Since we published Dennis Prager's essay on John Rocker two weeks ago ("Hating John Rocker: A Case Study in Liberal Hysteria"), the Atlanta Braves reliever has been demoted to the minors -- ostensibly to regain his control. But his 3.85 ERA is better than the major league average, and it seems the issue isn't really Rocker's control at all, but the eagerness of sports authorities to enforce political sensitivity.
Sometimes.
Remember Rocker's original offense. He expressed disdain for single motherhood, immigration, and homosexuality in a Sports Illustrated interview. Those aren't THE SCRAPBOOK'S opinions exactly, and Rocker's choice of words -- he described one of his black teammates as a "monkey" -- leaves something to be desired. But the ostracism and obloquy to which he's been subjected nevertheless seems altogether hysterical. Especially when Rocker's thought crimes are compared with what looks like big-time sports' most alarming example of violent race hatred in many years.
At 2:30 A.M. on May 14, Rashard Casey, Penn State University's star quarterback, was out with friends in his hometown of Hoboken, N.J. He spotted white off-duty cop Patrick Fitzsimmons, the Hoboken Police Department's "tolerance training instructor." Fitzsimmons was with a black woman.
Casey and a friend berated the woman for associating with a white man. Then they beat Fitzsimmons unconscious -- and kicked him even after he stopped moving. The entire incident was captured on security cameras mounted across the street. Casey was arrested six blocks away, his boots still spattered with Fitzsimmons's blood. Police call Casey's assault on Fitzsimmons a "racially motivated" attack.
So how have Penn State and the nation's talking heads reacted? With zero tolerance, just as in John Rocker's case? Casey might have died, after all.
Well, Penn State coach Joe Paterno has refused to condemn his quarterback. The university has merely opened an "investigation." Casey's high school guidance counselor says he's "100 percent behind him." And you're probably reading about the whole thing for the first time right here.
Maybe if Casey had called Fitzsimmons a monkey . . .