Occasionally, I see things outside of the sports world that gets my blood boiling.

Mel Gibson

This week it was an interview I read about Mel Gibson and his return to the screen in “Edge of Darkness.” I believe I’m a fairly empathetic person, as I think most people in this country are, so I wasn’t going into this article with an agenda. “The Passion of the Christ” might get some people fired up, but a person has as much of a right to make that movie as Michael Moore has a right to make “Bowling for Columbine.” Gibson’s anti-Jewish remarks were a lot harder to take, but I believe people screw up and should be given a second chance.

But then I kept reading and started getting mad for a different reason.

What does this have to do with sports you ask? Here’s an excerpt from that article by Geoff Boucher, Chicago Tribune reporter:

Mel Gibson took a deep breath, shook his head and stared down at his palms. “I just can’t do this. You’ve got me at a disadvantage.” The movie star, his voice a croak, was a mere 19 minutes into an interview, but it was clear there was no way he was going to make it to 20.

“I’m coming rapidly to the conclusion that right now, today, my brain cannot function. Honestly? I’m six days off the cigarette. You’re looking at someone who’s having a pretty bad withdrawal from a 45-year habit.”

The question that sent the jittery Gibson on his way out of the room was about the cultural riptides that await anyone who brings religion into the modern public life of Hollywood. “I’m not running away from it. I want to give you a fair trot. I like where you’re coming from with these questions. I just feel ill-equipped to answer.”

Gibson just walked away from the interview! Now, he came back three days later to finish the interview but really never answered the question.

Could you imagine what the media and public would do to an athlete that pulled the same thing? I do. He’d be absolutely vilified. If Michael Vick walked away from a question about how the public views those who have been punished for animal cruelty, people would absolutely blast him.

Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson was a college-educated baseball player, a rarity in the early 1900s.

This is nothing new. Movie and TV stars have always been treated differently than athletes. When Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson came into major leagues in the early 1900s, baseball players were treated as second-class citizens. They stayed in third-rate hotels and were looked down upon by the public as hooligans. Mathewson’s presence began to usher in a new era of ball player. Mathewson was college educated at Bucknell University, definitely a rarity for his time. He was nicknamed “The Christian Gentleman” and went against all the baseball player stereotypes.

Over the years, more and more educated players began entering the major leagues. And now we are miles away from those early days of hooligans playing the game. But still, the stereotypes persist.

I’m not saying that athletes get unfair treatment. In fact, I think they should be held to a high standard. But I think TV and movie celebrities should be held to that same standard.

Why should their acts get a free pass?

As the world-captivating Tiger Woods saga finally has cooled down (thankfully), I started thinking about another superstar who everyone agrees was an equally accomplished philanderer and playboy…

Babe Ruth.

Now, I’m not going to get into a discussion on Woods’ acts, or whose transgressions were worse, Tiger’s or the Babe’s. I think we can all agree that a married man should not be cheating on his wife with one woman, let alone multiple women.

What I find interesting is this question: How would the escapades of the biggest figure in American sports, Babe Ruth, be handled by today’s media?

Simply put: He would have been destroyed. The mythic hero status he enjoyed then, and still does now for the most part, would never have happened in this instant news, internet, and blogging age of sports media coverage.

As legendary Celtics coach Red Auerbach said in a 1985 Dallas Morning News article on the topic of media and athletes: “Today’s athletes are under much greater scrutiny. Babe Ruth, in this era, would have been torn to pieces by the media.”

And that was BEFORE the internet!

Now, I don’t think we would have heard all the sordid details of the Babe’s life. Much like Tiger, my guess is the Babe would have been savvy enough to build a PR and marketing empire around himself to develop an image he wanted to portray to the public.

But all it would have taken was one slip up — say a car wreck at 2 a.m. in front of your own house — to allow all the dirty laundry to be aired out.

A lot of people like to say that things were better “back in the day” when we didn’t find out about these things. I don’t subscribe to that. I’m not saying it’s necessary to know about every athlete’s extramarital affairs, because it isn’t.

