Some athletes would make great politicians. They have mastered the art of non-denial denial, which the dictionary defines as “a statement that appears to deny that something is accurate but does not constitute a rebuttal of the specific claim or accusation.”
Take the case of Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole, who the Twins’ Josh Donaldson accused of doctoring the ball with a sticky substance to get a better grip and more spin. When asked point-blank by a reporter whether he uses an illegal substance on the ball, Cole was silent for five seconds before giving this response:
Gerrit Cole: Um, I don’t….I don’t know…..quite know how to answer that, to be honest. I mean, some customs and practices have been passed down from older players to younger players, from the last generation of players to this generation of players. And I think some things are out of bounds in that regard, and I’ve stood pretty firm in terms of the communication between our peers and whatnot. Again, as I mentioned earlier, this is important to many people who love the game, including the players in this room, fans, and teams. If MLB wants to legislate some more stuff, that’s a conversation we can have because, ultimately, we should all be pulling in the same direction on this.
Wow! What a mouthful of nothing. But Cole isn’t the first athlete to tiptoe around a direct question.
When Cam Newton was the quarterback for Auburn, ESPN reported that a street agent had allegedly solicited money for Newton when he was being recruited out of junior college. Newton said: “I’m not going to entertain something that took place not three months, not six months, not a year but two years ago. I’m not sitting up here and saying anything about it, whether I did or did not, because I don’t want to beat a dead horse talking about it. It won’t affect me in any way, shape, or fashion.”
That reminds one of Mark McGwire, who, at a Congressional hearing about his alleged steroid use, repeatedly said, “I’m not here to talk about the past.” But the whole point of the hearing was to discuss his past!!!
Tiger Woods called accounts of his sexting “irresponsible” but never attacked their accuracy. Four months later, he apologized for all those actions he once called “rumors.”
Photo courtesy NPR
John McEnroe showed his ability to dance around an issue. When his ex-wife, Tatum O’Neal, said that he had used steroids in 1987, reporters asked McEnroe if steroid use was every day in professional tennis. His response: “I, uh, to be honest, I think we’re very fortunate in our sport. That’s a problem, and we have far other problems. I mean, have I? No. I don’t know. Does that mean people haven’t done it? No. Of course. I’m sure they have.”
He was then asked to confirm or deny his steroid use: “I think it’s pretty clear if you read what I said [in the statement], what the bottom line is,” he replied. He was then asked to give a yes or no answer to his steroid use. “You need to read the book [his just-published autobiography],” he said. But, a reporter noted, his steroid use isn’t in the book, which is why O’Neal brought it up. “Weh, weh, weh, well, I don’t understand what that means,” he answered. “I made it clear what the answer is, if you read the book, what went on to a large degree. Do I have to spell it out in every ugly, little detail? I don’t think so.”
Although Lance Armstrong, who later admitted to doping, sometimes emphatically denied the claims, at other times, he showed he had mastered the non-denial denial. In a Nike commercial, he said, “This is my body, and I can do whatever I want. I can push, study, tweak, and listen to it. Everybody wants to know what I am on. What am I on? I’m on my bike,e busting my ass six hours a day. What are you on?” In another, he said, “The critics say I’m arrogant, a doper and washed up, a fraud. That I couldn’t let it go, they can say whatever they want. I’m not back on my bike for them [shots of Armstrong are interspersed with images of cancer patients].”
In 2011, responding to a claim by teammate Floyd Landis that he used banned substances, Armstrong replied, “I never lose sleep. It has no effect on my life. That’s for other people to deal with. If you’re trying to hide something, you wouldn’t keep getting away with it for 10 years. Nobody is that clever.” In none of these instances does he actually deny using drugs to enhance his performance.
Photo courtesy Wall Street Journal
Then we have “Deflategate,” when the New England Patriots were accused of using footballs inflated to two pounds less than the minimum required in their victory over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game in January 2015. Here are some of the questions and Tom Brady’s answers at a subsequent press conference:
Q. “When and how did you supposedly alter the balls?”
A. “I didn’t, you know, have any, ah, you know I didn’t alter the ball in any way.”
Note that he says he didn’t alter the ball. But that doesn’t mean someone else didn’t, perhaps with his knowledge.
Q. “Is Tom Brady a cheater?”
A. “I don’t believe so. I mean, I feel like I’ve always played within the rules. I would never do anything to break the rules.”
It’s a great one for a non-denial denial.
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Matt Sieger, now retired sports reporter/columnist who worked for New York State and California newspapers, did his undergraduate work at Cornell University and received a master’s in journalism from Syracuse University. He is the author of The God Squad: The Born-Again San Francisco Giants of 1978. This article first appeared in The Vacaville Reporter on June 14, 2021.
