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Show Inside Sports Hit king is no rose in new ESPN telepic By Gaorg DlcUa Zap2it images of Pete Rose be more stark in Two The first is of a man reaching the top of his profession. For Rose, that happened Sept 11, 1985, when as a playermanager for the Cincinnati Reds, he singled off San Diego Padre Eric Show for his 4,192nd career hit, breaking Ty Cobb's all-tirecord. The game was stopped and an ceremony comRose's achievement memorating ' ensued. The second is of public disgrace, in the form of an Aug. 24, 1989, press conference during which ti Baseball Commissioner Bart announced Rose's banishment from the sport for betting on baseball games. Rose himself stood before the media and discussed what had to be the sad v dest day of his life - as well as one of the saddest chapters in baseball history. What happened in between is the subject of a new ESPN original movie. "Hustle,'' which debuts Saturday, Sept. 25, tells the story of a man falling apart from the inside, of Rose downfall from the lofty heights of the baseball elite to gambling addition, bankruptcy and a prison term. Tom Sizemore ("Saving Private Ryan," "Natural Born Rulers") plays Rose.-Thscript is based in large part on the findings contained in the Dowd Report, which documented Rose's gambling during those years and formed the basis for his banishment. Peter Bogdanovich ("The Last Picture Show," "They All Laughed"), who directed the film, believes that Rose's problems began when his playing career ended. "We don't explicitly say it, but I think it's the fact that he wasn't , e on-fie- ld Gia-mat- playing baseball. The lack of that thing that he got from playing baseball every day - the rush of adrenaline and the excitement, the thrill, the suspense of it he says. "Suddenly at a reasonably young age for a man or a woman, the thing that's kept him alive, the thing he's been alive for is suddenly ended. That need to win every day that kept him going, understanding what his focus was - suddenly that's gone, and this is how he reacted. I mean, I think he had a major gambling problem. He became addicted to it." According to Bogdanovich, Rose did the things gambling addicts typically do - "Fooling around on his wife. Sticking other people with money he owes. Lying through his teeth. All of that," he says. But while the script shows Rose doing reprehensible things, Sizemore and Bogdanovich were intent to not portray Rose as a stereotypical bad guy. "Well, he is the heavy," Bogdanovich allows, "but we took pains not to make him a character. It's mostly in the way it's played and in the way he reacts to certain things. Also, in his relationship with his wife. ... And Tom, when he first read the script, said to me, 'Jeez, where's the redemption?" Because the script does not redeem him very much. And I said to Tom, 'In And he said, 'OK, I the close-ups- .' got it' So a lot of the time, he's doing things that are really reprehensible, but you go to a close-- , up and you see that he's kind of not really a mean person." Bogdanovich lauds the performance of Sizemore, who he admits he had no role in casting. "When I was asked to do the picture, I said, 'Who are you thinking about?" And they were thinking of Tom Sizemore. And there was a problem with him because black-and-whi- te of his problems with the law. And I said, "Well, I think he'd be great' He's got an edge, he's a very good actor, and I think he can be likable. My main concern was in making the character not detestable, and Tom brought a lot of edge to it, a very charismatic performance 1 think the most he's ever given." Bogdanovich, who is not necessarily a baseball fan, came away from