In defence of Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers is getting the raw end of the deal right now because the altercation he was involved in was with the media and everyone in the media is going to defend their counterparts. I am not saying he should have done what he did, but I defenitily understand why he was mad. Considering that he is a veteran and has been on the Rangers about 4 different times, sometimes taking less money to pitch in Texas and one year turning down a trade to stay in Texas, he deserves a lot more respect from the media than what he has gotten. There is a difference between speculating in a story and straight up lying in a story and that line was crossed. For those of you who don't know Rogers wanted to get a contract extension worked out during spring training. The media ran a story that Rogers had threatened to retire if he did not get an extension. Mind you, this was in the middle of spring training as he was making his regular starts. That pissed him off (it was a complete lie) and he said he wouldn't talk to the media this year. Obviously he wasn't going to retire without an extension. He still doesn't have one and he's still pitching. That's kind of the background. The thing that set him off was that the media was running a story that Rogers chose not to pitch against the Angels because he didn't want to, not because he was legitimately hurt. Why they ran that story, I don't know, but at some point somebody should have said, wait he has a broken pinkie, that's probably enough of a reason for him not too pitch. Plus, he's a major league pitcher, he's not ducking opponents in the middle of the year. Two terrible stories run by the media. If somebody was saying that kind of shit about me and it wasn't true I definitely would have decked them. But that's the problem of confronting the media, whatever you do will be spun in such a way that you are going to be fucked.
If the Rangers decide to use this as a reason to not re-sign Rogers then everyone in the front office should reassess what they are doing. Rogers is a quality pitcher who a lot of teams would love to have and if he becomes a free agent he will be a hot commodity.
And yes I will support Rogers no matter what the media says. I really think that he should get no more than a fine. I’ll tell you exactly why absolutely nothing should happen to him. First off, you have to treat this as an off-field incident. I know it happened on the field but it was hours before the game. Second, the precedent has previously been set that this is not a punishable offense. Randy Johnson did the same thing Rogers did this spring and he was not suspended. Albert Belle threw a ball at a cameraman and drilled him in the lens five to eight years ago and was not suspended (and he was on the field when this happened). Plus, look at the way sports handles non-game incidents. Issues get dealt with in-house. Players are involved in shady situations, have guns in their cars and they do not get suspended for more than 5 games. In the late 90s, Charles Barkley through a guy out of a window in a bar, injuring the dude and destroying the window, and it didn't become this much of a media sensation, and all Kenny did was try to destroy a camera.
A lot of people have been saying that athletes have lost their integrity. I’ll give you a definition for integrity. Integrity – blatantly making up a lie to sell a story. Integrity. The media is there to sell stories. They sensationalize everything and sometimes they make up stories just for the sake of selling them. The media should really get off this integrity thing because they are the ones who have none of it.
The other thing people have been saying is that athletes have lost their respect for the media. Let me give you a definition of respect. Respect – claiming a player who has a broken pinkie, is an ace of the staff, has averaged 32.54 starts over the last 11 years, is faking the injury because he doesn’t want to face the division leading team. Respect. Seriously, read that sentence. And read it again. And show me what respect the media has toward Kenny Rogers. Then go out, break a pinkie and try to pitch. Not to mention that Rogers tried to pitch with it in Anaheim and he got rocked because he said it was hurting him the whole time. Rogers has made 358 starts in the last 11 years. He doesn’t fake injuries to skip starts. I think you would be hard-pressed to find a pitcher who has made more starts in the last 11 years.
Last night, Outside the Lines was running a story on athletes getting out of control and they started it with showing Jim Everett flipping the table on Jim Rome. No explanation or anything, just that clip. Are you kidding me? They never directly defended Rome, but showing a clip like that is bullshit. The media will always defend each other because they know they are going to get the same thing back if something happens. I don’t blame them, it’s just the way it is. They ultimately have say over what the public sees, and they know that.
The one thing that has come out in defense of Rogers is that he asked the media to leave him alone that day. The first thing that happened was a guy with a camera was in his face on his way up the dugout steps. The best example I can give is if you do not want to talk to anyone, you are in a pissy mood, and you ask people to leave you alone. Two minutes later people come up and start bothering you. Hell yeah I would deck them and so would you.
