The New York Sun’s Tim Marchman has an excellent deconstruction of N.Y. Yankee Jason Giambi’s press conference, wherein he apologized to everyone for something he wouldn’t name:

It says something about a man when he’s willing to apologize, as Jason Giambi did yesterday. It says even more when he apologizes to people whom he hasn’t wronged, and doesn’t apologize to those whom he has.

The surreal nature of yesterday’s press conference at Yankee Stadium, during which Giambi apologized to the press, the fans, the Yankees organization and his teammates without specifying what exactly he did wrong, seems to have obscured the curious fact that the people most wronged by Giambi’s use of performance-enhancing drugs went unmentioned in his prepared statement.

AP writer Ronald Blum concurs:

Jason Giambi twiddled his thumbs, crossed his legs and fidgeted in his chair.

He said he was sorry five times. He apologized three times. To the New York Yankees. To his teammates. To the fans.

But he never said why. And he never talked about using steroids, never mentioned the word.

Giambi came to Yankee Stadium on Thursday to make his first public comments since it was reported in December that he’d told a federal grand jury in 2003 that he took steroids for at least three seasons.

“When I went into that grand jury, I told the truth,” he said. But that’s about as far as he went, despite repeated prodding.

“I know the fans might want more, but at this present time because of all the legal matters, I can’t get into specifics,” he said. “Someday, hopefully, I will be able to.” Said his agent, Arn Tellem: “The answers are there if you look for them.” On this day, though, Giambi wasn’t telling all.

“There’s been a lot of distraction, definitely, over the last year, and I’m sorry for that, I really am,” Giambi said. “I feel I let down the fans, I feel I let down the media, I feel I let down the Yankees, not only the Yankees, but my teammates.

“I accept full responsibility for that,” he went on. “I’m sorry, but I’m trying to go forward now. Most of all, to the fans, I’m sorry. I know it’s going to be hard, and I understand how they feel.”

The Insighter feels disgusted:

It sounded good but not one mention of steroids use was ever in this conference. So just what is it he was apologizing for, and implying asking for forgiveness?

It seems that this whole thing was an empty gesture. Never once did he mention the word steroids or the phrase “steroids use”. This was all double talk. He shouldn’t even have bothered with this press conference at all. Any sports fan will see this as the phony exercise that it is.

And Ed Moltzen of Late Final says: Pathetic. Just pathetic.

Everyone deserves a second chance, and everyone is capable of making mistakes - big mistakes. But not everyone deserves a $119 million contract (based on apparent cheating behavior), and not everyone deserves to play for the New York Yankees.

If he used steroids, he broke the law. He did get “use” immunity for testifying before a grand jury. But that only means he can’t be prosecuted for telling the truth, and his words can’t be used against him. It doesn’t mean he can’t, or shouldn’t, be investigated for the totality of his behavior.

Enough of celebrities using carefully worded phrases to wiggle out of responsibility for awful conduct. It’s Clintonian. I just think that if he wants to rebuild his life, he should start from scratch, forfeit his contract (that was based on his secret, illegal, cheating behavior) and make the team and earn a big contract the clean way. And, most important, own up.

A sorry spectacle, indeed.

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