The Three Rs of Hot Topics: Rocker, Rush and the Rams

As a Latino and a human being, I take offense at John Rocker’s comments. As an American, I am outraged by Bud Selig’s suspension of Rocker for his ignorance.

ADAM ORTEGA

Chatsworth

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The deal here is stupidity, not free speech. There is no justification for Rocker’s remarks and he should be punished. Stretching the 1st Amendment to encompass ignorant behavior demeans the process.

WALTER McCLAIN

Ladera Heights

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While nobody defends the content of John Rocker’s diatribe, Bud Selig exposes the hypocrisy of selective punishment with regard to protecting the integrity of baseball.

Saying something stupid, even inflammatory, pales in comparison to players who have admittedly played while drunk, hung over or under the influence of drugs. Were they able to give 100% effort for their team? If not, the game was as good as fixed.

Rocker would have been far better off if he’d just said he was on cocaine at the time and didn’t know what he was saying. Not only would he be excused for his transgressions, he’d be embraced and welcomed back into the fine fraternity that is baseball--like Gooden, Howe, Strawberry, etc.

CHRISTOPHER M. SMITH

Camarillo

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Sportswriters publicly make fools of themselves daily--without suspension. John Rocker certainly has the same right.

VIC ARNOLD

Pacific Palisades

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All you people calling for Rocker’s head, consider this. The next time you voice your opinion, do you want your boss coming in and fining and suspending you because he didn’t like what you said?

At first reading of Bud Selig’s utterly un-American actions, I thought I had to, for the first time ever, root for the players’ union. But, reconsidering, I’m actually rooting for our country, and all it stands for. America embraces the right to dissent. It’s one of our basic freedoms, perhaps our most important one. The 1st Amendment gives us the right to speak our minds, with no fear of reprisals.

Hey, if long ago we hadn’t dissented, we wouldn’t even be a country. So let’s all get behind the union, the arbitrator, the ACLU and whoever else is needed, and tell Selig that if a player spits on an umpire you can cut his tongue out (figuratively), but if he voices his opinion and nobody likes it, that’s his problem.

And Rocker, quit apologizing. You don’t have to, and nobody believes you anyway.

MICHAEL HELWIG

Canoga Park

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Dear J.A. Adande:

You missed the point about Rocker. If you, as an employee of The Times in an interview to a trade publication, made such statements, I’d make a serious wager you would be fired. This isn’t a 1st Amendment question. If Rocker made these statements to a friend or at a bar, it is one thing, but to a trade magazine is quite another. SI wasn’t asking citizen John Rocker to comment. They were asking Atlanta Brave John Rocker.

Can he say or believe these disgusting things? Absolutely! Is he responsible for his actions? Yes. The consequences meted out by Bud Selig are mild compared to what will happen in the clubhouse and on the road.

RICK KARLSRUHER

Beverly Hills

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Commissioner Selig, your suspension of John Rocker is an egregious violation of his right to exercise his freedom of speech. However, since you obviously believe you have the unlimited authority to do so, I request you take the following action:

1. Prohibit major league baseball players, owners, management and staffs from conducting interviews with Sports Illustrated writers.

2. Prohibit Sports Illustrated from printing stories about major league baseball.

3. Suspend New York Met fans from attending games at Shea Stadium.

4. Cancel free agency. Although free agency is morally right, you can do this because you have displayed a disdain for the rights of players.

JAMES DUNKLE

Camarillo

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Doesn’t anybody remember sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me?

JEFFREY VAUGHN

Encino

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Editor’s note: Here is what the 1st Amendment says about free speech: “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech. . . .”