I finally got around to watching the Pete Rose interview from last week's Primetime on ABC. I haven't read the book yet. I refuse to give Rose my money, so I'm going to put it on reserve at the library.

Pete lost me right from the start. At the beginning of the interview, Charles Gibson quotes Rule 21 (the rule prohibiting gambling) to Rose and mentioned that it is posted in every Major League clubhouse. Pete immediately says that "lots of ballplayers don't read that stuff." He got defensive right off the bat. You knew it was wrong, Pete. Whether you ever read one of those signs or not, you knew it was against the rules to bet on Baseball.

The next strike against Rose, for me, was this foolishness about denying that he ever bet on baseball from the clubhouse. First of all, what does it matter? The rule doesn't say anything about where you place your bets; whether he did it from his home, a payphone, the clubhouse, or the Commissioner's office is irrelevant. He broke the rule. Also, the Dowd Report (check out www.dowdreport.com for more) has gobs of evidence that Rose made calls to gamblers from the Reds clubhouse phone. Why would he come clean on the fact that he gambled and still lie about making the calls from the clubhouse? Does he think it's more noble somehow if he used another phone?

Strike Three for me was the fact that Pete still doesn't seem to recognize that he has a problem. Charles Gibson asked Rose if he thought gambling addiction was a sickness and Pete said "For some people it is." Yes, Pete, and you are one of those people! Even worse, he is part-owner of a race horse and still goes to the track.

I had two conditions for letting Rose back into Baseball. First was that he had to come clean on the gambling issue. He's done that. Second was that he had to beg for forgiveness and show that he's a changed man. I didn't see any of that in the interview. As far as I'm concerned, this is all about Rose selling books and getting into the Hall of Fame so that the autographed junk he sells is worth a little more money.

As far as I'm concerned, MLB should continue Rose's banishment from the game. He still doesn't get what he's done and why he's being punished. After 15 years, you would think it would have sunk it.