WNBC Plays the DopeYesterday WNBC beat everyone to the punch by printing the much-sought-after list of doped-up baseball players in the Mitchell Report. They ran their list online at 11:23, nearly three hours before the press conference, smugly scooping everybody but the blog Deadspin.com, which published the same names just seven minutes earlier. Unfortunately for our local NBC affiliate, the list of names was fake. It included Johnny Damon, Jason Varitek, Nomar Garciaparra, and a whole bunch of other players who weren’t fingered in the Mitchell Report. And unlike Deadspin, WNBC didn’t publish them with the caveat that they weren’t sure it was real. So fifteen players who were on their list, but not in the report, had their names smeared (as yet without apology) for several hours yesterday. The Smoking Gun has the full fake report, and MLB.com has the real one. We don’t know who made the screwup of posting the WNBC list, but we’re betting they’re Yankees fans. Theirs hits the Red Sox much harder than the real one.
WNBC’s Bogus Steroids Scoop [Smoking Gun]
Earlier: MLB Steroid Report Fingers 29 New York Players
Update: WNBC has a correction on their site. “There were a number of discrepancies between our list and the Mitchell report, and we mistakenly listed several players that did not appear in the report,” they explain. “[Reporter] Jonathan Dienst and WNBC.com regret the error and sincerely apologize for providing the incorrect information.”
developing
Trump’s Soho Plan Foiled by Internet?
Will Donald Trump’s quest to build his Spring Street condo-hotel be trumped by his own Website? Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, certainly hopes so. Berman fired off a letter today to Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster and Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden calling attention to what he says is “is further proof that Mr. Trump and his development partners have every intention of violating the law.” The area, zoned for manufacturing, is not generally open to construction of residential buildings, but hotels are allowed. Last month word spread that the city will approve Trump’s project with a provision that will restrict stays there an apparently hotel-like 100 or 150 days. But visitors checking the TrumpSoho.com Website today to find out how they can live downtown Donald style were asked to indicate whether they plan on using the units as a “primary residence,” “secondary residence,” or “investment property.” That section has since been removed (Curbed has a screen shot), but Berman and his crew, whose past successes include downsizing the far West Village to ice out hulking towers there, hope the snafu will make city officials examine the project much more closely. For the record, no permits have been issued yet. —S. Jhoanna Robledo
Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation Letter [pdf]
CurbedWire: Trump Soho’s Delicate Question [Curbed]