Not only that, but to you internet lawyers out there John Romano is considered a public figure ( believe it or not) based on his visibility in MD and in other media outlets ( his appearence on HBO real sports for instance) and his book release and therfore mounting any case against TA would be laughable. For public figures to prove defamation you need to establish absolute malice or intent to hurt his reputation which is nearly impossible because establishing malice in an offending party cant be done unless you can prove what their motives or thought processes were at the time. All TA has to do is say he was only kidding or legitmately believed what he was saying was true and the case is over. On top of which if the book did get bad reviews the case is also over. Number one defense which ends any libel, slander or defamation= The speech or writing in question is true.