Accentuate the Positive, 3.0

…and know when to fold ‘em.

Especially when your name is Kenny Rogers. He’s the pitcher for the Texas Rangers who is fighting a 20-game suspension for assaulting a cameraman *before* pregame warmups. This guy is a walking, talking advertisement for the benefits of media training.

Rogers was booked on the 18th on his midemeanor assault charges, and what did he do?

Surely, he didn’t accost the photographer getting video of his booking. I mean, surely, right?

No.

Rogers stared at the guy for several seconds, then said “I bet you’re real proud of yourself now, don’t you?” The videographer said “I’m just doing my job, Kenny.”

I know the Texas fans love it, but the booing on the road will be the worst punishment. Robbie Alomar had to deal with that for years after spitting on an ump.

Somebody had better get in soon to teach Kenny how to play well with others, before another poor soul finds himself defenseless in Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.

In San Fran, even fumbles have aftershocks.
What did they know, and when did they know it?

As chronicled on last night’s “Outside the Lines” on ESPN, a lot of the heat directed at the San Francisco 49er’s over their media training video has to do with timing. Apparently, the top brass had known about the video for months with no repercussions.

Uh oh.

Latrell Sprewell, who once lost most of a season for choking coach P.J. Carlesimo, recently learned a valuable lesson in math:

One pithy comment, plus two reporters, equals infinite fan heckling and taunts.

It seems the former All-NBA guard was a little peeved that Minnesota Timberwolves management wanted to restructure his $14,000,000/year deal down to $9,000,000 — and that “a guy’s got to feed his family.”

And exactly why would anyone take offense to that?

Update (5/19/05): Wolves owner Glen Taylor recently called the pairing of Sprewell and Sam Cassell a “failed experiement,” and said neither was coming back to the team. Well, now he’s backtracking, and Cassell is back — and so is Spree (if he can live on less than $14M)