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To read Tom's latest Final Thought from
Monday's show (7/3), click here: FINAL THOUGHT. Previous Final
Thoughts can be found here.
June 9, 2000
FEATURE ARTICLE:
Sports Illustrated's Jeff Pearlman ran
into an old friend under the Turner Field stands on Sunday. John
Rocker played the role of playground bully just released from
detention. Pearlman played the role of tattletale student.
If it was me standing in front of Rocker,
I would have let him spit out the venom that had built up for
six months. I would have let him release it, then pointed out
how he made his own bed. I would have told him he learned a valuable
lesson the hard way.
Have something to say that's politically
incorrect? Don't spurt it out in the company of a reporter.
Flash back to December, when Pearlman and
Rocker spent some time together in Georgia...
Rocker must have been pumped. Here he was,
set to be featured in the country's most popular sports magazine.
Yee-Ha! He probably washed his hunting garb so the orange would
shine brightly for the camera. It was his turn to tell "the
rest of the story."
The two guys drove on Georgia Route 400
in Rocker's Tahoe with the music playing, shooting the shit.
Rocker honked his horn at cars that impeded his progress. He
spit on a toll booth (now that's weird). He ripped Asians by
pointing out how terribly they drive. In the midst of it all
he uttered the infamous words about his "fat monkey"
teammate, queers who ride the 7 train and those darn foreignors.
Do you think John Rocker had any clue what
type of article Jeff Pearlman was going to write? Would you invite
someone to spend time with you if the light at the end of the
tunnel was a firebomb of controversy and negative criticism?
I'll guess more than 50% of what Rocker
said during their time together (the politically correct stuff)
was left out of the piece. What did John say to the school kids
at Lockhart Academy? Wasn't that pending engagement the reason
Rocker was tearing down the highway in the first place?
Rocker was probably happy with the experience
when the two parted ways on that December day.
"Hey, Jeff, look forward to reading
the article" (Hope he writes good things)
"Yeah, see ya John. Thanks" (You're
screwed!)
Then Pearlman went to work. Any journalist
would have exploited the explosiveness of Rocker's off-color
remarks. Was there a moment when Pearlman questioned the effect
his article would have? Maybe. Did he expect the overwhelming
backlash? No way.
When the article was printed the week before
Christmas, how did Rocker find out? Is he an SI subscriber? Did
he hear the early reponse on the radio? Did one of his friends
call and say, "Dude, what were you thinking?"
However he found out, Rocker must have
been shocked when he discovered what Pearlman chose to spotlight.
Probably as shocked as we were upon reading the ignorant remarks.
Pearlman said, "When you deal with
a subject for a long period of time, there's a tendancy for him
to let his guard down and think he's talking to his barber or
his mailman or one of his buddies."
Aaaah, I finally figured it out. It's allright
to spout idiotic in private. Bash the queers and the foreignors
and the crappy Asian drivers all you want with your barber, but
watch your mouth around reporters.
So maybe it's not about what John Rocker
shouldn't have said. Maybe it's about what he should have said.
"Hey, Jeff. This is off the record."
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