Columnist Jeremy Last says Jerusalem Post ignored IBL because it's "a nightmare getting hold of anyone"; called his bosses "disgusting cheapskates"

The Last shall be first! At least in the Tabloid Baby baseball complaint department!

Jerusalem Post sports columnist Jeremy Last couldn’t find a lot of time to write about the monumental wide-raging, ever-expanding international sports scandal outside his office window, but he’s sure taking a lot of time to defend himself on this little site.

A couple of weeks ago, Jeremy wrote a comment on our Baseball in Israel archive site to deny that he or his paper have taken advantage of our voluminous archives and reportage from Our Man Elli in Israel:

“stop printing lies about the jerusalem post… the post sports writers and editors did their own leg work and had never seen this web site when they investigated the league back in june before your man elli called up to complain…”

Now, after we posted an item about his complaint on June 25th, Jeremy’s back, this time to admit that his paper had posted an unvetted Associated Press report on its website: “the web site uploaded the ap story about the shortened season without asking me and when i saw it it was taken down because it clearly contradicted our story…”

The punctuation-impaired columnist goes even further in defending himself and his paper against accusations we haven’t even known about until he brought them up:

“hi

"it was indeed a great sombrero, thanks. and nice of you to include apic of adriana, my fiance, on the web site.

"so, to confirm, the post never printed any AP story without confirming the details until the last one about the exhibition games.

"the web site uploaded the ap story about the shortened season without asking me and when i saw it it was taken down because it clearly contradicted our story from the end of may which exclusively confirmed that the ibl will definitely not be hapening.

"this story - Israel Baseball League strikes out after one year: was where we definitively proved there will not be league this year.

"the tabloid baby story simply of april did not quote anyone, just had 'sources' saying it.

“we had haim katz.

“in terms of 'leg work' if you read that story above you will see that alex spoke to all the relevant people himself rather than taking any information from this web site.

“we also published a number of features criticizing the ibl during the season last summer.

“the same day that alex's article was published i titled my weekly column 'The inevitable failures of the IBL'

“tabloid baby then claimed i had taken my information from its web site when in fact i had never even heard of the web site until the week after when ellie (editor's note: It's "Elli," doucheberry) rang the paper complaining.

"i admit the post has not been following the ibl problems since the end of last season as closely as this blog, but we havent had the resources to do so and it is a nightmare getting hold of anyone involved in the ibl anyway.

"thanks

"jeremy"

Oddly, for one who defends the Jerusalem Post, Jeremy warbled quite a different tune three years ago. Posting an item entitled, “Time to EXPOSE the JERUSALEM POST”, on his blog, Jeremy’s Life in Israel Continues, on May 1, 2005, the writer accused his employers of the same malfeasance the IBL is accused of!

“I've waited this long but it has now become a joke. I've decided i am going to have to publicly expose the Jerusalem Post for the disgusting, appallingly run cheapskates that they are:

“It has been 5 months since i wrote a story for the paper and i still havent been paid. their excuses and the way i have been treated is not only appalling, it is embarrasing for a newspaper of its (supposed) stature.

“When i finally recieved a cheque from them in march (I wrote the story in October) and my dad paid it into my natwest account it was returned unpaid as it was not signed and I have been charged for their mismanagement and mistreatment of employees…”

Details follow here.