What I am saying is I don’t want to place a player on a pedestal of hero worship who doesn’t deserve it. I accept that Tiger Woods is human, just as I accept that Mickey Mantle was human along with countless other athletes. I think the typical sports fan is in the same boat.

What we don’t like are phonies and fakes. When an athlete portrays a squeaky clean image that is manufactured, I’m fine with the court of public opinion destroying that image when it’s found to be wholly untrue. We know now that Tiger’s image was the product of great marketing. That image is destroyed.

And frankly, I’m fine with that.

Here’s a link to Sam Blair’s 1985 Dallas Morning News story.

What do you think? Was it better “back in the day” when the media wasn’t so intrusive into the lives of superstar athletes? Comment here, or you can e-mail me at gerry.fey@erickson.com.

My name is Gerry Fey, and starting today, I’ll be writing a blog about sports. Yes, I know the immediate reaction: Why on Earth do we need another blog about sports. Well, to tell you the truth, I’m not sure. There certainly are a lot of them out there.

My son Jake and I enjoying an Orioles-Rangers game at beautiful Camden Yards.

The fact of the matter is: I’m selfish. I think most bloggers, when it gets down to it, would admit the same.

I like talking about sports. I like watching sports, and I like writing about sports. This will be my avenue to do all those things.

I graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Kansas in 1996 and have worked in the sports department of four newspapers before coming to Erickson. I pretty much live and breathe sports, especially baseball and college football. I’m a senior graphics designer for the Erickson Tribune, working in the Erickson marketing department, but before that I worked at USA Today, USA Today Baseball Weekly, the Palm Beach Post, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, and the Hutchinson (Kansas) News.

For every newspaper I’ve worked for, I’ve been a graphic designer or page designer, but growing up, what I really wanted to be was a sportswriter. I was fortunate to do that for my college newspaper, but when I realized I couldn’t hack it as a writer, I wanted to stay as close to sports as I could. Luckily, I found out I had a talent for designing pages for newspapers. So I’m not sure what that says about my writing skills for this blog, but oh well! This isn’t really writing anyway, is it?

Minnesota Twins great Tom Brunansky and a nine-year-old version of me in 1982 at the Metrodome.

The truth is, what I’d like to use this space for is to give the events that take place in sports today some perspective by looking back at yesterday. And I’m hoping those who read this blog will help me out.

If you’re like me (and if you’re older than 30 I’m sure you are), you get tired of the accolades that seem to be thrown around so nonchalantly in sports media coverage today. “That was the best catch ever!” “That was the best performance I’ve ever seen.” “This was the best Super Bowl in history!” It seems like you hear these types of statements every other night on ESPN or on the myriad of other stations that are out there. Contrary to popular belief, important things happened before ESPN existed, and often I feel like analysts forget this. For these people, I almost believe in their minds sports history only goes back to 1983.

So that’s pretty much why I started this blog. And as I said before, I would definitely appreciate the help of reader comments to keep me sharp. I’m all of 36 years old, so I readily admit that I lack firsthand knowledge of significant sports events in history. But what I will try to do is applaud (or jeer) current accomplishments by looking at the perspective of the past.

I hope you will enjoy reading this as much as I will enjoy writing it.

Is there a subject you’d like me to write about? If so, comment or you can e-mail me at gerry.fey@erickson.com.

Forbes Magazine recently came out with its annual list of the most valuable NFL franchises.

But the surprising thing wasn’t that the Dallas Cowboys were number one on the list. In my opinion, the most startling fact is that an impressive number of smaller market teams were up pretty high on the list.

Looking over the names of the teams in the top third, it seems like the owners of smaller market teams that put some  care into putting a good, winning product on the field; as well as having the players active and involved in the community have seen their profits skyrocket:

Seeing teams in small markets like the Buccaneers (8), Broncos (10), Ravens (11), and Panthers (12) ranked ahead of large market and well established teams like the Steelers (16), Packers (17), Raiders (32) does my heart some good.

All four of those teams and their owners are some of the best at reaching out in their communities and show that even in tough economic times, the “good neighbor” thing can work– and in fact it can have a huge positive impact on the value of a business.