Mike Freeman Writes A Book About The All-Time Biggest Jerks
July 1, 2009 – 10:15 am by Jimmy Shapiro
Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com is one of my favorite writers. Has been for a number of years. He’s also authored a few books including a behind the scenes look at ESPN and its culture, the rough world of the NFL, and Jim Brown. His latest book could have been longer than War and Peace. Recently Freeman released The All-Time Biggest Sports Jerks: And Other Goofballs, Cads, Miscreants, Reprobates, and Weirdos (Plus A Few Good Guys). Looks like a must read to me.
According to that Webster fella, the word jerk has many meanings. One holds great power for 99% of men in America. The other 1% lie. But in this case, I’m pretty sure Freeman meant the slang definition of “a foolish, rude, or contemptible person”. On the book cover, he has Don King, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Brett Favre. There’s a reason two of them are baseball players. As I’ve stated here on SRI on a number of occasions, in terms of covering athletes from a media perspective, here’s my list from easiest to hardest…NHL, NFL, NBA, and MLB in last by a long shot.
Mike Freeman joined KFXX to discuss the book, who is the biggest sports jerk, how he defines a jerk, what he thinks causes a jerk, and if Michael Jordan made the list.
Who is the biggest sports jerk?
“I guess it all depends on what really bugs you the most. Number one on my list is O.J. Simpson which is not a bad choice…There’s been enough crazy to go on in sports over the years that there are plenty of jerks to choose from.”
How he defines a jerk.
“I think what qualifies as a jerk is kind of the smell test. If you sort of look at a guy and something about that person, something they do, makes them a jerk. It’s a very hard definition but you know a jerk when you see a jerk, if that makes sense.”
Why didn’t Jordan make the list?
“I did not put Jordan on the list and that’s a very, very fair argument actually because I think Jordan might deserve an honorable mention. The main people I go after this book, I tend to not like women beaters, steroid users, violent guys, those are mainly the people that bug me. People like Jordan, while having some jerky qualities, as far as I know Jordan was never accused of beating up women.”
What does he think causes a jerk?
“I think being in the public eye, wanting to be in the spotlight a little bit brings out the jerkiness in all of us. Although there have been a lot of athletes who have been able to be fantastic athletes and also not jerks. I don’t think Lebron James is a jerk. I would say Tiger Woods, I don’t like some of the things he does or does not do, but he’s not a jerk. There are a lot of superstar athletes who are really good guys. There are some athletes to me that take it a little too far, especially the ones with the mistreatment of women which is just ridiculous.”
Are there more jerks now or is it the coverage?
“I think in this environment where there’s so much sports talk and so much news and just this coverage of everything these guys do, it’s probably the coverage. Babe Ruth is a classic jerk but a lot of his flaws and his womanizing and things he did, they just weren’t written about extensively when he was playing…Writers sort of covered up the flaws of the athletes. It just wasn’t written about, it wasn’t considered and that changed. So now because of that coverage, there appears to be more jerks. I think the money part of it might be making more jerks because there’s so much money now that guys make.”
Listen to Mike Freeman on KFXX in Portland with Isaac and Big Suke
