Norm! column

Oct 16, 2007

ROSE ISSUES CHALLENGE

[Hear the whole Rose interview here]

Disgraced baseball star Pete Rose says he won't lose this bet.

Rose, in an interview with Steve Friess on TheStripPodcast.com, said he will cough up $100 to anyone who sees him gambling.

Rose, the former Cincinnati Reds All-Star who was banned from baseball for gambling, told Friess, "I don't think my gambling was ever out of control. I mean, I'm not sitting here in denial.

"You have to understand that there was a lot of exaggeration about the amount of money I was betting. I never had any problems paying my mortgage or my gas or electric money or anything like that. I never had to borrow money from anyone to go and gamble. It wasn't one of those kinds of deals.

"Guys with gambling problems are up at 5 in the morning trying to figure out how to bet that day. I enjoyed 'Monday Night Football' and on my off days I enjoyed going to the races. But something was missing when I stopped playing as a player and I just needed that little edge and that little edge was betting on my own team to win."

He told me that he does not play at all in Vegas casinos and says that if anyone sees him playing, they can tap him on the shoulder and he'll give them a $100 bill.

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