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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Jon Heyman: Rangers manager Ron Washington tested positive for cocaine last July

Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington tested positive for cocaine during the 2009 season, SI.com has learned.

Washington, 57, has been subject to increased drug testing since his failed test, which was administered by Major League Baseball last July, and he has passed all of his subsequent tests. In deciding to support Washington and retain him as manager, the Rangers accepted his apology as heartfelt and also his explanation that this was a one-time transgression.

“I did make a mistake and I regret that I did it,” Washington told SI.com by phone from Surprise, Ariz., on Tuesday night. “I am really embarrassed and I am really sorry.”

The Rangers called a team meeting for Wednesday morning at their spring training facility in Surprise, where Washington was to address the incident with the club.

Washington declined to discuss the specific circumstances surrounding his decision to use cocaine because he didn’t want his family to hear about it in the media. “Any attempt to try to explain it is going to sound like excuses,” he said. “There is no right way to explain something wrong, and I did wrong. Was it tension? Maybe. Anxiety?’‘

No word if Ron Washington is a Scott Boras client.

Tripon Posted: March 17, 2010 at 04:52 PM | 211 comment(s) | Login to Bookmark
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   1. Shooty: Applying to be Fearless Leader Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:09 PM (#3480838)
Wow. They test manager for coke?
   2. Jimmy P Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:13 PM (#3480844)
Wow. They test manager for coke?

Pretty sure they can test the managers for anything. The managers aren't part of a union, so they pretty much have to do what The Man says
   3. Al Kaline Trio Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:14 PM (#3480845)
   4. Gamingboy Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:14 PM (#3480846)
Well. That is a new one.
   5. RJ in TO Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:17 PM (#3480850)
I have a hard time believing that a 57 year old manager would just try coke as a one-time thing.
   6. will Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:17 PM (#3480851)
........a one time transgression ?......so, at the age of 57, for the first time in his life, he decided to do a line, and within the next 72 hours, he had the bad luck to be asked for a urine sample.....I would have fired him, just for insulting the public's intelligence, and expecting it to believe that....
   7. Moneyball can't buy you love (Joey B.) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:17 PM (#3480852)
That shocked me too. It turns out that the managers undergo a far more rigorous drug test than the players do. What a ridiculously f***ed up system this whole thing is.
   8. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:22 PM (#3480854)
If a senior manager in my company is doing coke enough to get caught, he's gone.
   9. Foster Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:23 PM (#3480855)
I too, had no idea the managers were drug tested. How often, I wonder? If he's a fairly regular reacreational user, aren't the odds that he'd have been caught before? Maybe in the past he'd been tipped to the test dates? Maybe he'd been able to mask or flush it before and this time it didn't work?

But yeah, I find it hard to believe a guy his age just happened to try it out within a few days of a random test.
   10. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:27 PM (#3480860)
I always thought Washington was known more for his speed.

Washington was a product of the mid 70s Royals farm system...which was a bit notorious for its coke usage back then. I doubt this was his first time.
   11. Forsch 10 From Navarone (Dayn) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:27 PM (#3480862)
But if you're the Rangers, how do you justify firing Washington for this reason when Josh Hamilton's on the roster?
   12. Joe OBrien Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:28 PM (#3480863)
It's a helluva drug.
   13. Spivey Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:28 PM (#3480865)
So he's a coke fiend and he's a bad manager?
   14. RJ in TO Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:29 PM (#3480866)
But if you're the Rangers, how do you justify firing Washington for this reason when Josh Hamilton's on the roster?

To get him as far away from your recovering-addict potential star player as you possibly can.
   15. Tripon Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:31 PM (#3480869)

But if you're the Rangers, how do you justify firing Washington for this reason when Josh Hamilton's on the roster?


