June 2005, many of us can remember it like it was yesterday. We all watched our hometown heroes, our San Antonio Spurs; bring home their third NBA title. The city, along with the Spurs organization, spent about a week partying and celebrating.

However, unlike cities such as Detroit and Los Angeles, San Antonio is able to pride itself in celebrating in a responsible manner. Cars weren’t overturned, extreme cases of vandalism didn’t occur, we simply behaved ourselves.  It is one of the reasons why we are proud to be from San Antonio. 

However, the recent behavior of KENS-5 sportscaster Joe Reinagel has made us cringe. Reinagel was charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct/behavior Monday morning (Feb. 26) after allegedly becoming belligerent with police officers.  Reinagel reportedly became engaged in a verbal confrontation with officers at a local hospital where his wife had been taken after she had been pulled over for speeding and suspected of being intoxicated and soon after complained of having difficulty breathing.  Police reports state that Reinagel yelled obscenities at officers and refused to follow their orders.

His innocence or guilt aside, the mere thought that he was caught in such a situation puts a black dot on the sports world of our city.  As a well-known sportscaster he is a local celebrity and his behavior reflects not only himself, but the corporation he works for and the city of San Antonio as well.
With his well-known position locally, Reinagel is also held to certain expectations by those around him. Rather than demonstrating how a model citizen should behave, Reinagel acted in the completely opposite manner.

Reinagel, and all other sportscasters and local celebrities, should remember that in exchange for the high salaries they are paid, they are looked up to as role models for the rest of the city. We only hope that Reinagel’s recent behavior is something that will not become part of the “norm” here in San Antonio.
The city of San Antonio has maintained a great level of respect among its peers in the sports world, and we should not allow one citizen, despite his celebrity status, to ruin the reputation we have strived to uphold.

We can only hope such rare occurrences will not affect other people’s behavior and San Antonio can still be a city of champions.