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3-19-98 Dennis Prager on KABC Radio AM 790. In Cleveland, Ohio, Sean O'Brien, a 16-year old, did not like his band teacher. So he put up a web site where he insults the man. He puts on the site that he "is an overweight middle aged man who does not like to get hair cuts." The school suspended the kid for making the site. The school requires students to not demonstrate disrespect/threats to school employees. The ACLU took up his cause, and a federal judge ordered the school district to reinstate the student. Prager supports private schools making requirements on its students outside of school. But after taking a long and thoughtful first call, he decided that public schools should not regulate students' behavior outside of school. Dennis said that he would fire an employee who put a web site saying he was a big jerk. DP wondered about libel. What can you say about others and get away with? If it is true, you are immune to libel. For public figures, to receive a libel judgement you must prove that you were economically harmed by the libel, and that it was recklessly untrue. So by my emailing anything touchy to Dennis Prager and his assistant, before publishing it, I basically made myself immune to conviction for libel.
From 1:30 PM onward, Dennis Prager bemoaned the commercialization of sport. When DP was a boy, he was a big sports fan and knew all the big player's sports statistics. Now his kids and their friends could care less about sports. Players change teams too often because of free agency and teams charge too much for ticket prices. DP interviewed a USC professor of management who also declared pro sports was in trouble. Several women called DP to say how much they love the sport. One does Fantasy League baseball, only one of two females among twelve teams. The girls say they will only pick nice guys like Cal Ripken. Her male peers laughed at her. DP says that he roots for the teams with the players who demonstrate good character. DP was disappointed by the decorum at sporting events - the loud cursing, blaring radio… DP and woman caller did not want to bring her kids. DP and Larry Elder agreed that teams had no commitment to their communities. DP says that his six year older brother Kenny is still traumatized because when he was twelve, the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
Thursday, March 19, 1998 Dennis began the show by discussing a case out of Cleveland, Ohio in which a 16 year old boy was suspended from his public high school for putting up a web site on the Internet about a teacher he disliked. He put up a picture of his band teacher and wrote, among other things, that his teacher favored certain students and that he was middle-aged, overweight and didn't like to get haircuts. Dennis read an article in which it was noted that the student signed a statement at the beginning of the year, along with his classmates, that they will not show physical or verbal disrespect to teachers. The article also said that the boy sued the school district and some of the administrators for $550,000 in damages and that the ACLU made a statement that this was a free speech issue and was in support of the student. Dennis disagreed. He said that the boy signed the statement, knew the rules, and that the school had a right to discipline him.
The first caller of the day convinced Dennis that it was in fact a free speech issue because this was not something the boy did at school and the boy is attending a public school. It is not an illegal activity and the school had no constitutional right to tell a student what he can do on his own free time, off school grounds. Dennis argued back and forth with the caller to pose his arguments and in the end, Dennis agreed with him and said since it is a public school they should allow him to do what he wants on his own computer during out of school hours. Almost all of the remaining callers supported this first caller's claim and the arguments from the ones who took on Dennis' original stance couldn't convince Dennis to sway from his new position. Dennis posed the following question, what if this same student, just outside of school property, held up a sign with the same message he had on the Internet? Would anyone take away his right to publicly demonstrate? Dennis emphasized that the protest was not on school property. Dennis said that although he doesn't like what the youth did, and he wonders where his parents are in all this, he does see it as a fee speech issue.
At 1:30 Dennis began the topic for the rest of the show. He said that whenever he thinks of spring, he thinks of baseball. It was a big deal when he grew up in Brooklyn. He is not happy with professional sports today. He noted that his sons, and their friends, are not excited about professional sports. He said that when he was a boy he collected baseball cards, knew the batting averages of his team players, etc. He said that except for the big games, i.e. baseball's World Series or football's Super Bowl, kids today don't have the excitement they used to have. Dennis said that teams are moving from state to state. Players are moving from team to team. Dennis noted how expensive it is today to take a family to most professional sporting events, especially basketball and football. He also noted how the atmosphere has changed. He said that the last time he attended Dodger Stadium he couldn't believe all the adults cursing, screaming, and blasting their radios with game announcers. He said that he used to love to go to the ball park because it was so peaceful. First of all, he said, baseball is the only sport that is not time-bound. It ends when the game is over, not after a time clock has expired. And the decorum of the fans used to be so tasteful. Now it just doesn't sound all that enjoyable anymore. Dennis lamented these changes, i.e. the lack of enthusiasm in kids today, the crudeness of the fans at the games, and the expense in attending the games, no loyalty by teams towards to cities and players to teams. All though a couple of callers disagreed with Dennis, almost all said that they have noticed these trends for a few years now.
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