My view on Pete is that he did two of the things that professional athletes simply cannot be allowed to do; one of them you can legislate, the other you have to just hope that his head is on straight.

 

First off, he put the integrity and the competitive nature of the game in question. It's my belief that sports organizations cannot survive this if allowed to continue. If the casual fan has a question in his or her mind about whether or not a game is rigged, the sport ain't gonna be around long. The news that Rose bet on those games is damning evidence in even the most favorable light.

 

The second thing he did was that he thought he was greater than the sport. Rose gave a lot to baseball, no doubt about that. But when he decided that he had done enough for the sport that the rules didn't apply to him, he put himself before baseball. That's something that I don't agree with.

---