Oh sure, he played the usual cards. He denied ("I don't know Canseco, besides 'hello' and 'good-bye'), stonewalled (a moderator stepped in any time the Grand Jury testimony was mentioned), changed the subject (whenever he got stuck he'd say "I commend Bud Selig and the Players Union and all of the players for trying to put together a testing program that is supposed to satisfy everyone"), and tried the "let's put things in perspective" thing ("I mean, we've got alcohol that's the No. 1 killer in America and we legalize that to buy in the store."). And he also bashed the media. In fact, that's what he did most of the time. How contemptuous of the media was he? He answered a phone in the middle of the press conference. He called them liars, accused them of turning baseball into "Hard Copy," and just plain ole dissed them. Here's just a sample of the exchange: "You know ... the sports world is as bad as it is because this is the only business that allows you guys in our office to begin with. You can't just go to Bank of America, walk in the office, start interviewing employees."
But in that entire scrum match of a press conference, he also got to the truth of the matter of a few things. Like how he mentioned what his dad told him, that as a famous athlete achieving fame, he's supposed to give the press his story, and in not doing it, that's why he is what he is, sports' biggest villain, baseball's true anti-hero. See there's a whole kabuki dance to this whole thing- athlete under the microscope is supposed to say certain things, make nice with certain people, and smile, everybody smile. Barry doesn't do that. And watch Barry get crucified for it.
