It's sad when it happens, but are we blaming the wrong thing?

Hello once again. You know, I've been thinking long and hard about a subject in sports today. During this time, I went from one side to another, to another. I even brought up this topic with my friends and colleagues. And, after a lot of discussion and consideration, here is my final thought on the topic: Josh Hancock killed himself. Not beer, not marijuana, not anything else. Josh Hancock killed Josh Hancock. Let me give some of you a back-story here. Josh Hancock, former relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, was killed almost two weeks ago when he was involved in an accident on the highway in St. Louis. According to sources, he was on the phone, speeding, and had a blood-alcohol level of almost twice the legal limit in Missouri. In the car was a stash of marijuana. Now, when I first heard all of this, I wondered out loud: Isn't this a case of the media just piling on? But, after looking at it from all angles, I figured this out. It's a bit like the news media following the shootings at Virginia Tech. We all agree that the event itself is reprehensible beyond belief. We all agree that it was a senseless act. But, at the end of the day, when the shooter's tape reached the news media, all bets were off. Today's media is all about sensationalism, and whoever got that tape out first got the ratings. News media companies are, after all, a business, and their goal is to make money. What makes money? Controversy. It's why every media outlet, for almost a week, ran the tape and pictures of the shooter. Now, by saying all of this, in no way am I condoning what the shooter did, or what the news companies did. But, the paralell here is this: Once there was some zip to the Josh Hancock story, it was everywhere. It was bad enough that he was killed in a car accident, but now add to it that he was on the phone, legally drunk, and had marijuana in his possession, now that's front page material. Now, in the reactionary society we live in, we're seeing where some teams in Major League Baseball are banning alcohol from the clubhouse, with St. Louis taking the lead. OK, then why didn't they take this step in spring training, when their manager, Tony LaRussa was found alseep at the wheel at a stoplight? He wa over the legal limit then, but I never heard anything about banning alcohol from clubhouses. And, if we're going to start banning alcohol from the clubhouses, then when do all the alcohol advertising signs come down? I mean, if St. Louis is going to really take the lead here, let's see them remove all of the Budweiser signs from around Busch Stadium. Better than that, let's see them completely stop the sale of beer and other alcoholic beverages from their games. That will never happen, of course, because of the revenues that alcohol brings in. At most parks, one beer goes for seven to eight dollars per cup. Now, clubs think it's more than OK for us, as average fans, to come in and buy beer from the National Anthem to the 7th inning stretch, and then go drive home. They have the cash in their pocket, and he have a hangover in the morning. But for clubs to then turn around and tell their milti-million dollar, pampered employees they can't have a beer after a game? Good luck enforcing that one. The fact that someone died while driving drunk is not an indictment on beer.....it's an indictment on the person. At what point do reason and accountability come into play? At what point does a 29 year old man realize he's had too much to dring, and therefore, should seek alternate methods of transportation? Let's assign blame where it really needs to be, people. It's not the spoon that makes people fat. The teacher is not the reason some kids do poorly in school. And, it's not the beer that killed Josh Hancock. Josh Hancock killed Josh Hancock.


That's all I have for now. Thanks again.

Till next time.......


Patrick