CBS News Anchor (Indiana) Eric Halvorson's Blog

By Eric Halvorson
WISH-TV
October 23, 2006

I might have let this one go, if it weren't for an open letter from the Pacers -- and a discovery in a pile of old articles I found at home.

In the Sports section of yesterday's Indianapolis Star, the Pacers offered an apology for the strip club incident and an assurance that the team's on the road back. I saw that ad as I fought my inner pack rat and got rid of old newspaper and magazine articles.

One is a column from Sports Illustrated. In the issue dated August 9, 2004, Steve Rushin wrote about public relations problems for professional athletes. He quoted Mike Paul, a PR expert who Rushin described as a specialist in "crisis and reputation-management:

"Forget the Andre Agassi adage, "Image is everything." As Paul tells athletes, "An image is fake, but a reputation is built. If you want to build a positive reputation, you don't need spin, you need bricks. And those bricks better include humility, truth, transparency and accountability, which will then build character and integrity. Those, ultimately, equal a positive long-term reputation."