Jason Giambi in the only player caught up in the current BALCO labs / steroid scandal to have performed some sort of mea culpa. He apologized without naming names or any particular offense. Now he's on the offensive against the writers of a new book "Game of Shadows" that purports to blow a hole wide open on this story. The book alleges Giambi took steroids "to please his demanding father". Jason is not taking this sitting down, blasting the two authors:
"I just think it's pretty pathetic to try to drag my father into this," said a clearly angry Giambi. " ... It's pretty pathetic. That's the word. I already had handled everything and there really wasn't much to the story after that, so it's pretty sad they'd go that far."
A lawsuit, like one threatened by Barry Bonds could be on the horizon, but Giambi is keeping mum. He is not fighting any other allegations unlike Bonds, but doesn't want his father dragged into it. I wish Giambi had come cleaner with his apology to the public. Come right out and say 'Yes. I did it. I juiced up and apologize for it.'
Giambi believes he put everything behind him for good by admitting that he told the truth to the grand jury - he reportedly admitted to injecting steroids - and by apologizing for being a distraction at a Yankee Stadium news conference 13 months ago.
In this age of super agents, public relations experts, and heavy hitting lawyers, a full on apology could cost careers and millions of dollars. What Giambi gave us was the best we could get. I think a lawsuit would not be in his best interest. In court it would seem he would be forced to testify definitively as to whether he used steroids or not and that will cause problems further down the line. It is unfortunate the authors, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, have decided to speculate as to Giambi's motives and dragged in his father. Jason is rightfully angry, but in the end, there is nothing he can do. These are the consequences of his actions.