A New Definition Of Charlie Hustle

Did anyone else catch Pete Rose on Real Time with Bill Maher this past week? Appearing on the show via remote from whatever Las Vegas casino in which he is now employed as a greeter, Rose did a bizarre five minutes in which he:

1. Defended Barry Bonds; 2. Condemned Bonds; 3. Told a weird story that went nowhere; 4. Made the point that taking steroids did not help former track star Ben Johnson with his hand-eye coordination.

Rose then told a joke — so forgetful that we actually forget what it was — and totally cracked himself up.

Maher then posed the question many have been dying to ask of Rose, we would imagine. "You've been itching to get into the Hall of Fame. But you have all the hits, you've done everything there is to do in baseball," Maher said. "So why don't you just say, 'I don't need your Hall of Fame?'"

A good question, to which Rose really had no answer, except to say that he wanted to be allowed back into baseball to "help younger players learn the game." This would have had a more noble ring to it if he hadn't been sitting next to a slot machine at the time.