They didn't. Washington told the Rangers before the positive drug test came back, went into rehab/counseling/whatever it was, and the Rangers picked up the option for this year after a month the drug test came back.
   16. Shooty: Applying to be Fearless Leader Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:31 PM (#3480870)
This really does suck. My thoughts about drug use are pretty libertarian so it pains me that a good guy like Washington is going to get raked over the coals about this. Damn, Wash.
   17. RB in NYC (Now with New Running Goal!) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:31 PM (#3480872)
Managers Testing, from the Article:

Major league managers, coaches and other clubhouse personnel have been subject to drug testing since 2008, when MLB adopted the measure as one of George Mitchell's recommendations as part of his report regarding steroid and drug use in baseball. MLB mandates that any non-playing personnel who either fail a test or admit to drug use be subject to counseling and a substance-abuse program developed by a doctor approved by baseball. First-time offenders are generally not subject to punitive measures such as a suspension, pending the commissioner's discretion, and their names are not made public. (Tests are administered randomly once a year to all non-playing personnel who work around the clubhouse, which also includes trainers, clubhouse and equipment managers, massage therapists and traveling secretaries.) So by calling MLB headquarters even before his test results were known, Washington was subjecting himself to the substance-abuse program regardless of the results.


So it looks like once a year
   18. Forsch 10 From Navarone (Dayn) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:32 PM (#3480873)
They didn't. Washington told the Rangers before the positive drug test came back, went into rehab/counseling/whatever it was, and the Rangers picked up the option for this year after a month the drug test came back.

Sorry, I was responding to Snapper's comment.
   19. Rich Rifkin Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:32 PM (#3480876)
If a senior manager in my company is doing coke enough to get caught, he's gone.

How about the junior manager who fills in the line-up card?
   20. Player X Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:35 PM (#3480881)
Here's hoping he hasn't chosen the Maury Wills career path.
   21. Spivey Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:35 PM (#3480883)
How about the junior manager who fills in the line-up card?

Let's not forget leaving starters in 2 batters too long.
   22. Tripon Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:36 PM (#3480884)
Did Josh Hamilton sing "Lean on Me" to Ron Washington when he heard the news?
   23. Jimmy P Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:36 PM (#3480885)
I have a hard time believing that a 57 year old manager would just try coke as a one-time thing.

Why not? We all believe that guys like Andy Pettite only try PEDs as a one time thing...right?
   24. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:40 PM (#3480886)
Major league managers, coaches and other clubhouse personnel have been subject to drug testing since 2008,

Well there goes my theory that Trey Hillman has been managing every game high.
   25. Shooty: Applying to be Fearless Leader Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:42 PM (#3480887)
Well there goes my theory that Trey Hillman has been managing every game high.

You can't test for huffing.
   26. Avoid running at all times.-S. Paige Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:49 PM (#3480891)
Clearly, cocaine is a huge problem among managers.

let's assume guilt and guess which managers are definitely doing the booger sugar.

Ozzie Guillen
Jerry Manuel
Trey Hillman
Joe Girardi
Bruce Bochy
Lou Pineilla
Bobby Cox

I think Francona, Charlie Manuel and Torre are likely clean because of their mellow natures. The other managers are probably users.
   27. Avoid running at all times.-S. Paige Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:54 PM (#3480895)
By the way, am I wrong to think that if this were happening in a bigger media market, Washington would be out of a job? I can't imagine Girardi or Manuel not getting fired if this came out about them.
   28. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:55 PM (#3480896)
let's assume guilt and guess which managers are definitely doing the booger sugar.

Ozzie Guillen


I was suspicious of his performance bump in 2005.
   29. Al Kaline Trio Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:57 PM (#3480898)
let's assume guilt and guess which managers are definitely doing the booger sugar.

Ozzie Guillen
Jerry Manuel
Trey Hillman
Joe Girardi
Bruce Bochy
Lou Pineilla
Bobby Cox


Leo Mazzone
   30. Al Kaline Trio Posted: March 17, 2010 at 05:59 PM (#3480901)
   31. Swedish Chef Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:00 PM (#3480902)
I think Francona, Charlie Manuel and Torre are likely clean because of their mellow natures.

If you think that's a natural mellow.
   32. Shooty: Applying to be Fearless Leader Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:02 PM (#3480903)
By the way, am I wrong to think that if this were happening in a bigger media market, Washington would be out of a job? I can't imagine Girardi or Manuel not getting fired if this came out about them.

