Yesterday afternoon's revelation that self-confessed gambling addict Brendan Fevola either had a relapse or was just plain stooopid by being in and getting escorted from Crown Casino for playing poker, saw the media and related Twitter-sphere go into a predictable frenzy.

That this happened just hours before The Footy Show's much awaited exclusive - yet taped - interview with him only added to the hype.

One well-respected news journo tweeted news of the story with the hash tags "#moron" and "#lostcause" yet works for a show that has had no problem glamorizing and paying appearance money to "gangland wives". You be the judge on who's been a bigger menace to society.

While an ex-Channel 9 employee gleefully stated that the "footy show iv has dust on it already", underlining how little newsroom types know about ratings.

Because, make no mistake, last night's interview on the Footy Show can be the making of Brendan Fevola in a way that even he doesn't know. While his on-field footy career is uncertain, the one certainty is that he'll be a compelling and on-going media talent in retirement should he keep himself reasonably nice from here on in. Unlike most oh-so-bland ex-players currently earning a crust from saying and/or writing the bleeding obvious, he'll be compelling and worth a listen or look.

And don't worry about what the tsk-tsk-tsk columnists have been writing, the general public can easily relate to someone who's stuffed up on the punt and/or the piss, and if he (and let's face it, it's rarely 'she') puts up their hand and says "sorry", then as far as most are concerned, the slate is wiped clean until the next stuff up.

Just as the cloistered and herd-like political writers are usually the last to realize when a politician has lost touch with the general populace (Rudd), or has gathered steam with the masses (Baillieu), the unfolding of Fevola has generally seen the AFL media for what they mostly are: out-of-touch schoolyard bullies.

Grudge-carrying writers have been happy to condemn him from afar, all the while currying favors with inept club administrators who were trying to cover their own collective arses for signing the forward to arguably the worst high-profile transfer deal in AFL history.

And of course after being sacked by the Brisbane Lions and deciding to move home and play for the VFL club closest to his family - Casey - the media dutifully reported the Melbourne Football Club were "fuming" that their aligned club picked him up because it would hinder the development of their young players.

Please! All those who believe that that's why the Demons really don't want him there, please get in touch so I can sell you a horse that's sure to win the next three Melbourne Cups, despite breaking down last week after a solid 11th at Edenhope. (And while we're at it, the development of Tom Scully at Melbourne is likely to be really hindered if he goes to Greater Western Sydney because he wasn't signed last year to a long-term deal.)

None of this is said in defence of Fevola who, in his own words, has been the making of his own troubles, but to put some perspective on the reality of the media coverage and the zest to cut down tall-poppies.

Go back a decade ago, and the three most controversial and targeted Footy Show figures with direct involvement in the game were Collingwood president Eddie McGuire, Hawthorn captain Shane Crawford and then Melbourne star David Schwarz.

We were constantly told by those that tell us how to think that McGuire should have stepped down from Collingwood due to conflicts as host, while the player's needed to give the media a rest as they should be "concentrating on their football."

Today, of course, McGuire is the reigning premiership president of a powerhouse that was borderline another word ending with ... house when he took over, while Crawford and Schwarz, when their respective bodies could give no more, have in retirement forged meaningful and highly rewarding careers ... in the media.

The latter in particular is the obvious parallel, given his successful and public comeback from gambling addiction, as well as being loved by the public due to a larger than life and open-book personality, yet it's a fair question to consider how Schwarz would have been able to cope with his journey under the scrutiny constantly aimed at Fevola?

Last year the Herald Sun's Mike Sheahan was praising Ben Cousins for his "uplifting" documentary on his battle with drugs, signing off the piece with: "Who knows where he might have found himself without football during the past two years? We will have a better handle on that question after the doco. Good luck to him."

Yet in today's Herald Sun Sheahan thinks that the Casey Scorpions - the Casey effing Scorpions for gawd's sake - should drop him because he walked into Crown, played a couple of hands of poker and, when it was (sensibly) suggested by a responsible gaming person he should leave, then passively walked out.

So good luck to a drug addict and well done to the AFL club that picked him up, because "who knows where he might have found himself?"

Yet what was Sheahan's message for Fevola, the gambling addict? "Surely those at Casey Scorpions pushing the case for his recruitment will have been shaking their heads in disbelief. If the Scorpions abandon him, as their AFL partner Melbourne urged them to do, then it's got to be all over."

What's all over? In his own words on The Footy Show interview, Fevola's battles with alcohol, gambling and family life have been, and continue to be, a real life struggle. And now people want to stop him having a kick at the local footy club?  

("Racetrack" Ralphy Horowitz is a former producer at "The Footy Show", "Sunday Footy Show", 3AW and SEN, and now works full-time in horseracing. Twitter.com/rtralphy)