FOCUS SHOULD BE ON MCSHERRY'S LIFE, NOT DEATH.

Byline: MICHAEL VENTRE

How do you feel about viewing tragedy? Is it something you enjoy? Is it something that holds a morbid fascination for you? Is it something you can't bring yourself to look at, or is it something you just can't take your eyes away from?

I think of this in the aftermath of John McSherry's death. He was the veteran umpire who collapsed Monday in Cincinnati at the age of 51,only seven pitches into the season opener between the Reds and the Montreal Expos.

There is much to be gained from grieving over McSherry. He was, by all accounts, a good man and a fine umpire. He was beloved by friends and respected by even the most hardened professional ballplayer. The more you think about McSherry's life, the more you understand the impact one man can have on his little world and the example he set for others in his passion for the game and his work ethic.

But there is absolutely nothing to be gained by replaying the tape of McSherry's final minutes. He was a big man and he fell forward onto the dirt and died soon afterward. That's all we really need to know about the actual occurrence to deal with the loss.

It does not serve this man's memory well to show it over and over. And issuing a warning about the disturbing nature of the footage doesn't help. It was painful to watch once. To show it repeatedly only serves to pound away at the viewing audience with the shock value of the event.

Because this happened in full view of a stadium crowd does not make it fair game for the airwaves. Some sense of decorum is called for. Some respect for McSherry's family and friends is demanded.

We see death on television more often than we would like. But there are restrictions. A robber who bursts into a convenience store and shoots a clerk dead makes the store's video camera. Whether it makes the local news is up to a station's news director. Usually, it doesn't, because it is deemed gratuitous and serves no purpose except to appeal to a lurid fascination with death.

So how is McSherry's tragedy different? It was terrible. He should have lived many more years. Although his death was the result of natural causes, that makes it no easier to view. We can mourn McSherry's passing without being bombarded with the horrible images of the event itself.

What I would rather have seen were more testimonials about McSherry from friends and players and managers and fans. I wanted to know more about the man who left us. I wanted to see reaction from the medical community about his arrhythmia.

And of course, I know all this will come. Or will it?

Is the newsworthiness of John McSherry how he died, rather than what he did while he was here? Was the videotape of his collapse the sole reason for paying attention? If he died in his sleep in November rather than on the field on opening day, would anyone outside of the baseball community care?

That he died in the line of duty - and yes, he was so devoted to baseball that he undoubtedly viewed his service in those terms - certainly adds to the interest. But he was also overweight.

It seems to me that there is some insensitivity involved in showing a man of his size stumbling and falling forward into the dirt over and over again. McSherry was not proud of his weight. It was a longtime concern for himself and those around him.

Does that make it more of an attraction for gawkers? Apparently, somebody thinks so, or it wouldn't have been shown over and over on every newscast in the country.

But really, if there is fault here, it lies with the viewers. The people who show the video always say they're just responding to the wishes of their audience.

Maybe people want to see McSherry collapse on the 4 o'clock, 5 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 11 o'clock news because they can't get enough of it. Or, maybe the nation has become so anesthetized to tragedy on the news that an umpire dying at a baseball game is run-of-the-mill stuff.

After Rodney King, Bosnia, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, the Menendez brothers and Oklahoma City, apparently few of us are appalled to see the video of a man in cardiac arrest shown repeatedly.

I can only hope the McSherry tragedy doesn't go away. I'd love to see tributes from the commissioner's office, from the players' union, from the owners, from the fans and from his fellow umpires. I'd like to know more about an accomplished individual who worked in a profession where individuality was frowned upon.

But I don't want to see the video ever again. Even once was one too many.

MEMO: Michael Ventre's column appears in the Daily News four days a week.