Arenas such as professional athletics and music through which Americans create other influential “heroes” are also more times than not extremely poor examples of strong character for society’s observation.
What, like a pitcher infamous for:
For a story published in the December 27, 1999 issue of Sports Illustrated, Rocker made a number of allegations stemming from his experiences in New York City and answering a question about whether he would ever play for the New York Yankees or the New York Mets. Rocker's response was considered racist, homophobic, and sexist:
“ I'd retire first. It's the most hectic, nerve-racking city. Imagine having to take the 7 Train to the ballpark looking like you're riding through Beirut next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who just got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing... The biggest thing I don't like about New York are the foreigners. You can walk an entire block in Times Square and not hear anybody speaking English. Asians and Koreans and Vietnamese and Indians and Russians and Spanish people and everything up there. How the hell did they get in this country?"
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The interview was conducted while driving to a speaking engagement in Atlanta. The reporter wrote that during the interview session, Rocker spat on a Georgia 400 toll machine and mocked Asian women. Also, he supposedly referred to black teammate Randall Simon as a "fat monkey"
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In 2002, while with the Rangers, Rocker again made national headlines for his views after directing slurs towards patrons of a Dallas restaurant at which he was dining, located in the heavily LGBT-populated neighborhood of Oak Lawn in Uptown Dallas.
In June 2006, Rocker defended the right of free speech of former teammate Ozzie Guillen, at the time the manager of the Chicago White Sox, for referring to Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Jay Mariotti as a "fag". Guillen, a native of Venezuela, claimed it was not a derogatory term and that, in Venezuela, the term only questions another man's courage rather than his sexual orientation.
"This is a free country. If he wants to use a lewd term, he should be able to use a lewd term", Rocker told the Chicago Tribune. "Can't you use a lewd term in America if you want"? Referring to sensitivity training, he was quoted as saying: "It was a farce, a way for the scared little man, Bud Selig, to get people off his ass". He claimed that when he attended mandatory sensitivity training he would seldom remain longer than 15 minutes. He also claimed he never paid the $500 fine that was levied against him.
In late 2006, Rocker was interviewed by the popular sports blog, Deadspin along with girlfriend Alicia Marie. In the interview, Rocker discussed his "Speak English" campaign, as well as his upcoming book (which was eventually published in 2011.) Rocker stated that the book will not be used to try to repair his reputation, but will rather be "more conservative Republican rantings." Also during the interview, Rocker lambasted John Schuerholz, his former general manager with the Braves, calling him "a piece of shit.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rockerwho somehow ended up getting a column on a national far-right website? There are millions of bigots out there (the readership of WND, for a start), but Rocker gets paid to write his stuff because he was an athlete.
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