Dallas/Ft. Worth ain't exactly small.
   33. Avoid running at all times.-S. Paige Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:02 PM (#3480904)
My guess is that Tommy Lasorda is the beginning of the epidemic. LaRussa also played a big part. Just look at those nostrils.
   34. Ron Johnson Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:03 PM (#3480906)
#26, Dusty Baker was one of around 60 players who were tested (on demand) while active.

The initial list (mostly from the Curtis Strong affair): Joaquim Andujar, Dale Berra, Enos Cabell, Keith Hernandez, Jeff Leonard, Dave Parker, Lonnie Smith, Al Holland, Lee Lacy, Larry Sorenson, Claudell Washington, Dusty Baker, Gary Matthews, Tim Raines, Vida Blue, Dickie Noles, Daryl Sconiers, Manny Sarmiento, Derrel Thomas, Alan Wiggins and Rod Scurry.
   35. Eric P. Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:03 PM (#3480907)
But if you're the Rangers, how do you justify firing Washington for this reason when Josh Hamilton's on the roster?


Hamilton hasn't failed a drug test while in the employ of the Rangers. That's how.
   36. Avoid running at all times.-S. Paige Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:03 PM (#3480908)
Dallas/Ft. Worth ain't exactly small.


Actually that's very true. Perhaps he won't survive the sh*tstorm if there is one. In NY, I'm sure there would be a huge one.
   37. SoSH U at work Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:03 PM (#3480910)
Dallas/Ft. Worth ain't exactly small.


It is for Rangers baseball.
   38. Rich Rifkin Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:07 PM (#3480912)
"By the way, am I wrong to think that if this were happening in a bigger media market, Washington would be out of a job? I can't imagine Girardi or Manuel not getting fired if this came out about them."

FWIW, Dallas-Fort Worth is the fifth largest media market in the U.S., trailing only these:

1 New York, Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY- NJ, PA
2 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA
3 Chicago, IL-IN-WI
4 Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE
5 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX

I don't know too much about Dallas, but I sense that it's not really a baseball town. That is not to say that if the Rangers do well, they won't draw. But Mark Cuban takes up a lot of oxygen; and the Dallas Cowboys are really all that matters in pro sports in that region. So while DFW is #5, the Rangers' level of media attention might be closer to #15.
   39. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:13 PM (#3480914)
But if you're the Rangers, how do you justify firing Washington for this reason when Josh Hamilton's on the roster?

Sorry, I was responding to Snapper's comment.

Ummm, wasn't Hamilton clean by the time Texas aquired him? I didn't say I'd fire someone for being an ex-user.

To get him as far away from your recovering-addict potential star player as you possibly can.

This is a very good point.

Look, if you want to just suspend Washington for a while, and let him go to rehab, fine. Give him a second chance, knowing he's terminated on one more slip-up.

But, you can't have a senior exec of a half-billion $ company doing blow. It's really not conducive to good decision making.
   40. tribefan Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:23 PM (#3480922)
Clearly, cocaine is a huge problem among managers.

That might explain why Eric Wedge always did that weird twitchy nostril thing during interviews.
   41. SteveM. Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:32 PM (#3480925)
Won't anyone think of the children?
   42. SugarBear Blanks Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:54 PM (#3480940)
Based on his and the Rangers' performance last year would a single soul have imagined that Ron Washington snorted some lines?

Why in the world was this man tested for cocaine use, why in the world was this publicly reported, and why would anyone care if his job performance wasn't impacted?
   43. SugarBear Blanks Posted: March 17, 2010 at 06:56 PM (#3480944)
But, you can't have a senior exec of a half-billion $ company doing blow. It's really not conducive to good decision making.

########. Squeaky-clean losers make poor decisions a million times a day in this country and there's essentially no relationship between casual drug use and decision-making quality.

Not to mention ... have you ever heard of alcohol and hangovers?

Your claim about what we "can't have" execs do is a tautology. America doesn't expect its executives to use casual drugs, therefore we can't have it.

