As we speak, I’m on the phone with Tom Young, a radio host on News 88.9 somewhere in Canada. He’s a nice guy, and he’s asking lively questions about The Rocket That Fell to Earth, and blah … blah … blah.
But, clearly, he hasn’t read the book.
No disrespect to Tom Young, but I hate this. I mean, it’s a real pet-peeve. I was actually shocked a while back to read how Tom Verducci, my former colleague at Sports Illustrated and the co-author of the excellent The Yankee Years,teed off on a radio host after it became clear he hadn’t read the material. Tom is very, very mild-mannered, so for him to go off … well, it had to be a major transgression.
Truth is, I don’t even care whether you read the entire book. But at least skim a few chapters; read the notes … something. Anything. In this case, I can always tell if someone’s ignorant of the material by:
A. All the questions being about steroids.
B. Roger’s brother never being mentioned.
C. They call me “John Pearlman, “Joe Pearlman” or “Jeff Pearl.” (I never correct them).
Anyhow, that’s how I feel about that.
In another note, a second excerpt was released, RE: American Icon, the new Clemens book coming out in early May. Here it is, and—I’ve gotta say—pretty darn good. The swimsuit/Debbie stuff is really interesting. Sorta wish I’d spent more time delving into it.
