PujolJunkie wrote:I don't like throwing my hat in the ring of a discussion like this, but come on guys. Let's say Tony was at dinner and he had some wine. KMOV 4 said the equivalent of 5 drinks. So let's say he has like 5 glasses of wine. He's a 62 year-old man. Yes, he should have better judgement, but is there a possibility he wasn't even drunk?
Think about it. He has 5 drinks, gets sleepy because of the fact, goes out, gets in his car and drives down the road. He comes to a stop light and nods off. Yes, his BAC was 0.093(one less drink, they wouldn't have even bothered with him), but come on, guys. He's not Pac Man Jones. He's not Ken Caminiti. He's not some raging drunk. He wasn't even technically drunk. Buzzed? Sure.
Look. Leonard Little deserved a severe punishment for what he did. Tony LaRussa did something that he should have known better than to do, but it was his first time doing that, he's a STAND UP guy and he's been a great service to the city of St. Louis since he came here. Cut the guy some slack. At 62 years old, alcohol has a bit more of an effect on you than at the age of 28.
Very few people are NOT cutting him any slack. Most are making excuses for him like you do above.
As I've said throughout this thread, the private lives of celebrities and sports figures do not concern me, so I see no difference in LaRussa when I get up today than I did when I got up yesterday.
BUT for those who feel compelled to make a decision about how they feel about someone they do not know personally regarding something other than what they do on the ballfield, let's try to keep the excuses to a minimum. WHATEVER the reason -- age, fatigue, combination with medication, stress, mistake in judgment, WHATEVER -- he was passed out in traffic in a running vehicle with the car in gear. When found by police he was unable to recite the alphabet, stand up straight, or keep his balance.
Haven't you seen the commercials? "Driving buzzed IS driving drunk."
If you don't care what he does in his personal life, I'm fine with that because honestly I don't either. Indifference about the personal lives of celebrities is not making excuses.
But if you do care, stop the rationalizations. Stop over-identifying with the fact that it could have been you. Pay attention to how lucky you are that the manager of your favorite team didn't die or kill anyone while he was passed out in the middle of the road with the car in gear and traffic driving around him at a green light.
And when you excuse his behavior as "not that serious" or "barely drunk" or "not that big a deal," make damn sure that you are not trying to excuse your own.
If you've had more than two drinks per hour, don't drive. Even if everyone else does. Even if you've done it lots of times and never hurt anyone or got caught. Even if you "feel fine" or "can handle it" (which I'd be willing to bet Tony did too, an hour or so before he was found passed out in the middle of the street, cars driving around him with the engine running and the car in gear -- and remember, when sober, his judgment is a lot better than yours, and he "wasn't that drunk").
