Oh Pete Rose. He should have just left it at ‘I screwed up. I should have done better.I should have told the truth.’ During a radio chat with John Phillips, Rose was lamenting his compulsion to bet on games that cost him his career. He opined that if he’d picked a better vice… say wife beating… he would have been given a second chance. But gambling- no wiggle room on forgiveness there.
It’s a sad commentary on our social values that assaulting your partner is seen as a forgivable little vice. Pete, I appreciate your willingness to pass along hard earned lessons about honesty to young athletes, but I think you struck out as a role model once again.