Selena Roberts (born May 16, 1966 in

Live Oak, Florida Live Oak is a city and the county seat of Suwannee County, Florida, United States. The city is midway between Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee and Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville. As of 2020, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Burea ...

) is an American author and sportswriter. Previously, she was a senior writer for ''Sports Illustrated'' and a columnist for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. Roberts began her career as a beat writer for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

at the ''

Minneapolis Star Tribune ''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the seventh-largest in the United States by circula ...

'' and for the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

and

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

at the ''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...

''. She received a B.A. degree in journalism from

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

in 1988 where she was a sports editor for the university paper ''The Plainsman''. She also made frequent appearances on the

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

talk show ''

The Sports Reporters ''The Sports Reporters'' is a sports talk show that aired on ESPN at 9:30 a.m. ET every Sunday morning (and replayed at 10:30 a.m. ET the same day on ESPN2 and 11:30 AM on ESPNews). It featured a roundtable discussion among four sports ...

''. In a February 7, 2009 article on SI.com that quickly made the cover of ''Sports Illustrated'', Roberts revealed that Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003.

Alex Rodriguez biography

Roberts' book, ''A-Rod: The Many Lives of

Alex Rodriguez Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez (born July 27, 1975), nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, third baseman and designated hitter and current businessman. Rodriguez played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (ML ...

'', was released in 2009. The biography links the slugger's tabloid-like fame and use of

performance-enhancing drugs Performance-enhancing substances (PESs), also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. Many substances, such as anabolic steroids, can be used to improve at ...

with an unquenchable desire for attention, and his father, Victor, who abandoned him at ten years old. The book reported that Rodriguez used performance-enhancing drugs in high school, relying on questionable sources, and delved into reports that Rodriguez used PEDs with the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

and tipped pitches to opposing players. The book received widespread media attention before it was released.

Duke lacrosse case

On March 31, 2006, Roberts was one of the first to report on the

Duke lacrosse case The Duke lacrosse rape hoax was a widely reported 2006 criminal case hoax in Durham, North Carolina, United States, in which three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team were falsely accused of rape. The three students were David Ev ...

. Roberts criticized the university as well as the team for a culture that prohibited "snitching" on the later exonerated lacrosse players. Accusations of sexism and racism followed in later articles. The falsely accused players were cleared of any wrongdoing and the lead prosecutor

Mike Nifong Michael Byron Nifong (born September 14, 1950) is a disbarred American prosecutor who formerly served as the Durham County District Attorney. He was removed from this position, disbarred, and jailed following court findings concerning his condu ...

was

disbarred Disbarment, also known as striking off, is the removal of a lawyer from a bar association or the practice of law, thus revoking their law license or admission to practice law. Disbarment is usually a punishment for unethical or criminal conduc ...

. Roberts has never admitted wrongdoing nor has she apologized for her remarks.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Selena 1966 births Living people Auburn University alumni The New York Times journalists American women columnists 21st-century American women writers Sportswriters from Florida American women sportswriters