Reliever is off his Rocker
Ws
at a jackass!
That is, more or
less, what you
thought when you
first read or heard about the
now-infamous John Rocker com
ments in the Dec. 27 issue of
Sports Illustrated, right?
Those disparaging comments
with which, if you haven’t
yet heard, Rocker loudly
denounced minorities,
immigrants, people with
AIDS, women, homosex
uals and New Yorkers.
Your initial re
action: Idiot!
Jerk! What was he
thinking?
But now you’re
sick of it.
Enough, right?
The reaction to the
Atlanta reliever’s ignorant,
mean-spirited, racist — and they
were racist — comments has
been overwhelming. Extra
ordinary. Phenome
nal.
Newspapers
from Atlanta to
Seattle, from Los
Angeles to Toronto
are still tossing the
subject around nearly a
month after his words first
appeared.
You’re probably aware that
Bud Selig, major league base
ball’s commissioner, has or
dered Rocker to undergo psy
chological treatment — and, not
surprisingly, that’s been a hot
topic of debate as well.
An NAACP official called for
Atlanta to release Rocker: “Not
only are we outraged at the state
ments attributed to Rocker, but
insult is added to injury by the
fact that the
[Atlanta]
organiza
tion has al
lowed this
situation to
fester for so
long with
out taking
swift and
decisive ac
tion.”
All sorts
of legalities
have been
brought
into question. Can the Atlanta
organization fire someone solely
on the basis of his public state
ments? And wouldn’t that in
fringe on his First Amendment
rights?
On Tuesday, about 75 peo
ple, carrying signs reading
“Fire John Rocker” and “Shame
on Baseball,” gathered" in front
of CNN’s headquarters in
protest of the lack of action by
the Atlanta organization
against Rocker.
Presidential candidates Vice
President Al Gore and Sen. Bill
Bradley have both called for At
lanta to take action.
His teammates and peers are
disgusted. Third baseman Chip
per Jones was quoted as saying
that he wouldn’t want to be in
the same county as Rocker: "...
in all honesty ... I really fear for
his safety at certain points.”
Even the band Twisted Sister
has asked Atlanta to stop using
its song “I Wanna Rock” when
Rocker enters the game. Gui
tarist Jay French: “We’ve got
Hispanics in this band, Italians
in this band; people are Polish
and Russian. We’re all immi
grants ... this is our way of say
ing his comments were not ac
ceptable.”
It’s been headline material for
Mirjam
Swanson
weeks.
But the original backlash has
unleased a new backlash.
People across the nation have
had enough of this Rocker hyste
ria. Stop it already, they’re say
ing. And they’re voicing it in
print, with letters to editors.
Like these:
“Please. Does pro sports now
consider anyone who harbors,
say, anti-black or anti-gay views,
to have a problem?”
“People have been saying
hurtful things since time began.
Where does the NAACP get off
demanding that Rocker be re
leased?”
“Political correctness be
damned! I was under the im
pression that I lived in the Unit
ed States of America, not the So
viet Union ... I was not aware
that ‘reeducation and banish
ment’ was the law for speaking
one’s mind.”
“If a person wants to express
his or her opinion, no matter
how vile, it is their right to do so
without fear of punishment. As
far as press coverage, this story
was overkill of a nonevent.”
“At least the man said what
most of us think but lack the
courage to say. Good for you
John.”
Frighteningly, this obviously
is not just a stop-because-we’re
tired-of-hearing-about-it type of
thing.
This is a stop-because-it’s-not
such-a-big-deal, weTe-all-bigots
anyway type of sentiment.
Uhhh, no.
We’re not.
Rocker’s comments were
wrong. Calling a black teammate
a “fat monkey” is wrong. Con
demning others — homosexuals,
young mothers, people from oth
er countries — because they’re
different than he is is wrong.
Prejudice, discrimination and
racism are wrong.
The decision about whether
such ideas — which he certainly
has every right to have — justify
psychological treatment or the
termination of his contract be
longs to baseball, and to the At
lanta organization.
But props to the media for
blowing this thing out of propor
tion.
Thank you for making such a
spectacle out of this guy’s idiocy
— something that certainly
Bryan uixon tmeraia
wouldn’t have happened 25
years ago.
Sure, he has the right to ex
press his beliefs. Just like the
media has the right to lay into
him for doing it.
The message has been sent,
loud and clear, that anyone who
comes out blaring prejudice to
day is gonna get slammed. Big
time.
And good.
That’s right.
Mirjam Swanson is sports editor of the %
Emerald. She can be reached via e-mail
at mswan@gladstone.uoregon.edu.
i
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