Mind your own business.
   44. Vaux, A.B.D. Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:01 PM (#3480951)
Concur 1000 percent.
   45. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:04 PM (#3480954)
########. Squeaky-clean losers make poor decisions a million times a day in this country and there's essentially no relationship between casual drug use and decision-making quality.

Not to mention ... have you ever heard of alcohol and hangovers?

Your claim about what we "can't have" execs do is a tautology. America doesn't expect its executives to use casual drugs, therefore we can't have it.

Mind your own business.


I wouldn't have an alcoholic as my manager either. If he's hungover at 7 PM, he's got big problems.

From what I hear, coke is just a wee bit more addicting than a couple of beers after work. Cocaine is not a "casual drug".

I don't believe a 57 y.o. man in a very public position of authority "just happened" to use coke at a party as a one-off thing, and then got tested that week. If his use was "casual", why would he do it when he knows he is subject to random testing, and could lose his very lucrative job?

He should be canned or be in rehab.
   46. Not The Real Fausto Carmona (Dan Lee) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:05 PM (#3480957)
Somewhere, Butch Hobson is frantically putting together a resume to send to Arlington.
   47. depletion Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:07 PM (#3480960)
Because if Ron Washington can do a little blow, why can't the second baseman do a lot of blow.
You get banned for life if you put $20 on your team to win, because it ruins the game if people put $20,000 on their team to lose.
   48. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:07 PM (#3480961)
Butyou can't have a senior exec of a half-billion $ company doing blow. 


ORLY?
   49. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:11 PM (#3480965)

Because if Ron Washington can do a little blow, why can't the second baseman do a lot of blow.


They're both subject to the same punishment. Multiple offenders will face suspensions from the game. Washington is a first-time offender. Lets hope he doesn't become a Steve Howe.
   50. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:17 PM (#3480970)
But, you can't have a senior exec of a half-billion $ company doing blow.


ORLY?


Yeah, and Wall Street is known for its great decision making.

Seriously, if any of you guys owned a business, say a small business, and you found out your #2 exec was doing blow, you'd just laugh it off?
   51. scotto Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:21 PM (#3480974)
Somewhere, Butch Hobson is frantically putting together a resume to send to Arlington.

The funniest and the most sensible thing said in this thread.

I wouldn't have an alcoholic as my manager either.

Hmm, there go your future Billy Martins, Tony LaRussas(?), Joe Cronins, Leo Durochers, etc.
   52. scotto Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:23 PM (#3480977)
Seriously, if any of you guys owned a business, say a small business, and you found out your #2 exec was doing blow

It depends on whether the #2 was willing to do what it takes to stay clean.
   53. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:26 PM (#3480984)
It depends on whether the #2 was willing to do what it takes to stay clean.

Right. Not saying you'd absolutely fire him. But, you'd want him to stop.
   54. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:27 PM (#3480985)
Hmm, there go your future Billy Martins, Tony LaRussas(?), Joe Cronins, Leo Durochers, etc.

Billy Martin lost quite a few jobs b/c of his drinking, e.g. Ed Whitson fight, marshmallow salesman, etc.
   55. Gonfalon Bubble Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:29 PM (#3480987)
My guess is that Tommy Lasorda is the beginning of the epidemic. LaRussa also played a big part. Just look at those nostrils.

Only now are we beginning to realize why Tommy Lasorda felt such competitive fury about "that son of a bitch who writes under that Daily News, that fucking guy they call the fucking Nose."
   56. Designated Sitter (GGC) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:38 PM (#3480994)
I don't recall Durocher being an alkie. He had other vices, sure. Then again, I'm going off of his memoirs. He may have decided not to talk about that stuff.
   57. phredbird Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:39 PM (#3480997)
i don't have to worry unless slimfast becomes a controlled substance.
   58. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:46 PM (#3481007)
I don't recall Durocher being an alkie. He had other vices, sure. Then again, I'm going off of his memoirs. He may have decided not to talk about that stuff.


