The big news of the weekend in baseball was supposed to be the press conference of David Ortiz admitting, or not admitting, to using performance enhancing drugs. That presser took place at 12:30pm on Saturday afternoon.

Ninety minutes before, photos emerged of Texas Rangers All-Star Josh Hamilton -- recovering drug addict and devout follower of Christ -- in a bar with several women who weren’t his wife, in what seemed to be a clearly intoxicated state.

Deadspin had the images, had the quotes from Johnny Narren, Hamilton’s personal handler with the Rangers, and the story became big enough that Hamilton conducted his own press conference before the Rangers game that night to explain that the photos are real, he was drunk and it was a one-time lapse in judgement back in January. Hamilton, as reports say, plead ‘human.’

I talked with AJ Daulerio, editor of Deadspin, about the story. First, we discuss why he put the images out on a Saturday morning, a short time before the biggest story in the sport was about to unfold? He explained that word had gotten out about the photos and other places were trying to procure them. He wanted their version of the story, which he explains they’ve been working on since March, to come out first.

We then discuss the obvious question people are asking today -- was this even necessary? Is it worth the potential to ruin a man’s personal life, and maybe career, in an effort to garner page views? Or is there more to this one? Daulerio asserts that because Hamilton, who has been very vociferous with his anti-drug, pro-Jesus stance since getting to the majors, was the player in these photos -- and specifically because of his history of drug abuse -- the story isn’t just traffic for Deadspin. There is news merit to this. He points out that he’s been very careful to understand the line of what’s news and what isn’t. We discuss if he’s more responsible for determining the line than simply understanding it.

And obviously, now that the photos are out, mainstream media agrees that this one is news. ESPN has several stories on the situation, including running some of the images Deaspin procured. While MSM is covering the story now, I ask Daulerio if he thinks this is something they would have un-covered? Have sites like Deadspin changed the game for everyone else? In the past, media members might let a story like this go, but now that blogs won’t, does the media have to cover sports differently?

Daulerio talks about an off-the-record conversation with a Fort Worth Star Telegram beat writer who, when asked if he thought the Hamilton story could be true, basically hung up on Daulerio, telling him to stick to covering Jessica Simpson and Tony Romo. Daulerio feels that Hamilton was a product of the media, so they may be reluctant to knock him down.

And is the story over? When Alex Rodriguez ‘came clean’ about steroids, people thought there was more to the story. It turned out, there was. Will people continue to investigate Hamilton? Will Deadspin?

We finish with a conversation about the site, and how it’s changed in the last few months in tone, and in a way, aggression. With Daulerio running the site for a year now, we get a state of the state of Deadspin.

Speculation Station:

Nick is back to discuss the David Ortiz presser. Do we believe him? And even if we believe him, can we really believe him?

I think the underlying story that came out of that press conference on Saturday was that the Union has lied to its players for years. Their defense with the list of 104 names was plausible deniability. The players were left in the dark, so when Ortiz was reportedly on the list, it seemed that news was actually the first time he heard it. Which explains his initial comments about finding out more information before he spoke. We’re so quick to blame the players, but is there a lot more blame to go around than we realize.

Seriously, how is that doing a service to their players? Shouldn’t the Union better prepare their players for this news, rather than hiding behind the federal government?

And is the situation equatable to Hamilton’s, like ESPN’s Howard Bryant wrote this weekend, or is it just a coincidence that two press conferences took place on the same day and both had to do with a player and drugs?

Sure, Hamilton admitted to a mistake when Ortiz apologized for shopping at a vitamin store, but are we indicting Ortiz because we haven’t believed the excuse before with other players? JC Romero was suspended this year because he was stupid and bought a banned item. Isn’t that all Ortiz did, when the items weren’t even banned? And while Hamilton ‘came clean,’ he only did so because photos of him doing body shots off of women’s chests (and other questionable acts) had emerged.

If there were photos of a needle sticking out of David Ortiz’s butt, that would have been a much different press conference.

Political Safari:

Nick brings up the recent healthcare town hall meetings to discuss the rabble rousers who are trying to disrupt public discourse for the sake of stonewalling one side from getting any legislation done.

It’s like the heckler at a comedy club, only nobody is laughing. We discuss who is to blame for these disruptions and if they even really matter in the grand scheme of legislation.

Isn’t the political arena just a giant fishbowl full of piranas? And don’t we love watching them eat each other?