Are We Sufficiently Outraged Yet?
Published May 4th, 2007Twice this year now. A little while ago I talked about the problems in baseball with alcohol, the most recent offender being Tony LaRussa. I called for harsher penalties. I pointed out the idiocy of forgiving LaRussa just because “no one got hurt.” Well, now someone got hurt. Someone is dead. And guess who his manager is.
This is why MLB needs to step in and have stronger punishment for their employees, their public representatives. Why did young Josh Hancock think it was OK to drink and drive? Especially after he had just been in a drunk-driving accident not two days before? He once showed up drunk to a game - his punishment? $500 fine. What the hell? Maybe Hancock was just dumb, but maybe he thought it was OK because his widely respected manager does it. And he maybe he saw a $500 fine as rather minor, a slap on the wrist.
When I read how Hancock got into the crash - plowing at 70mph into the back of a tow truck with its lights and flashers on without braking - I assumed he must have been impaired somehow. Then I hear Hancock had been in a drunk accident two days earlier - this only strengthened my feeling. And now the report is out, he was far over the legal limit and had marijuana and a pipe in the car too. We know he was drunk, we don’t know yet if he was high too - but it doesn’t even matter. Being that drunk was enough.
LaRussa should be taking some responsibility for this. As a manager it’s his job to mentor his players. That’s a fact, that’s part of the job. And he did a poor job of it. And now, one of his kids is dead - because he did the same thing his manager does: drive drunk.
Hopefully some outrage was averted later this day, when Paris Hilton was sentenced to forty-some odd days in jail for driving with a suspended license.
Hilton, who parlayed her name and relentless partying into worldwide notoriety, must go to jail on June 5 and she will not be allowed any work release, furloughs, use of an alternative jail or any electronic monitoring in lieu of jail, Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer ruled after a hearing.
The judge ruled that she was in violation of the terms of her probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070504/ap_en_ce/paris_hilton;_ylt=AtDFhPyNwSOzpU1jUKU4L4is0NUE
You know, back when she got in the trouble I thought for sure she’d (her lawyers at least) would find a way to weasel her out. I’m glad I was wrong.