Columnist Spencer Patterson: Wannabe player Garth Brooks needs lesson

SPENCER PATTERSON is a Las Vegas Sun sportswriter.

AS SPORTSWRITERS, we come to expect a certain amount of attitude from the star athletes we deal with.

Many keep the media at a distance, some offer short answers to complicated questions and a few opt not to speak with reporters at all.

But nearly all professional athletes recognize the importance of the media. It's a conduit to the people who make their fame and fortune possible: their fans.

Apparently, not all entertainers share that enlightened view. I learned that the hard way on Saturday.

Late last week, my paper learned that country musician Garth Brooks, in town for a four-night stand at the Thomas & Mack, had been offered a rare opportunity to informally "tryout" for the San Diego Padres at Cashman Field.

The Las Vegas Stars' management invited me to attend the closed-to-the-public event, and I was told they had arranged a short interview with Brooks.

Initially, everything went according to plan. I watched from the stands as Brooks took batting practice, shagged fly balls in the outfield and took ground balls at third base with Padres general manager Kevin Towers and field manager Bruce Bochy looking on.

While the 100-degree weather clearly took its toll on Brooks, the singer looked surprisingly comfortable on the field and in the cage, displayed a fluid swing and even blasted two homers to left field.

As I watched, I thought about how much his fans would enjoy reading about one of Brooks' other interests, the story of a man who already has everything, following his dream of playing baseball.

But that isn't the story you're reading now. Thanks to Brooks' heavy-handed management team, we'll never know what Saturday's experience meant to the most popular man in country music.

After waiting alone in a room for more than an hour for the promised 5-10 minutes of interview time, I was told that there had been a mix-up and that Brooks would not be allowed to speak with me. Or I with him.

His manager took great pride in explaining that everything Brooks does on the road has to be cleared with him. And even though another Brooks associate had arranged the interview, I was denied permission to ask the singer even the most harmless questions about his love for the game.

The Stars did Brooks a favor by allowing him to use their field, their equipment and their staff on Saturday. Yet his managers refused to reciprocate and let the singer discuss his day at the ballpark.

Instead, they escorted me from the premises and hurried Brooks past a group of autograph seekers and into his car.

Of course, it would be easy to say Garth Brooks had nothing to do with the incident. But that would be a cop-out.

Brooks pays his managers' salaries, he spends every waking moment with them on the road and he knows how they operate. They are essentially an extension of him, and he must be held fully accountable for their actions.

Most pro athletes seem to understand that. When an agent holds out for more money, the athlete is the one who pays the price with the fans.

It's funny, but I never thought anyone could take a lesson on dealing with the media from professional athletes.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

archive