Ron Washington: Coke Is It

Liquor before beer, you're in the clear. Beer before liquor, never sicker.

 

If the guy completely comes clean, maybe, but no way in hell was that his first time. I'm just not buying it. And if I'm right, then he is lying on top of using and for that he absolutely should get fired.

 

The same poster obviously has a crush on Manny Pacquio. Why does bjot like the guys who either like drugs or don't want to be tested for some reason? He also thinks Tiger has been picked on too much.

 

It's not coke, but FWIW:

Washington: I also used marijuana, amphetamines
SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — A day after acknowledging he failed a drug test for cocaine last year, Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington says he used marijuana and amphetamines while he was a player.
Washington calls his past drug use a "youthful error." He did not detail Thursday how often he used those drugs.
Washington says his mistakes from years ago have nothing to do with the issue he's facing now.

 

Anybody else amused by the dateline of these stories: Surprise?

Yahoo columnist makes an interesting point: If they had whacked Washington after forgiving Hamilton, they would have created a racial firestorm:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Ag8BilrJJZXK.AFV1XxDT9M5nYcB?slug=jp-washingtoncocaine031710

 

Of course, Hamilton wasn't an employee of the Rangers when he was using and a player is in a different position from the manager. It just isn't the same thing.

According to that story, Washington offered to resign and the team said no. That is flat-out idiotic if it is true.

 

Why? Why is everybody so ravenous for their pound of Ron Washington flesh? The guy screwed up. He didn't hurt anyone but himself. People who know him much better than any of us, with much more invested, thought he deserved a second chance. He is working under a zero tolerance policy right now, as he should. I don't, I guess, understand what the problem is.

 

A 57-year-old major-league manager snorted cocaine, then made the ridiculous claim that the one time he got caught happened to be the first time he used it. This isn't about punishment. Please stop trying to read my mind and tell me what my motivations are. Sorry to break this to you, but your telepathic skills do not exist.

This is about thinking he lacks the honesty, self-discipline and decision-making skills to continue as a major-league manager. If he gave them the out, they should have taken it.

 

You don't want people to judge your motivations, but you want to establish it as uncontroverted fact that Ron Washington wasn't telling the truth. Why the double standard?

 

Not a double standard at all. I'm not making a ridiculous claim. I'm saying the Rangers should have let him quietly step aside, thus saving themselves all of this trouble and embarassment and getting rid of an unfit manager.

He, on the other hand, is asking us to believe that he just happened to get caught the very first time he used cocaine. Wake me up when you are ready to turn your bullshit detector back on.

 

I guess the fact that the guy hasn't done it since, and seems to have learned from his mistake, draws some empathy from me. The Rangers could have hung him out to dry when it happened. For whatever reason, he convinced them that he wouldn't screw up again, and he hasn't. I'm not minimizing cocaine use, but some people really do deserve a second chance. I know that it gets old hearing guys apologize when what they are really apologizing for is getting caught, but isn't it possible that, in this case, a good man really did learn his lesson?

 

There you go again, making this about punishment. I'm not saying Washington is a bad guy. I don't know enough about him to make that claim. I am saying that given the mistake he made and the extreme likelihood that he is lying about it makes me think that it was stupid for the Rangers to refuse his resignation.

Yes, he has learned enough not to get caught again. But it has only been about eight months and, more importantly, the Rangers didn't have that evidence when they made their decision.