I’m willing to tolerate a lot from MLB players. Despicable though I may find some of their actions, everyone makes mistakes, and the fact that celebrities’ dirty laundry is often aired in public doesn’t make them any guiltier. Plus, you have to put things in perspective, and in general, baseball players’ “departures from our normative behavior.”* Kenny Rogers may have beat up a cameraman, but Ty Cobb friggin’ stabbed a guy.
But I can’t hold my tongue about Austin Kearns’ DUI or the unrepentant, narcissistic attitude with which he has dealt with it.
*—I’ve had this blog for four months and this is my first Departed reference?
Kearns, who signed a one-year, $1.3 million deal with the Cleveland Indians as a free agent in December, was pulled over on February 12—six days before position players were required to report to Spring Training—after an officer saw him “flashing his headlights and weaving on U.S. 68,” according to the police report. He confessed to having drunk “a couple bourbon and cokes” before getting behind the wheel.
Unlike doping, a DUI charge isn’t directly related to a player’s on-field performance, so on the surface, it’s really none of our business. That being said, Kearns endangered the life of every other driver on the road when he made the indefensible decision to get behind the wheel while impaired.
But Kearns didn’t stop there—what he said once he got out of the car was almost as reprehensible as what he did while he was in it. According to the arresting officer, he refused to take a sobriety test, then “advised that he played professional baseball and asked if I could cut him a break.” With this, we lose any ability we may have had to chalk the whole incident up to an honest mistake and enter the realm of smug self-entitlement.
But at least he acknowledged his mistake immediately, right? Surely he would have made a point to admit his mistake and apologize both publicly to the press and fans and privately to the organization that had just given him a job. Oh wait, that wasn’t Kearns—that was Adam Kennedy.
So what did Kearns do? He kept it a secret until the Jessamine Journal broke the news on Monday. Once the story became public, he had the gall to make an excuse for his silence: he blamed his lawyer for telling him not to disclose the incident, even to the team.
Has this man no shame?
Kearns has assured the Indians that he won’t have to leave camp to attend his court hearing, March 10—his attorney will go in his place. But while Kearns can pawn this off to his lawyer, he won’t be able to find anyone to do time for him.
That’s right—if Kearns is found guilty (yes, he’s innocent until proven otherwise, but come on), Kentucky law sends first-time DUI offenders to jail. The minimum sentence is two days, but if the charge is raised to an aggravated DUI—one of the qualifying factors is “refusal to submit,” which he reportedly did—he’ll spent at least four days in the slammer, and could be in prison for up to 30 days.
So what did Kearns say when asked if he was worried about missing time? ”I have no reason to think that I will.”
Remember, this is the guy the Tribe brought in to provide veteran leadership to the young clubhouse. If this is his idea of setting a good example, I sure hope Carlos Santana and Matt LaPorta aren’t paying attention.
Kearns’ behavior is more than just irresponsible and immoral—it’s disgusting, reprehensible, and flat-out unacceptable. I want this guy off my team.
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Original Story:
http://www.wahooblues.com/2011/03/02/...
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