Tuesday, May 08, 2007

More Brilliance from MLB

Some comments over at Jerry's Wheelhouse have led me to my pulpit at G:TB. My apologies in advance for the heavy-handedness. I just like to call bullshit where I see it.

I find it amazing that suddenly the blame for Josh Hancock's death is getting thrown the way of baseball locker rooms and not his notable alcoholism and his penchant for the Irish taxi. ("Hailing a green checkered.) Every two-bit journalist seems to be up in arms that there was ever beer served in clubhouses. Is anyone really thinking this will significantly curb ballplayers' drinking? Is there supposed to be a message in this?

Maybe, just maybe, the propaganda shouldn't fixate on liability concerns cloaked as moral ground and the notion that baseball players drinking in their workplace is outrageous; maybe it should be about pleading for responsibility and accountability when you drink, but those are two words whose mere mention makes most Americans cower. At best they're terms used in a very, very hollow manner.Yep, I sound hypocritical, but when I joke about "reckless bartenders overserving me" and such, that's sarcasm pointed directly back at my own flaws.

How many pro athletes have DUI's now? How many can easily afford some form of transportation other than their own vehicle? How many times did Hancock play a drunken Pac-Man with the highway stripes without one of his close confidants -- close enough to publicly weep over his loss -- taking him aside, even kicking the crap out of him if need be? It's not a criticism, it's illustrating an area of need. Keeping Bud Lights out of exactly one section of the stadium is not such a need.

Teach friends to come forward and grab buddies by the nape of the neck; re-stress to people everywhere with concrete examples that they simply have to call cabs, hide keys, do whatever it takes. Step up for those who are impaired. Again, pot-kettle here, I know. But I've hidden keys and forcibly called cabs and lost a friend to drunk driving and had relatives get DUI's and argued a lot when comrades tried like hell to get me to rethink driving drunk . . . and appreciated it like hell the next day.

Getting off the soapbox for now, but with every story of a baseball team banning drinking from its clubhouse, it strikes me as the same as colleges banning kegs. Well, that took care of the problem, wipe your hands and call it a day. Or maybe it's just inconvenient and annoying to those affected while not drying anyone out a drop. Exert that energy more wisely.

It reminds me of an episode of "Donahue" from the fall of 1991; some tall, bearded genius among the audience brought a roar of applause with a tempered, rational look at how misguided so much of today's alcohol-related policies and actions are. If anyone can track that brilliant guy down, I'd love to buy him a beer.

19 comments:

T.J. said...

That picture is fantastic.

rob said...

i think that's the first picture of any of us to grace g:tb or mlc. this is whit's play for mass media superstardom.

rob said...

oh, and teejay - that's what cliff looked like with hair.

T.J. said...

Kinda ruins it for me...I just figured he was always bald and looked like Scott Hamilton.

Geoff said...

I can't help but laugh at the contrived outrage being expressed (mainly by the public calling in) on sports radio at the thought of ball players (gasp) having a beer in the clubhouse after a game. It's a baseball clubhouse, not a series of cubicles. And these are adults legally drinking alcohol...and from what I can gather it is not exactly a binge-filled brannigan taking place here replete with funnels and guys shotgunning PBRs. I think it's a handful of guys on some teams having a miller lite while they talk to morbidly obeise beat writers.

I swear half the people in this country would support legislation to outlaw matches if their house burned down.

Greg said...

He was drinking in a bar. Banning beer from the clubhouse will do nothing except make it harder to relax after a game. These people are a bunch of jerkasses.

T.J. said...

Star Wars mastermind George Lucas is coming out on the attack, slamming Spider-Man 3.

At the Time 100 party in NYC on Tuesday night, Lucas said, "[Spider-Man 3] It's silly. It's a silly movie," he said. "There just isn't much there. Once you take it all apart, there's not much story, is there? People thought Star Wars was silly, too, but it wasn't."


He does remember he gave us the worst character in the history of movies, right?

Geoff said...

You'd be bitter too if you had no chin.

Whitney said...

Rob, I think I remembering you posting on MLC the goofy pic of me that made the papers last year. It was neat.

Mark said...

I think TJ also posted a hungover pic of himself a few months back.

Jerry said...

Baseball and beer have a long tradition. From Mickey Mantle to Grover Cleveland Alexander's tall tale of being roused from bullpen during a legendary hangover to Keith Hernandez drinking a beer in the clubhouse during the 9th inning of game 6. It's sad to see it go.

Unlike other sports, baseball players live on the road. They're in the same city on consecutive nights and they're playing games every day. There's no reason why some boozing wouldn't be incorporated into their daily routine.

rob said...

ahh, good point, whit. you were quite handsome in that photo.

T.J. said...

Well, this made my afternoon:

Jeff Ruby, owner of the steakhouse Jeff Ruby’s Louisville, asked O.J. Simpson to leave his restaurant minutes after Simpson arrived about 10:30 Friday night.

Told by a customer that the former football player had arrived at the restaurant, 325 W. Main St., Ruby said, he informed Simpson, "I am not serving you.'

rob said...

the nots keep on keepin' on, falling again today. 9-25 now, on pace for 43 wins.

Geoff said...

I predicted 43-119...so clearly I'm clairvoyant.

T.J. said...

Dennis and Heath might as well send me my cases of beer today. This team is a disaster.

T.J. said...

So, let me make sure I have this right: Dale Earnhardt Jr. will no longer race for Dale Earnhardt Inc. after this season. Yeah, that makes sense. His mom must be a humongous c-whistle.

rob said...

stepmom. big difference.

T.J. said...

Ahhhh, that explains a lot. And I didn't realize Jr.'s agent was his sister. Quite a family affair they've got going on.