Re: the Jim Gray controversy

[mwaters@mail.wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

>Dan Billings wrote:
>I am amazed by this controversy.  Apparently, sports reporters are not
>supposed to act like journalists.
>
>Jim Gray kept pushing Rose because Rose lied and became combative when Gray
>asked his first questions.  If Rose had said something like "This isn't the
>time or place to get into that" I bet Gray would have moved on.
<snip>

        Gray absolutely had to bring up the subject, of course. I guess he
pushed a little more than he needed to, especially since he should have
been aware that he ran the risk of alienating people and moving the focus
from Rose to himself. But I'm sure he's surprised at how bad it got for
him. Gray had gotten what he needed to and should have stopped sooner, I
suppose. But it's really no big deal. The only reason to keep up the line
of questioning would have been if Rose gave any hint of remorse, changing
his position, etc. Then you explore that. Once you established that Rose
was taking the same hard-line denial stance, there wasn't much else to do
with it. What he got was Rose lying and refusing to even acknowledge his
wrongdoing, never mind apologize. So this is a case of shooting the
messenger big time.
        People should not be blasting Gray, but rather be appalled about
Pete Rose, or maybe feel sorry for him.  It's not really surprising though.
The public dislikes news reporters, especially when they are perceived to
be badgering people. Plus, in sports you don't usually have much real rough
news reporting. It's unexpected and so it seems even harsher. And baseball
fans like Pete Rose. They, and the public generally, hear something vague
about gambling and don't care. The public has an attention span of 30
seconds and a bad memory going back a maximum of six months. Almost nobody
actually remembers what the Rose thing was about. It was a million years
ago. Plus, most sports fans find it ridiculous that anybody is "against"
gambling. It's like almost every issue of public life: A country full of
people with really strong opinions even though they know almost nothing
about the issue.
        One thing that seems to be going unnoticed is that Gray actually
did his job very well because there had begun to be some suggestions that
baseball might be considering reinstating Rose. Now, Selig says it won't
happen while he is commissioner (whatever that means). IMO, baseball may
have been watching to see what Rose did in Atlanta--if he would say the
right things, etc., to show or even hint that he is finally ready to own up
to what he did. Thanks to Mr. Gray, we absolutely know the answer.