By BILLY MURPHY
Laugh Lines

When John Rocker, the David Dukes of Major League Baseball, had his penalty for being stupid out loud shortened, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said this, “I disagree with the decision. It does not reflect any understanding of our sensitivity to the important social responsibility that baseball, an institution that has endured for more than 100 years, has to the public. It completely ignores the sensibilities of those groups of people maligned by Mr. Rocker and disregards the player's position as a role model for children.”

Jeesh, what a hypocrite. Bud Selig, one of the many leaders of the most irresponsible, reckless, immoral, selfish institution in the free world — professional sports — should be ashamed of himself. How ironic he uses the same free speech to openly speak out against a man who just happened to get in hot water for using his free speech.

What Rocker said is hardly defensible, but why should it be punishable? It ranks towards the bottom of the pack of the bad things that the boys of summer do, or the boys of winter or any of the multimillionaire boys of sport. Bud Selig is laughable in his estimation that sports figures are still seen as role models for children. Sports figures have long been good for nothing except to be used as a bad example of greed and being the ultimate spoiled brats.

Sure, the marketability of professional athletes cannot be denied and the interest of youth in their actions is overwhelming. But, so are an abundance of other negative images for children. The influence of professional athletes on our kids is more like that of hard-core rap or rock music, the tobacco, alcohol or pornography industries.

Kids have an interest in all those things, too, but that doesn't mean it is a good thing. I am not trying to disparage any particular pro athlete, because there are plenty of great role models there, but I am talking about the reputation of the whole organization.

It would be like going to a brothel and saying, “I met a lady-of-the-night who had a heart of gold.” No matter how many you found like that, you would be hard-pressed to improve the reputation of the institution.

Commissioner Selig notes that baseball is honorable because it has “endured for more than 100 years.” That is a drop in the bucket compared with the longevity of the world's oldest profession. Selig and the commissioners of the rest of the leagues need to see themselves like this, not like they are a bunch of John Wayne heroes swaggering about. Just because people watch, don't get all high and mighty and think it is because you have any honor about you at all. We just don't have anything better to do.

John Rocker and the “John Rocker Incident” are two totally different issues. John Rocker the person was swallowed up a long time ago. The “John Rocker Incident” is an example of individuals of professional sports, thinking they are better than others, worth the money they get paid and totally bulletproof. He is a product of the system, not an enemy of it. And now he, like so many others, has to rise above the monster that big money and big fame have created.

[Visit Billy Murphy on the Internet at http://billymurphy.homepage.com.]

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