Some Steak With Your Sizzle?

I didn't touch on this in my post last night because it was damn near 5 AM and my brain wasn't working as it normally does at that honor, but the cranky part of me just wants to write something quick here:

Last night the overwhelming talk which wasn't about Mariano Rivera was about how Matt Harvey was a Yankee fan growing up in Connecticut. I've found that in this 24 hour news cycle, the sidebar has become the story. Tidbits such as this get stretched and twisted for the benefit of the hoards of media that exist and the time they get. Gets mentioned on First Pitch, and then on Pre-Game Live because these are two different shows for the purposes of advertisers, which means for the purposes of fans watching at home is incredibly stupid. Then gets mentioned during the actual game. And that's not even mentioning all the print and digital beat guys asking him about it, since all these guys are taught to bring "flavor" to their coverage. Throw in one or two guys (but mainly one) who uses these tidbits for the sole purpose of creating controversy and giving Mets fans complexes (and this one guy is really good at it), and you have a cauldron of media-created bacteria, served to you in the guise of soup.

I like tidbits, and I like flavor as much as the next person. I think that sometimes instead of eating a steak with a dash of pepper, we're stuck finding a strand of pulled pork in a salt pile. It's nobody's fault, it's the way the business of media is now. That's why unless Anne Vyalitsyna convinces Matt Harvey to break up the Beatles again, Harvey's personal life is a footnote as far as I'm concerned. Even less so than that. But the ubiquitous and obsessive gossip rags will make sure we don't forget that Harvey dating a supermodel has a deeper meaning to the public than wins, losses, and Mike Baxter losing a fly ball in the outfield. Just like the rest of the media won't let us forget that Matt Harvey was a Yankee fan once.

I'm just saying that now that Harvey has pitched against the Yankees, and pitched up to his usual high standards, it's time to retire this tired storyline before I develop another complex … and never speak of this again.*

*Unless it's in the form of well-timed ironic snark, of course.