they didn’t do this because what Rubin did really wasn’t improper. And they knew it. Omar just pulled it out at the press conference to insinuate Rubin had an ulterior motive for writing what were embarrassing stories for him. He used it for character assassination.

Jeff Wilpon has just come out in the last hour or so to personally apologize to Rubin. He said Omar had made a mistake and embarrassed the organization and Omar will be calling Rubin personally to apologize himself. Wilpon said that what Rubin did was not improper and that he is asked similar questions by others all the time. So I think that says it all about Rubin’s actions in the past regarding his career. There was nothing improper there.