Pete Rose and American accountability.
Howard Bryant, ESPN Senior Writer
Nov 11, 2024, 12:00 PM ET.
Mr. Bryant has written what I consider to be an excellent article about the late baseball star Pete Rose. As many baseball fans know, Rose bet on the team he managed to win games. Betting on baseball is the ultimate sin....just ask 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson and a number of his teammates, now known as the Black Sox. Rose originally denied any wrong doing, then years later, defiantly admitted to betting on games.
The sports landscape has changed dramatically. Like everything else in America, it is all about the $$$$. Now every major sport embraces gambling. You can't avoid the ads or even the announcers heading the call to place your bets.
Here are some excerpts from the article:
"I hate people who talk about me, and they start talking about Joe Jackson. Joe Jackson was a great player, OK? But Joe Jackson took money to throw a baseball game in the World Series," Rose said. "I bet on my own team to win ... so there's a big difference: take the money to throw a game or bet on your own team to win."
Americans say they demand accountability. They see the entitled and say, "I couldn't get away with that at my job." They tell themselves no one is above the law and rules are rules and then twist themselves into pretzels for Rose just because he taught them to choke up with two strikes.
What Americans really mean is accountability is for the unexceptional. For the ones on the bottom, on whom this society stomps mercilessly for not being rich, successful or functional. They were getting something for nothing -- off everyone else's back. Who was going to hold them accountable?
Accountability is for the poor, the unexceptional, and the non-celebrity Black. The ones who get knees in their backs and cops on their necks. It's for the ones who get their asses kicked or don't have enough sycophants lapping up their every word. It's for the ones whose swings we didn't copy in the backyard. Around the dinner table, and at the bar, and at the polls, the ones who squawk about the injustice done to Rose are so often the ones believing in law and order and dismissing the dead Black kids with an uncomplicated, It's so simple. Why didn't they just obey?
And yet, there is no simpler piece of legalese in baseball than Rule 21, Section D, Paragraph 2. If you bet on baseball, you're banned for life.
Why didn't Pete just obey?
Nov 11, 2024, 12:00 PM ET.
Mr. Bryant has written what I consider to be an excellent article about the late baseball star Pete Rose. As many baseball fans know, Rose bet on the team he managed to win games. Betting on baseball is the ultimate sin....just ask 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson and a number of his teammates, now known as the Black Sox. Rose originally denied any wrong doing, then years later, defiantly admitted to betting on games.
The sports landscape has changed dramatically. Like everything else in America, it is all about the $$$$. Now every major sport embraces gambling. You can't avoid the ads or even the announcers heading the call to place your bets.
Here are some excerpts from the article:
"I hate people who talk about me, and they start talking about Joe Jackson. Joe Jackson was a great player, OK? But Joe Jackson took money to throw a baseball game in the World Series," Rose said. "I bet on my own team to win ... so there's a big difference: take the money to throw a game or bet on your own team to win."
Americans say they demand accountability. They see the entitled and say, "I couldn't get away with that at my job." They tell themselves no one is above the law and rules are rules and then twist themselves into pretzels for Rose just because he taught them to choke up with two strikes.
What Americans really mean is accountability is for the unexceptional. For the ones on the bottom, on whom this society stomps mercilessly for not being rich, successful or functional. They were getting something for nothing -- off everyone else's back. Who was going to hold them accountable?
Accountability is for the poor, the unexceptional, and the non-celebrity Black. The ones who get knees in their backs and cops on their necks. It's for the ones who get their asses kicked or don't have enough sycophants lapping up their every word. It's for the ones whose swings we didn't copy in the backyard. Around the dinner table, and at the bar, and at the polls, the ones who squawk about the injustice done to Rose are so often the ones believing in law and order and dismissing the dead Black kids with an uncomplicated, It's so simple. Why didn't they just obey?
And yet, there is no simpler piece of legalese in baseball than Rule 21, Section D, Paragraph 2. If you bet on baseball, you're banned for life.
Why didn't Pete just obey?
