Willie and The Dunner

Just spoke with Bill Cunningham... he apologized this morning personally to ADunn, for saying on the air last Friday that Dunn was drunk during the previous night's game in Pittsburgh... Cunningham seemed truly contrite, said in 24 years of radio, he'd never before apologized to a Reds player for anything he'd said on the air. Dunn was not impressed. "Pathetic. You'll be hearing from me,'' was Dunn's response, according to Cunningham.

A few things: You can't say someone is drunk,not on the air, unless you know it's true. You can say he "looked'' like he was drunk or "played'' like he was drunk, not that he was drunk. It was good that Cunningham had the integrity to apologize in person; it was reckless that he said what he said. Talk radio allows a lot more leeway when it comes to passing harsh judgment on public figures. But there is a line.

I talked this morning with Enquirer attorney Jack Greiner, who said Cunningham's words probably were not slanderous. The irony is, the more hyperbolic the rhetoric, the better the slander defense. The theory is, if you make the words ridiculous enough, everyone listening will know you're not serious. So, if you're on the radio and you feel like assassinating someone's character, go overboard with it and you won't get anything but a fat lip from the assassinated.

I'm having Cunningham on Sports Talk tonight at 630, 700 WLW... we'll talk more about it.