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Rose bet on baseball, not just sports. Rose bet on the Reds, not just baseball. As a manager, betting on your team (even to win) is detrimental to the game. Going to a crackhouse at 2 in the morning may be detrimental to the player, and even to the temporary image of the team/league, but it doesn't damage the integrity of "the game" itself. A manager is responsible for an entire season, and if he has bet on his team to win a particular game, he is going to be tempted to make decisions that are detrimental to the season in order to win a particular game.
Bottom line, this is not the same as a chemical dependency, or even wife-beating. By giving Strawberry et al a second, and third, and fourth, and fifth... chance, we assure that other players will deal with the same issues. If we give Rose a second chance, we assure that someone else will try it. What Rose did, if allowed to continue, would eventually remove all credibility from the game, and that's not acceptable.
Rose's timing is also suspect. He only has a couple of years left on the writers' ballot, and then he has to go before the veterans' committee to get to the Hall. No way in He## they let him in, juding by comments from a good portion of them.
I don't care that he admitted it, but I do care if he gets reinstated.
SNAQWELLS
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Tue Jan 06, 2004, 11:04am
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