the project liking Rose. "I found myself liking him despite everything," he says. "I found myself feeling sorry for him quite a lot. I think the audience at the end of the picture - although we don't it at all - but I think at the end of the picture, you feel sorry for him. I think he's paid the price. ... I started out feeling he was kind of disreputable and ended up feeling sorry for him. I still feel sorry for him." -- soft-pedd- le The Week in Sports September 19, 2004 10:00 AJVL ing Green at Northern Illinois. (CO (CO September 20, 2004 Q NFL Football 7KK) PJVL co 49ers O NFL Football Min- Racing Nextel 00 PJVL 11:30 AJVL . PJVL Era 1IBS3 MLB Baseball Teams TBA. (CC) 00 pjvl inca ten mlb Mile. (CC) o I1BS1MLB Baseball ' Atlanta Braves Marlins. (CO : at Florida . 10:30 . u AJVL iBXI MLB Baseball Teams TBA (CO Yii Round. li'mln t!EOI PGA Golf 84 ; (CO tTEBl Tennis Davis Cup, . September 23, 2004 ' Lumber Classic, Second . Thursday - PJVL Semifinal Round: Belarus vs. 5:00 Women's College at BYU. lira College Football (CC) l!Ba MLB U Teams TBA. (CC) 10:00 AM. IIBH HIBKI AM. ffl Baseball College MLB Baseball III NASCAR Racing Busch Series Stacker 200. (CC) Q College Football Air at Utah. 1:30 PJVL College Football Texas Tech at Kansas. IIR9 College Football Teams TBA. (CO 4:00 PJVL HESS College Foot- ball Teams TBA. (CC) 5 KM) PJVL IB College Football Rice vs. Texas. Ifl College Football USC at O College Football Teams TBA (CC) Sox. (CO I IBIEl College Football Northwestern at Minnesota. (CC) - 7KK) PJVL 7:30 PJVL ED Women's College Soccer Washington State at Teams TBA (CC) IKK) PJVL !Ca ;EZX MLB Baseball Kansas City Royals at Chicago White Football Teams TBA. (CC) 11KK) 11KB PGA Golf 84 Lumber Classic, Third Round. (CC) Stanford. Saturday Force United States. (CC) PJVL CD September 25, 2004 400, Qualifying. (CC) 2:00 CI TBA. (CC) Kill NASCAR Racing Nextel Cup MBNA America PJVL orado Rockies. t;E5 Football Washington at Notre Dame. (CC) Q College 3:45 PJVL at Boise State. Cup, Semifinal Round: Belarus 12:30 PJVL Baseball Teams TBA. (CC) FuturityMa-tronAtt- MLB Baseball St. Tennis Davis vs. United States. (CC) IE3MLB Baseball Arizona Diamondbacks at Col- 7:00 at Oakland Raiders. ICS IIEB1 WNBA Basketball First Round, Game 1: Teams Friday September 22, 2004 NFL Football Buf- O Horse Racing ,i Col- Wednesday PJVL BYU September 24, 2004 (CC) PJVL IE3 PJVL 7.-0-0 8:00 . (CC) PJVL Volleyball Utah Heavyweights. orado Rockies. Tigers at Chicago White Sox. 6 KM) Cincinnati 8:00 PJW. IBSI Boxing Rydell Booker vs. James Toney, MLB Baseball Arizona Diamondbacks at KSa MLB Baseball Detroit 6:00 Rockies. 5:00 falo Bills 1383 College Football PJVL Ba MLB Baseball fltta PGA Golf Valero Q Braves. (CC) 5:30 - September 21, 2004 (CO 2:00 (CO at Atlanta Eagles. (CC) Texas Open, Final Round. PJVL Florida Marlins Baseball Louis Cardinals at Colorado Tuesday NOON JtlESa WNBA Basketball Charlotte Sting at Detroit PJVL 1 EH MLB Lumber Classic, First Round. Reds at Atlanta Braves. (CC) Cup Sylvania 300. (CC) IKK) PJVL 5:30 Miami at Houston. (CC) Saints. (CC) . Shock. (CC) PGA Golf 84 O College Football Washington State at Arizona or Teams TBA. nesota Vikings at Philadelphia at New Orleans Ml NASCAR 1KB 1:30 PJVL Monday sonville Jaguars. (CO O NFL Football San Francis- College Football Bowl- Bengals. (CC) 0 Golf Ryder Cup, Denver Broncos at Jack- IBIEl Miami Dolphins at Cincinnati PJVL Day Three. (CC) 11:00 AJVL tlEa NFL Football IEZI MLB Baseball Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh Pirates. 6:30 Sunday BYU. 8:15 PJVL IBSI Boxing Glencoffe Johnson vs. Roy Jones Jr., Light Heavyweights. (CC) 10:00 PJVL Q Women's College Soccer Washington State BYU. at |