Vito Stellino is an idiot

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It has been brought to my attention that Vito Stellino of the Florida Times-Union had accused me of planting a story for the Raiders, so that they can look good. Questioning another reporter's integrity without so much as the courtesy of an e-mail or a call is not why Stellino is an idiot. There are other words for that.

The reason my man Vito is an idiot is that everyone who has covered the Raiders or dealt with them for one day knows that they could not care less what people -- especially the media -- think.

Here is the background: I wrote a story for Friday's paper that the Raiders signed defensive tackle John Henderson -- it was first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter. Called the Raiders and they did not confirm the signing -- they still haven't posted it on the transactions list on their web page -- and that was the end of their role in my story.

The Raiders' no comment is in paragraph No. 4. Through calls to people close to Henderson and the Jaguars, I was able to flesh out the story. One person -- I called him a league source in the story -- who should know what he is talking about said the Jaguars last month offered Henderson for a fourth-round pick but the Raiders would only part with a fifth. No deal.

Interesting. Not earth-shaking. Couldn't get it confirmed so I put it paragraph No. 7. Good night.

But we hadn't heard from Stellino yet. He says the Raiders "put out" the story of the trade talks to the media, and the story isn't true. "The Raiders didn't offer any pick for Henderson but hey why let the truth get in the way of a good story?" Stellino wrote on Twitter.

Man, I understand Stellino's been in the business a while ... but how amateurish is that.

First off, I have a pretty good reputation and don't splash things around to make myself look good. When people tell you things off the record, you gotta decide what do to with it and what are the odds you're being lied to. I thought the information sounded legit and was worth paragraph seven.

But the bigger point here is that the Raiders don't do anything to make themselves look good. They don't care. They didn't make Jason Campbell available for a week after they traded for him, a slam-dunk instant PR move for other teams. They closed practice twice a week to the media this summer -- a time when all reporters do is write feel-good stories about players. They still haven't acknowleged the Henderson signing five days later, and that's a good move that could be played up for more publicity -- that's me talking Vito, not the Raiders.

Raiders officials actually called me yesterday and wanted a retraction of the very idea that would tell anyone anything that could be remotely perceived as positive.

The Raiders and Al Davis do it their way, just like Frank Sinatra. And everyone knows this about them ...

Twitter is great because it's fast, but in the hands of idiots it can be dangerous.

Posted By: Vittorio Tafur (Email, Twitter) | June 15 2010 at 12:20 PM

Listed Under: Media Coverage