DUIs: Everyone's Doing It!

Major League Baseball has a problem... and I'm not talking steroids, inflated salaries, or declining attendance. I'm talking DUIs. It's tough for me to climb up on my high horse and criticize ballplayers for their drinking and driving habits since I earned myself one when I was 18 years old. But 18 year old me also didn't have  millions of dollars in the bank and couldn't afford a cab ride home from a house party the way Shin Soo Choo probably could. Not acceptable behavior on my part, but even more asinine for Choo, who blew 2.5 times the legal limit (Sobriety test on video!). I paid my pennance for my crime, and you can bet $3,000 and 6 months without a license did more damage to me than it does for a major league ballplayer. 

The point is, we're all human and humans tend to be drawn towards adult beverages. The NFL has known this for years. They offer a free car service for any player in any major city that has been drinking. The system is said to be completely anonymous and the drivers are said to be mostly retired police officers and trained security personnel rather than just Joe the Cabbie. It's a brilliant system that needs to be adopted in all professional sports immediately. Whether athletes want to believe it or not, they are public figures. When I was arrested, I disappointed my family, my friends, and myself (collectively, only a handful of people). When Miguel Cabrera gets arrested for the second time with a bottle of scotch in his hands and asks police officers to shoot him, he sets a bad example for millions of fans both in the US and back home in Venezuela.

We're 5 months into the year and six MLB players have already been tagged with DUIs in 2011. Cabrera, Derek Lowe, Adam Kennedy, Coco Crisp, Austin Kearns, and Choo have all been nailed. Total amount of fines/punishments levied by the office of the commissioner: ZERO. A little over a year after a budding MLB star was killed by a drunk driver in Nick Adenhardt and still MLB turns the other cheek to this nonsense.

Fortunately, the MLBPA and the owners appear to be having some preliminary discussions regarding the topic. Too little, too late? Let's hope not. So as Derek Lowe comes to town tonight following an arrest that saw the 37 year old driving drunk while drag racing through the streets of Atlanta (a grown ass man street racing is a whole other issue), I can honestly say that I've never been more in favor of booing. I'm hoping to see some well thought out signs and hear stories of creative heckling tonight at the ballpark! Let these guys know that their personal conduct obligations don't end when they step into the dugout.