Hypocrites All

As the Super Bowl approached, Jerome Bettis was a media darling. He could do no wrong. Why? Because he was always super nice and polite to the media. In return they had an unspoken rule that they would never bad mouth The Bus. Stupid fumble that almost cost his team the Super Bowl? Nah. Being a mediocre running back for 13 seasons? No way, he's one of the best ever. We'll call this the Bettis Effect.

A couple days ago news broke about an NHL gambling scandal being run by Coyote's assistant coach Rick Tocchet. Implicated in the scandal was Janet Jones, who happens to be the wife of Wayne Gretzky. Oh, and Wayne Gretzky is the head coach of the Coyote's who handpicked his long-time friend Rick Tocchet to be his assistant. So far Gretzky has kept his head out this mess and the media has done little to levy any blame on the Great One. This is likely because Gretzky was the face of hockey for almost two decades. In addition, he was always polite to the media and the media loved him in return. Bettis Effect.

Flash back almost a decade. After winning 3 straight championships and while still in his prime Michael Jordan suddenly "retires" from basketball. Rumors abounded that Jordan was politely "asked" to leave by NBA commissioner David Stern because of his rampant gambling habits. It was/is well known that Jordan has a love for gambling and would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to support his habit. After a two year absence, Jordan returned to the Bulls and led them to three more championships before retiring again. Jordan's leave of absence was hardly ever questioned and Jordan's gambling habit is rarely discussed by any media outlet because Jordan was the face of basketball and was always cordial with media. Bettis Effect. Big time.

At this point you're probably wondering where the hell I'm going with this. Well, here you go - Pete Rose got a hosed because of his abrasive personality and sub-superstar status throughout his career.

Rose has been banned for life from baseball because he bet on the sport while still manager of the Reds. Former baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti had some sort of vendetta with Rose and hounded him like a dog until, with no actual evidence against him, Pete agreed to the lifetime ban. Now I'm not saying Pete didn't bet on baseball. He most likely did given testimony and evidence from sources, albeit extremely sketchy and questionable sources. My beef is that Pete was, and still is, hounded mercilessly for this. People keep digging, and digging, and digging for concrete proof and demanding that he admit to betting on the game. Pete Rose was never the best player in baseball. He was a very good player for a very long time - long enough that he was able to set records that will probably never be broken. Pete wasn't exceptionally talented. He busted his butt throughout his career to be better than he honestly should have been. Most importantly, Rose was, to put it mildly, a dick. Nobody really liked him. So when damning evidence popped up, people jumped on board to bash Rose and wouldn't let up until he was out of the game.

Here's what I'm saying - this kind of thing never will happen with Gretzky or Jordan. I bet if you dug deep enough into either one's records you could find evidence they gambled on their own sports. But these guys are such icons and so savvy at marketing and PR that it'll never happen. Their respective leagues wouldn't allow anyone to level such accusations against them. And probably their best cover is that these two were considered "good guys", so the media wouldn't touch them if they ate a baby on national television. Heck, the media and public are even willing to forgive Joe Jackson, who not only gambled on baseball but threw an entire freaking World Series (to the Reds, no less). But Joe seemed like a nice guy, so we make excuses as to why he should be forgiven but none of his conspirators.

Pete Rose was a great ballplayer but probably a bigger jerk. And no athlete has paid more dearly for being a jerk.