Catching up with … Adam Rubin

It was a weird and gloomy day last July when New York Mets general manager Omar Minaya turned his attention to a Penn graduate, and in his own clumsy style, all but accused of him of violating journalism ethics and writing a malicious story to get someone fired in the hopes of taking his job.

It was a horrible moment in what was a horrible season for the Mets, and it was clear to almost everyone that the journalist in question, Adam Rubin W’95, never did anything close to being unethical.

Yet while both sides were able to move on, the jaw-dropping press conference may very well be what Rubin is best known for to the general public – which is unfortunate because the fact remains he is a terrific sports journalist. Late last month, Rubin continued his ascension when he was hired by ESPN to cover the Mets for their new local New York affiliate.

I’ve known Rubin since I was a student at Penn (he often came back to his alma mater to mentor students at the Daily Pennsylvanian, where he was once a sports editor), so it was my pleasure to catch up with him for the latest installment of Penn Gazette Sports’ alumni interviews.

Here is our chat:

PENN GAZETTE SPORTS: What prompted you to leave the Daily News for ESPN?

ADAM RUBIN: Going back to the Daily Pennsylvanian, I’ve written for a newspaper for 20 years, which is hard to believe. I think what you’re seeing in the last several years is the rise in prominence of Internet sites, particularly in the sports world. The rise of the ESPNs and the Yahoos has really made it more difficult for newspaper reporters to be the one breaking the story. Also, I already felt like I was doing the same (Internet) job, plus writing for the newspaper. When breaking news, you were putting it on the Internet and then coming back in the next day’s paper to write something else. Now there won’t be any hesitancy to put your best stuff up right away. You just go for it basically.

PENN GAZETTE SPORTS: How do you think your job will change at ESPN?

ADAM RUBIN: I had a blog (at the Daily News) that was just starting to incorporate Twitter and even doing video, so I don’t think it will change dramatically. Obviously the resources at ESPN are unbelievable. I’ve already been contacted by someone in the statistics department. Having that behind me only enhances my work. Certainly, there will be more of a radio and TV component too, which I did a little at the Daily News but not on a regular basis. In a lot of ways it’s comparable in terms of traveling as a beat writer, but I’m sure there will be more of a multi-media perspective.

PENN GAZETTE SPORTS: How much do you think covering baseball has changed in general since you began covering the Mets in 2003?

ADAM RUBIN: Everything has become so much more instantaneous. It used to be – and I’m not that old – you either had in the paper that day or you didn’t. And if you didn’t, you had 24 hours to come back with something better the next day. Now basically if you have something five minutes before it’s announced and you’re able to tweet it that counts as breaking the news. It is certainly now a 24-hour news cycle.

Rubin: From the DP to the Daily News to ESPN

PENN GAZETTE SPORTS: A lot has been made of the decline of the newspaper industry, but do you think these local ESPN sites are good for sportswriters?

ADAM RUBIN: It’s certainly helping sportswriters in term of job opportunities. I would say I don‘t think newspapers are going away any time soon, especially in the New York market. I do think there are actually more eyeballs looking at stories now than ever before; it’s just they haven’t really figured out a way to monetize it on the Internet.

PENN GAZETTE SPORTS: Have you enjoyed being a part of the 24-hours news cycle with Twitter and the blog updates or has it just been a lot more work? What has that balance been like and how have you been able to handle it?

ADAM RUBIN: It’s great in some respects and very difficult in others. You never feel like you’re off the clock now. You’re always concerned that if you’re not monitoring things you’re going to get beat by a couple of minutes. But it’s rewarding in other ways. When you have a blog, nothing gets cut out from your stories. And it’s much better for interaction with fans. So it’s positive and negative.

PENN GAZETTE SPORTS: Does that press conference with Omar Minaya still come up all the time?

ADAM RUBIN: Just about every day, someone inquires about it. Frankly, everyone regrets it happened. I regret it happened even though I was kind of the recipient of it. Omar Minaya has been exceedingly apologetic ever since then. It was a very pressure-packed time for everyone. The season was crumbling before the Mets’ eyes. He had to fire his friend. It was an emotional time. Someone who is normally reasonably composed, even if he’ll tell you he’s not gifted articulately, really just had a meltdown on camera that happened to be directed at me because I was writing the stories that prompted him to fire his friend. But I can tell you my relationship is as strong as it’s ever been with Omar and I think most people in the organization are thankful the stories were written because it forced their hand to make changes. It hasn’t hampered my ability at all to cover the team; it’s probably enhanced it in a lot of ways.

Minaya regrets making Rubin the story last summer

PENN GAZETTE SPORTS: Is that the hardest thing for a journalist – to become the story like you were that day?

ADAM RUBIN: I’m very good in terms of anticipating things in terms of what story is coming up next. When I was sitting in that press conference, it was one of the few times in my life where I have ever been truly blindsided. I never saw it coming. When he first brought up my name, I thought he was begrudgingly giving me a compliment for my reporting and then it totally just took a turn in another direction that I didn’t foresee. You never want to have your ethics questioned at all. Usually journalists are not held in a very high regard, but if you look at the emails I got, I’d say they were 99 percent supportive of me. It was nice that people recognized I was acting responsibly.

PENN GAZETTE SPORTS: So I think you know I’m a Mets fan. Are they going to be any better this year?

ADAM RUBIN: I honestly think it would be an accomplishment to be more than a few games over .500. Certainly they don’t line up with the Phillies at this point. If you look at the division, the Mets could easily lose to the Nationals. I have a hard time seeing the Mets being much more than a .500 club.

PENN GAZETTE SPORTS: Finally, as someone who covered some really good Penn teams in the mid-90s, what did you make of Cornell’s run?

ADAM RUBIN: Well, I was there when Steve Donahue was the restricted earnings coach and I believe he was selling paint on the side to kind of make ends meet. To go up against Fran Dunphy (in the first round of the NCAA tournament) and to see Jerome Allen coaching the Penn team certainly makes me nostalgic. Over the years when you’re covering baseball, you kind of get tunnel vision. I was so sorry when Penn didn’t hire Steve Donahue and hired Glen Miller because I knew how much Steve Donahue bled the red and blue. Now it looks like he’s on to bigger and better things and has outgrown Ivy League. (Ed’s Note: This was said a few days before Donahue was hired to be the head coach at Boston College.)