Turn this stuff in to your editor 20 years ago and he'd spike it and tell you to get quotes about baseball next time. If a president says it, it's news. If a hick says it, it ain't.
Hicks say and do hick things.
It's why they're hicks. Every TV host brought up Rocker so that panelists could shake their heads in disgust about what he said. Nothing aids the self-righteous media more than one sinner caught in the act. I asked a clinical psychologist in Chicago what he thought of baseball's solution to the John Rocker problem. John Mayer is a South Side kid who counsels and evaluates all kinds, including prisoners doing felony time, bad kids who've strayed their way into jail and ordinary mortals with mental and emotional hang-ups or kids who have to seek counseling to stay in school.