I hate this part. I’m just sick of being in the paper every day, sick of it. Can’t you guys give me a month off,” said Pedro Martinez to the press as he prepared for the game against the Yankees Wednesday night and all the negative stories about how he can’t beat them. He concluded as many have before him, “It’s tough to be a star.”

In Denver on Sunday, Ray Bourque of the Colorado Avalanche met with the press and was asked about his effort to win his first Stanley Cup in 21 years in the game being the big story of the finals. He said, “Probably like a lot of people, I’m getting tired of hearing Ray Bourque, Ray Bourque, Ray Bourque this, Ray Bourque that. I mean, I am here to do a job and play hockey and win, try to win, my first Cup. It is a great story, but until it happens, you know, that’s all it is, a story, and I hope everything comes true. In the meantime, I’m kind of getting sick seeing my face all over the place.”

It wasn’t just his face that he was tired of seeing all over the place. During the first game in Denver on Saturday, ESPN, for whom I do the games, had a reporter in the stands go to the seats of the Bourque family and interview his two boys on camera.

After the game when Bourque found out about the interview, he was somewhat irate that the interview had been done without his permission.

In each case there are too many who would say, “Tough luck. I wish it were me.” Maybe and maybe not.

The practice of the press of every kind to run sports stories into the ground, especially when they center on a particular sports star, is becoming the norm. It’s all part of the glitz and hype that has long been part of the entertainment industry. What happened is that the number of outlets, especially the insatiable appetite of television, has necessitated that the media outlets take over the role of the press agent.

The media now battle one another for the big story, the juicy one with the stars. The higher the profile of the athlete, the more the media want from that star, and the more they get, the higher the profile – you get the picture.

When you think about it, there are hundreds of outstanding athletes who go about their business and spurn the massive doses of publicity. There are those, like Martinez and Bourque, who, given a choice, would do the same, but they are such stars in the athletic heavens that they cannot.

Instead, they try to measure out their availability, giving the press the necessary time to cover the games they play in and use the back entrances at other times. There is also the need to protect their families.

We are all too familiar with the idiots of the world who seek to draw attention to themselves by attaching to stars in legal and illegal ways. That is no small matter to those like Bourque.

There is no easy answer for the press or the players as to what is the right amount of up-front exposure. It is a measuring process that takes place every day during the sport’s seasons. As fans, we can help the cause by realizing there are privacy concerns for the athlete and show some respect for that by not demanding of the media that the big faces be on the air every minute.

For Martinez, life should be a lot easier after he beat the Yankees and ended the 0-3 record in his previous five starts against them. Of course, with the win will come greater status and a whole new story about why he struggled against the Yanks in the first place and how he found a way to win.

For Bourque, success may only add to the problem. If the Avs win the Cup, he will be hockey’s hottest offseason story, especially if he decides to end his career. He will be asked to appear everywhere in Denver and Boston and Quebec. Ah, that international status.

And Bourque thinks he’s tired of seeing his name in the press now.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and NBC sportscaster.