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What do you think of Pete Rose now? How does it differ from that night, 22 years ago? Put it this way: What might you say to your 12-year-old about Pete today that you would not have said back then? Doesn't Pete's story epitomize the changed nature of hero worship? Buyer beware. We still sometimes equate hitting a ball or catching one with true virtue. But not so much anymore.
I think that's a good thing.
posted by Paul Daugherty at 9:04 PM
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Post a Comment*Absolutely agree about Pete (& Michael, Pacman, NBA, Ankiel, Barry, Commissioner Bud, ... stop me).
But what about the good guys, who feel like role models & act accordingly? There a whole lot of them too. And sadly, they don't get the headlines. Dang sportswriters!
Paul your show on WLW just keeps getting better! I agree with everything you said about The CUBS and fans. I hate there wanna be FANS. Bandwagon yuppies. Even the old Cubs fans are @___you know. I have had runins with them in Cin and Chicago, while minding my own. Pete is and always will be the HITKING and REDS Baseball. But he is a liar and all for himself. BTW Where's SEG? What's going on at WLW..Take care, REDSFAN 1974
I was something like 10 years old when Pete was a rookie. We idolized him. Where is the current Red who is hitting .348, winning a batting title, and being named MVP? Pete's name remains great in baseball, not because we used to idolize players, but because he was one of the greatest players of all time.
Fortunately, where there is a bad role model, there is usually a good lesson for us and our kids. We probably learn more from those who fall from grace anyhow.
The story not only shows this city's love for Pete, but how gullible this city is.
A gullibility that can also be seen by people believing crap they hear on the radio.
Have lived in Cincinanti for 48 yrs. Was fortunate enough to see 4192 in person, as well as Aaron 714.
What amazes me is how my fellow city residents are so blind that they overlook lying by a convivted felon and still think Rose should be HOF. Rose broke the ONE RULE he could not as a baseball player and continues to make a fool out of those who think he should be in Cooperstown.
Robert Young
Milford
I still love Pete Rose...not because he is a great man or a role model, but because of the way he made me feel when I was a kid. that ought to be enough fo any true fan of baseball.
Pete Rose is a bum.
Paul makes a very valid observation overall. For the other side of the coin, see: Spurs, San Antonio. Thankfully there are still some organizations and players which do it right. Too bad they don't often enough get the credit they deserve.
Perhaps the bigger issue, though, is how it got to be this way in the first place. Seems to me that in many ways it is more a reflection upon us as fans and the overbloated emphasis placed upon sports in today's culture (not least ESPN's hero-worship treatment and self-congratulatory tone, and so many overly bombastic sports talk shows). Athletes have never been anything more or less than human, just like the rest of us. When we place them upon a pedestal and make their contributions (and shortcomings) disproportionate to their actual role in our day-to-day reality, how is it surprising that we also have an exaggerated sense of disappointment or letdown when they don't live up to standards we often wouldn't want others to ask of us?
Pete Rose's failings really aren't all that different, if any, from those of people we see, know, and love everyday. Nor, frankly are his successes: great as his career was, there are individuals around us every day doing Hall of Fame-caliber work in their own fields. How about if we place more value upon all of the great things these people (school teachers, firefighters, police, ...) are doing every day, things that make a real difference in our world, and see athletes for what they really are: entertainers, nothing more or less, giving us a brief feel-good (or bad) in our lesiure time?
So let's keep sports culture in perspective. It really is just a game, fun though it may be.
Idolize Pete for what he did on the field. The work ethic he used to be able to do those things despite not having star talent. Also teach your kids the cautionary tale about what can happen if you think you are bigger than the rules and the game.
Both are valuable lessons.
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