[Y0DA55]

Check out his long flowing locks

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/s...=2054529&num=0

[bulldog55]

He sure is pretty. I bet there's a lot of queers who'd love to give him AIDS.

[Dagrims]

Originally Posted by Y0DA55

Check out his long flowing locks

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/s...=2054529&num=0

Quotes like this will go a long, long way toward smoothing things over:

Originally Posted by John Rocker, the persecuted

I've taken a lot of crap from a lot of people. Probably more than anybody in the history of this sport. I know Hank (Aaron) and Jackie (Robinson) took a good deal of crap, but I guarantee it wasn't for six years.

[bulldog55]

With that persecution complex, no wonder he loves the south so much.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Oddly enough, I actually have a lot of sympathy for John Rocker. In the New Historical Abstract, Bill James refers in passing to the "malevolent media lightning" that just ruins people's lives almost at random. Yeah, John Rocker was a xenophobe and an idiot when he said all of that stuff, but he was also a relatively uneducated 24-year-old who obviously wasn't too media-savvy. I've personally known dozens of people who've said things just as stupid or worse, but their lives haven't been ruined as a result. Now, maybe they would have been savvy enough to not say things like that to a reporter, but still - I've heard lots of people say things just like that before. Why do we hate Rocker - because he said those things, or because he said them in the open? Or just because sports needs villains just as it needs heroes?

[obaslg]

I think the quotes Dagrims just gave may be more despicable than the original stuff.

[MrWorkrate]

Originally Posted by Eckstein 4 Prez

Oddly enough, I actually have a lot of sympathy for John Rocker. In the New Historical Abstract, Bill James refers in passing to the "malevolent media lightning" that just ruins people's lives almost at random. Yeah, John Rocker was a xenophobe and an idiot when he said all of that stuff, but he was also a relatively uneducated 24-year-old who obviously wasn't too media-savvy. I've personally known dozens of people who've said things just as stupid or worse, but their lives haven't been ruined as a result. Now, maybe they would have been savvy enough to not say things like that to a reporter, but still - I've heard lots of people say things just like that before. Why do we hate Rocker - because he said those things, or because he said them in the open? Or just because sports needs villains just as it needs heroes?

Because Dusty Baker tried to do it and everyone laughed at him.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Originally Posted by obaslg

I think the quotes Dagrims just gave may be more despicable than the original stuff.

Well, they're just as stupid as the original stuff. But we didn't really need that quote to tell us that Rocker is stupid.

Now, is he a racist? Well, maybe - but that article points out a few things that Rocker's involved with that aren't exactly very compatible with being a hard-core racist. I think it's more likely that Rocker is just a fairly dumb guy who grew up in a place where racial and other group classifications were commonplace. It doesn't seem that he's the sort of guy who'll hate an individual because of some stereotype. Of course, maybe I'm just reading too much into all of this....

[bulldog55]

Originally Posted by Eckstein 4 Prez

Well, they're just as stupid as the original stuff. But we didn't really need that quote to tell us that Rocker is stupid.

Now, is he a racist? Well, maybe - but that article points out a few things that Rocker's involved with that aren't exactly very compatible with being a hard-core racist. I think it's more likely that Rocker is just a fairly dumb guy who grew up in a place where racial and other group classifications were commonplace. It doesn't seem that he's the sort of guy who'll hate an individual because of some stereotype. Of course, maybe I'm just reading too much into all of this....

He's just an ignorant idiot. More trouble than Jackie Robinson?! Are you ****ing KIDDING me?! This man has no concept of life off the farm. That there are people who aren't southern white heterosexuals and that. He is the embodiment of everyone who thinks liberals want to ban christianity. I would wager a lot of money that he has used the term "reverse racism." I simply can't stand people like that. I don't care that he doesn't particularly care for New York subways; I wouldn't enjoy riding them either. It's just his mindset that is so glaringly archetypical of a sheltered self-centered moron who is completely bigoted because he simply doesn't understand that there are people out there who aren't like him and, god forbid, might have a harder life than he does.

[bulldog55]

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. -- John Rocker was released Monday by the Long Island Ducks after the pitcher told the Atlantic League team he wanted to reassess his future.

Rocker joined the Ducks in April and went 0-2 with a 6.50 ERA in 23 games, striking out 19 and walking 28 in 18 innings.

"After pitching for two months with the Long Island Ducks, the consistency required to pitch at the major league level, and the consistency I demand from myself, are not where they should be," Rocker said in a statement released by the team. "As a result, I have elected to take a step back and re-evaluate the options available to me."

The 30-year-old left-hander had 38 saves for Atlanta in 1999 and 24 the following year, then was traded to Cleveland during the 2001 season, when he had for 23 saves for the Braves and Indians.

He spent 2002 with Texas and 2003 with Tampa Bay, totaling just one major league save. He had a 9.15 ERA in 17 games for Double-A Orlando when the Devil Rays released him in June 2003.

His mouth earned him as much notoriety as him arm. In 1999 he made derogatory remarks in Sports Illustrated about gays, minorities and foreigners. Rocker later said he was baiting New York fans.

"Obviously, we're disappointed we didn't return him to the majors," Ducks principal owner Frank Boulton said. "We know the talent is there, and I'm sure we haven't heard the last from John in baseball."

http://sports.espn.go.com/minorlbb/n...ory?id=2095781

I sure hope we've heard the last of John in baseball.

[jeheinz72]

Buh-Bye.

[Eckstein 4 Prez]

Like I said a few months ago, John Rocker is just an ordinary idiot, not an extraordinarily bad person.

[UngratefulDead]

Originally Posted by Eckstein 4 Prez

Like I said a few months ago, John Rocker is just an ordinary idiot, not an extraordinarily bad person.

What if I just hate idiots?

[fantom1979]

I think it is rather amazing how his talent just disappeared in 4 years. This guy was close to lights out in 1999. 38 saves with a 2.49 era. Now he just got cut by the Ducks. ouch