Sports Illustrated's cover-story last week on
professional athletes fathering out-of-wedlock children
featured a young Khalid Minor, the son of Celtics G/F Greg
Minor, on its cover. In Orlando, Jerry Greene calls the
cover shot "cruelly exploitative." Greene: "What it
illustrated was not the report but the fact that we
sensationalize things today, even when we believe we're
acting on this side of righteousness" (ORLANDO SENTINEL,
5/8). In K.C., Jason Whitlock, on the SI piece: "The
complaints I've heard are that the issue was too personal and
had nothing to do with sports, and many journalists thought
SI exploited [Khalid Minor] by putting him on the cover with
the headline, 'Where's Daddy?' I agree with the second
complaint, but not with the first" (K.C. STAR, 5/8).
CELTS RESPOND: Celtics President/coach Rick Pitino, on
Minor's well-documented paternity problems: "As an
organization, it is our job to counsel these players. In
most of these situations, the organization has no say." On
releasing Minor: "Waive him for what? For being a bad
father? That's not a choice" (BOSTON GLOBE, 5/8).
OSCAR CALLS STORY "OUT OF LINE": Boxer Oscar De La Hoya,
who was also mentioned in the SI story, called the piece "out
of line," but said that he won't take any action against the
magazine (Ursula Reel, N.Y. POST, 5/8).
