Of Danny McBride’s comic creation Kenny Powers, former Braves closer John Rocker insists, “It’s about me. It is. The guy wears 49, is a Braves pitcher, he’s a bit of a hothead. It’s kind of obvious.” Continuing on a promo tour of television stations to promote his new tome, Scars & Strikes, Rocker continues to blame  Jeff Pearlman for his rotten reputation, claiming the Sports Illustrated scribe / author is prone to “vilifying every subject he encounters.”  And some of ’em don’t give Pearlman nearly so much to work with!  From WXIA Atlanta (link swiped from Baseball Think Factory):

Jaye Watson asked, “Do you blame him completely for the article for you looking like a racist and a homophobe?”

“Absolutely,” said Rocker.

Watson replied, “So none of it was your fault? Nothing that you said?”

Rocker answered, “If the article was 20 pages long and my long winded commentary had been included in its entirety, the opinion of me today would be drastically different.”

Rocker uses his book to make clear his views on immigrants. He writes that he welcomes those who are legal, who want to assimilate, learn english and adapt to american culture. But he also says, “If you are that kind of immigrant that comes here, looking to exploit, looking to take advantage, not looking at any way shape or form to endear yourself to this great country. I don’t appreciate you.”

Rocker launched a ‘Speak English’ campaign, t shirts included. He said a trip to Miami frustrated him. “I went to a Starbucks, tried to simply order coffee. The person was literally insisting I order my coffee in spanish. I was like ‘I could do it’, but I’m not going to.”