You loved him; you hated him

[mgc1961]

I didn't like George Steinbrenner. He was just the kind of chesty bully I had feared and hated as a kid — rich, swaggering, mouthy. But over the years, he evoked mixed feelings that I still have, including gratitude, compassion, admiration and loathing. George could press your buttons.

As a Bronx-born Yankees fan, I bridled in 1973 when this white-belted Clevelander bought into my sacred precinct promising to be a silent partner. He soon became the loudest owner in sports. When he bought Catfish Hunter for nearly $4 million a few years later, I was delighted that such a great pitcher was coming to my team, yet cynical: Why wouldn't a man who had tried to buy the presidency for Nixon (his felony conviction was for illegal campaign contributions) try to buy a pennant?

As a sportswriter, I was grateful for his presence. His treatment of players, employees and managers offered a deliciously toxic pile of stories to write, although I often, shamefully in retrospect, responded in kind. I wish I hadn't referred to him so often as "The Fat Man." Once, when I interviewed him in his office as a TV correspondent, I was surprised and a little sickened by the way he oiled around me and my producer (a young woman he ostentatiously "charmed") because he was desperate at that moment in the late 1980s for some good publicity. He begged us to treat him kindly, and he fussed over his camera angles. It worked.

More at http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2010-07-14-column14_ST1_N.htm