As much media loves Arnie, Vin, they promote opposite

WE LOST Arnold Palmer last Sunday, at 87. Vin Scully, 88, wraps it up Sunday in San Francisco.

The eulogies for Palmer and the salutes to Scully could be interchangeable: men of class, true professionalism, cherished sportsmen, gentlemen, unconditionally modest and aware that they’re no bigger than their games they leave. The vote was unanimous. So then, why do we not cele- brate and reward those who now behave as Palmer and Scully did?

Why do media, especially TV and advertisers, choose the preeners, garbage-talkers, braggarts, bat-flippers, home plateposers, TD dancers, muscleflexers and chest-beaters — the conspicuously immodest — as the VIPs of sports?

How many who now behave as Palmer did will be left to eulogize as genuine, cherished sportsmen when we’ve determined that such folks are not worth TV’s attention and favor; they don’t meet modern requirements?

Why are those who behave like Palmer — or might otherwise be encouraged or inspired to behave like him — rejected as commercially unacceptable, as lacking the “edginess” and “attitude” to promote sport and product?

Same with Scully. For all the TV and radio voices who have expressed their enormous regard for Scully’s calm, clear and literate style, why have so few tried to be anything like him?

Why are the hollerers, hypeheaded and rehearsed cheap-trick artists now the preferred hires?

A Vin Scully today wouldn’t make it past the first audition. He was that good. ESPN never tires of emphasizing the absurd as significant. Wednesday, Orioles’ pinch- hitter Hyun Soo Kim hit a ninth-inning homer to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead in Toronto. “SportsCenter” reported it was Kim’s “first home run in the eighth inning or later.”

For crying out loud, Kim’s a rookie! He previously has hit just five homers!

But what moderately intelligent sports fans would reject as stupid, ESPN presents to the nation’s sports fans as insight, knowledge, wisdom.