ELItorial

Who is that again? John Rocker

NEWSMAKERS John Rocker: maybe you've heard of him. He's had some media issues lately.

John Rocker. So you don't want to hear that name anymore? I'm going to say it anyway. John Rocker. John Rocker. John Rocker.

I'm not going to explain who this man is. I don't need to. For the past (John Rocker) several months (John Rocker), the name has (John Rocker) been ubiquitous (John Rocker), springing up in newspaper headlines, talk shows, and radio programs all across the country. John Rocker hates minorities. John Rocker belittles people with blue hair. John Rocker maligns single mothers and AIDS patients. John Rocker has unpaid parking tickets. John Rocker shot JFK. John Rocker eats children and swallows small mammals whole.

Rocker has indeed become the media's favorite punching bag—and fans are starting to get annoyed. After months of seemingly incessant condemnation, the public seems to want Rocker off of "Wanted" posters and back on the mound. When he returned home to Atlanta's Turner Field on Tues., Apr. 18, after a two-week suspension, Braves fans greeted the former scapegoat with a standing ovation.

The public's response to Rocker turned quickly from outrage to approbation in part because he is a great pitcher. Last year, Rocker notched 38 saves—the second most in franchise history—and managed an awesome 104 strikeouts in 72 innings. During his suspension, the Braves lost six of 12 games, blew two saves, and registered a 5.14 earned run average (ERA). "He's a talented pitcher, and that's what this is really all about," manager Bobby Cox commented.

Whatever Cox might say, the warm welcome that Atlanta fans gave Rocker was about much more than his skill on the mound. Truth is, after weeks of seeing him tarred and feathered by the media, the public began to feel sorry for him. In a strange way, Rocker found himself in the same position he had placed single mothers and AIDS patients in several weeks before. He became the target of insult and scorn, and the public began to champion him just as they championed those whom he maligned. Suddenly, Rocker had become a bit of an underdog hero.

Call it the Tonya Harding Syndrome. Shortly before the 1994 Olympics at Lille-hammer, Norway, the media treated the figure skater as if she were the child of Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth when she became tied to a plot to attack competitor Nancy Kerrigan. Guilty or not, the media regarded Harding with such contempt and lavished such sympathy on Kerrigan that many Americans—whether they would admit it or not—wanted the media's favorite villian to take home a medal.

The public's allergic reaction to excessive press coverage has also worked to the advantage of President Bill Clinton. When the media wouldn't let voters forget Genn-ifer Flowers, Paula Jones, and Monica Lewinsky, many of them—including a few Republicans—became so disgusted that they began to demand that Clinton's private life be kept private.

While excessive press coverage is often annoying and intrusive, it is sometimes a necessary evil. In light of the public backlash in Rocker's favor, the press kept all too quiet about an issue that truly merits an uproar. Several months ago, Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Bug Selig fined Rocker $20,000 and suspended him from the game until Mon., May 1 in punishment for his incendiary comments. Well before that date, however, an arbitrator reduced the suspension to only two weeks and slashed the fine to a mere $500. By reducing Rocker's sentence, Selig downplayed the gravity of his crime—and the media, by not mounting a vociferious protest, allowed him to get away with it.

Worse than the media's sudden permissiveness is the fact that the fans didn't seem to care—in fact, they stood and cheered in approval. Rocker might be one of the Braves' best pitchers, but fans still should not have tolerated a lenient sentence for a man who clearly deserved to be reprimanded.

There are, of course, some fans who continue to express disapproval of Rocker. Mets' fans, for one, have already started to distribute fliers announcing "John Rocker Battery Day" when the Braves come to Shea Stadium for a four-game series at the end of June. Yet by and large, fans nationwide have managed to forgive Rocker's actions because of his talent and because they are annoyed by the media's gratuitous attention. More such attention might actually be what's needed, however, if fans won't take the responsibility upon themselves to demand justice where it's clearly warranted.

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