This situation has been blown completely out of proportion. The story keeps claiming that Rogers got into it with two cameramen. I have seen the altercation 30 times and have never been able to pick out more than one guy. Maybe there was another guy before the first altercation, but I don’t see how that is possible considering Rogers got into the taped altercation coming straight out of the dugout. Also, I want to know why that guy holding the camera went to the hospital. If you watch the clip the only possible body part that he could have hurt is his shoulder and he was clearly okay as he picked up his camera after the altercation was over and walked away. He went to the hospital to make it a bigger story. The hospital released him right away because there was absolutely nothing wrong with him. The story is just sexier if you go to the hospital, even if it is for absolutely no reason. No one in the media has said that this guy was completely alright and had no right going to the hospital, but the story has been exploited as Kenny Rogers gets into it with TWO media members and sends one of them to the hospital. That is the definition of sensationalism.
Can we please not overreact about everything for once?
If the Rangers decide to use this as a reason to not re-sign Rogers then everyone in the front office should reassess what they are doing. Rogers is a quality pitcher who a lot of teams would love to have and if he becomes a free agent he will be a hot commodity.
And yes I will support Rogers no matter what the media says. I really think that he should get no more than a fine. I’ll tell you exactly why absolutely nothing should happen to him. First off, you have to treat this as an off-field incident. I know it happened on the field but it was hours before the game. Second, the precedent has previously been set that this is not a punishable offense. Randy Johnson did the same thing Rogers did this spring and he was not suspended. Albert Belle threw a ball at a cameraman and drilled him in the lens five to eight years ago and was not suspended (and he was on the field when this happened). Plus, look at the way sports handles non-game incidents. Issues get dealt with in-house. Players are involved in shady situations, have guns in their cars and they do not get suspended for more than 5 games. In the late 90s, Charles Barkley through a guy out of a window in a bar, injuring the dude and destroying the window, and it didn't become this much of a media sensation, and all Kenny did was try to destroy a camera.
A lot of people have been saying that athletes have lost their integrity. I’ll give you a definition for integrity. Integrity – blatantly making up a lie to sell a story. Integrity. The media is there to sell stories. They sensationalize everything and sometimes they make up stories just for the sake of selling them. The media should really get off this integrity thing because they are the ones who have none of it.
The other thing people have been saying is that athletes have lost their respect for the media. Let me give you a definition of respect. Respect – claiming a player who has a broken pinkie, is an ace of the staff, has averaged 32.54 starts over the last 11 years, is faking the injury because he doesn’t want to face the division leading team. Respect. Seriously, read that sentence. And read it again. And show me what respect the media has toward Kenny Rogers. Then go out, break a pinkie and try to pitch. Not to mention that Rogers tried to pitch with it in Anaheim and he got rocked because he said it was hurting him the whole time. Rogers has made 358 starts in the last 11 years. He doesn’t fake injuries to skip starts. I think you would be hard-pressed to find a pitcher who has made more starts in the last 11 years.
Last night, Outside the Lines was running a story on athletes getting out of control and they started it with showing Jim Everett flipping the table on Jim Rome. No explanation or anything, just that clip. Are you kidding me? They never directly defended Rome, but showing a clip like that is bullshit. The media will always defend each other because they know they are going to get the same thing back if something happens. I don’t blame them, it’s just the way it is. They ultimately have say over what the public sees, and they know that.
The one thing that has come out in defense of Rogers is that he asked the media to leave him alone that day. The first thing that happened was a guy with a camera was in his face on his way up the dugout steps. The best example I can give is if you do not want to talk to anyone, you are in a pissy mood, and you ask people to leave you alone. Two minutes later people come up and start bothering you. Hell yeah I would deck them and so would you.
This situation has been blown completely out of proportion. The story keeps claiming that Rogers got into it with two cameramen. I have seen the altercation 30 times and have never been able to pick out more than one guy. Maybe there was another guy before the first altercation, but I don’t see how that is possible considering Rogers got into the taped altercation coming straight out of the dugout. Also, I want to know why that guy holding the camera went to the hospital. If you watch the clip the only possible body part that he could have hurt is his shoulder and he was clearly okay as he picked up his camera after the altercation was over and walked away. He went to the hospital to make it a bigger story. The hospital released him right away because there was absolutely nothing wrong with him. The story is just sexier if you go to the hospital, even if it is for absolutely no reason. No one in the media has said that this guy was completely alright and had no right going to the hospital, but the story has been exploited as Kenny Rogers gets into it with TWO media members and sends one of them to the hospital. That is the definition of sensationalism.
Can we please not overreact about everything for once?
posted by bbwillrk @ 2:57 PM
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