Trick or treat? Trick: Romo’s book isn’t in the fiction section.
Treat: Albuquerque resident Bruce Plasket’s self-published soft-cover book about the University of Colorado football program coping with “scandal” finally hit the market Thursday.
Because two publishers backed out of issuing “Buffaloed: How Race, Gender and Media Bias Fueled a Season of Scandal,” Plasket kept the exact timing of the release quiet to avoid further legal complications.
On Thursday, when he called to tell me he was in Denver and the book was about to be available to the public, I was on a rental car shuttle bus in Los Angeles. Everyone on the bus got a kick out of the conversation, including when I told him I admired his chutzpah in not only writing the book, but taking the incredible financial risk of self-publishing it.
Plasket picked up the first shipment of books from the printers Thursday and began delivering them to stores, including the Tattered Cover, and also to the CU-friendly Blake Street Tavern, where one can order a cheeseburger, fries and “Buffaloed.” It also is available via Amazon.com, and through Plasket’s website, www.buffaloedbook.com.
“I just got home about an hour ago,” Plasket said Sunday. “I haven’t slept much in a week.”
CU coach Gary Barnett granted Plasket, who during the research was a Longmont Times-
Call reporter, extraordinary access, and that sort of favoritism affects a writer’s perspective. As long as that is understood, the book otherwise is a provocative examination of the media’s bandwagon mentality and rush to judgment (mea culpa), and the widespread willingness to stereotype major-college male athletes.
At the least, it should be required reading in all Colorado newsrooms. Including this one.
Trick: Todd Bertuzzi played two games in Denver in 48 hours, but Steve Moore didn’t.
Treat: Moore’s Toronto attorney, Tim Danson, watched Saturday’s Canucks-Avalanche game on “Hockey Night in Canada.”
“If I wasn’t sure Bertuzzi was on the ice, the Colorado fans certainly made it clear,” Danson said Sunday. “As soon as I heard all the booing: I said, ‘OK, Bertuzzi’s on the ice. I don’t even need to see ’44.”‘
Danson said the primary focus remains filing an appeal soon of the Denver District Court ruling that tossed out Moore’s lawsuit against Bertuzzi and others because of jurisdictional issues.
The alternative remains filing a similar suit in Canada, where a case would have to be filed within two years of Bertuzzi’s March 8, 2004, attack, or at least of the Feb. 16, 2004, game in Denver. Danson insisted that if the Colorado appeal doesn’t succeed, the best place for the case in Canada would be Toronto, though the attack took place in British Columbia.
“This is where Steve lives, this is where he’s from, and this is where Bertuzzi’s from,” Danson said. “Brad May lives here, too. Most importantly, though Steve also is going to the Cleveland Clinic, this is where Steve’s main medical team is – here. And Cleveland is a lot closer to Toronto than it is to Vancouver. It just makes a lot of sense.
“The cost of bringing doctors from Toronto and Cleveland to Vancouver is just prohibitive.”
In a sense, though, making the argument for hearing the case in Toronto because of the proximity of the doctors undercuts one rationale for hoping the case is heard in Colorado.
If the case goes to trial in Canada, it should be heard in Vancouver, where Moore suffered his injuries and Bertuzzi already has received a conditional discharge on assault charges. After the short shrift the British Columbia court gave to Moore in Bertuzzi’s criminal proceedings, it’s understandable if his camp would be rooting for the case to go forward in Ontario, whether it is settled before going to trial or otherwise.
But trying a lawsuit in Vancouver would be the most effective forum for examining the mores of the game and the effects of the “code.”
Staff writer Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
