THE PETE ROSE DECISION : Other Views : Nation’s Press Shows Little Empathy for Rose : <i> (The reaction to the lifetime suspension of Pete Rose is strong. Here is how some of the country’s top sports columnists saw the decision.)</i>

He leaves the stage still kidding himself, still believing he is still somehow above the game, which, let’s face it, is what got him thrown out in the first place. “I never bet on baseball,” Pete Rose insisted again Thursday morning, the day he was banned for life for exactly that.

. . . In the final tally, all the words don’t matter. Rose, the former star player and manager of the Cincinnati Reds, is out of the game, as of now, for life--the result of charges that he bet on games involving his own team. He can apply for reinstatement in a year, but (Bart) Giamatti is under no obligation to take him back. Not next year. Not the year after. He can say “See ya Pete,” from now until Seattle wins a World Series.

. . . In years to come, when the anger over his sins subsides, there will be homage paid to the marvelous energy with which Rose attacked baseball: his cloud-of-dusts slides, his I-dare-you glares at a pitcher. The way he played the game, the sympathetic will sigh. But you know what? Any boy can play a game. You have to be a man to face yourself.

Try swinging at that one, Pete.