Write On Sports LLC - "The Tony LaRussa Incident" by Anthony Amobi

The Tony LaRussa Incident

2007-03-28 15:29:23 | By: Anthony Amobi

Unless you have been under a rock, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa was arrested Thursday on a drunken driving charge after police said they found him asleep inside his running sport utility vehicle at a stop light.

A day after, he issued this apology:

"I'm not sure what type of statement to give," La Russa said after his team's 2-1 spring training loss to the Florida Marlins on Thursday. "I've been scribbling stuff ... Last night's situation is the opposite of feeling good. It was an embarrassment, so I apologize to anyone who is close to me, members of the Cardinals organization, our fans. I regret it, take responsibility and I'm not sure there is anything else I can say."

So, he issued an apology. That’s great.

Tony LaRussa was not fired, reprimanded, or made an example of by the Cardinals or Major League Baseball. As it seems in my eyes, it was more or less that Tony LaRussa said, “sorry” and the media along with fans at this point will forgive and forget.

Let’s just say if it had been the average person, or I, there’s no way we would have gotten off free as he did.

To be quite honest, I would have figured a guy in a position, wealth and influence of LaRussa could called someone to pick him up, hire a vehicle, or make sure that he was taken care of. I know that Tony LaRussa is a great manager, an advocate for animal rights and also has been a good guy in the community at large; however, when is a drunk driving incident just forgiven and forgotten? Let’s say he was not asleep at the wheel, but actually driving? What if he drove his vehicle in a ditch, or maimed and injured someone, or the perhaps the ultimate consequence happened? Why are people not up in arms over LaRussa’s conviction?

Well, I think people have an emotional tie to their sports heroes, emotional, personal or otherwise – especially, those who are winners. I think the matter of us not caring about LaRussa’s lack of judgment is reflective our society. We think much differently towards or heroes and celebrities towards their indiscretions than those in society at large.

Seriously, in order for people to up be in arms over this incident, does someone in LaRussa’s position need to commit a crime like the allegations against O.J. Simpson to get a reaction?

I find the lack of anger over this very pathetic and sad.