Durocher was a well-known non-drinker. That's probably what gave him the advantage when fleecing people who WERE drinking
   59. RayDiPerna Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:47 PM (#3481008)
I once again note what Kelsey Grammar said in an interview upon being congratulated for kicking his cocaine habit:

"I never denied that I enjoyed it."
   60. scotto Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:49 PM (#3481012)
I don't recall Durocher being an alkie.

Well, crap. For some reason I thought that he was. Dick Williams? Jimmie Foxx? Hal Chase (lots of other good reasons to can him)? Ty Cobb? Pinky Higgins?

I can't find a good list of hard drinking managers. Dang.
   61. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:51 PM (#3481016)
Well, crap. For some reason I thought that he was. Dick Williams? Jimmie Foxx? Hal Chase (lots of other good reasons to can him)? Ty Cobb? Pinky Higgins?

Jimmy Foxx I'm pretty sure. I think he was the model for the alcoholic "Jimmy Dugan" in League of their Own.
   62. Mike Green Posted: March 17, 2010 at 07:57 PM (#3481024)
Curbing rage in managers on steroids. It's the next frontier in the war on drugs! Will it be Royce or Carcetti who steps up to the plate?
   63. RayDiPerna Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:03 PM (#3481033)
By the way, am I wrong to think that if this were happening in a bigger media market, Washington would be out of a job? I can't imagine Girardi or Manuel not getting fired if this came out about them.

Dallas/Ft. Worth ain't exactly small.


Right, and I'll predict here and now that Ron Washington won't see Opening Day as the Rangers manager. He's in a leadership position. The public outcry will be too big of a headache for the Rangers.

By the way, players simply can't be compared to managers in this regard, given their vastly different employment situations.
   64. scotto Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:05 PM (#3481034)
Nice work, Mike Green.
   65. RoyalsRetro (AG#1F) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:10 PM (#3481038)
Seeing as how the former managing partner of the Rangers did blow, can we really get too mad at the manager for doing blow?

< / moveon.org >
   66. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:12 PM (#3481040)
Seriously, if any of you guys owned a business, say a small business, and you found out your #2 exec was doing blow, you'd just laugh it off?


I'd obviously prefer a non-druggie to a druggie. It'll always catch up with you in the end.

But I think you're greatly underestimating the number of higher-ups who use, when you say that you can't tolerate it. There probably hasn't been the head of a movie studio in the last 30 years who didn't use cocaine, to provide another example.
   67. Mayor Blomberg Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:14 PM (#3481042)
He'll be there on opening day. He came to management ahead of time, did rehab has stayed clean. The team made a decision and one hopes they realize that they'll look like dicks if they cave to people running around with their panties in bunch.


& don't forget Earl Weaver for your list of alcoholic managers.
   68. Ron Johnson Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:16 PM (#3481043)
Seriously, if any of you guys owned a business, say a small business, and you found out your #2 exec was doing blow, you'd just laugh it off?


I'd care the moment it impacted his performance or duties. Since his duties include being a face of the team I'd care because it has the potential to create a needless controversy. Beyond that I wouldn't care.

I'd certainly want the driver of the team bus tested. The manager, couldn't care less.

And if I was testing for some reason there would be no way I'd release the results (stipulating for the moment I have the right to) unless the topic was why he was being released.

To be clear though, I've had addicts in my life and an awful lot of them were serious problems. It would in no way surprise me to find a coke user becoming a serious problem. I've also known any number of people who were productive while abusing (pick X).
   69. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:19 PM (#3481045)
But I think you're greatly underestimating the number of higher-ups who use, when you say that you can't tolerate it. There probably hasn't been the head of a movie studio in the last 30 years who didn't use cocaine, to provide another example.

That may well be true. But, if you tolerate it as an owner, you're just asking for trouble.

People can get away with being druggies, or crooks for that matter, in publicly-held corporations b/c of principla-agent issues, and the lack of good oversight. The druggies or crooked CEO stacks management and the board with other crooks or druggies, and no one calls them on it until there's a blow-up. You'd expect a closely held corporation to be smarter.

Now, after RTFA, it seems Washington is approaching this the right way (agreeing to additional voluntary testing, etc.) so maybe you give him a second chance. But, any further screwup, and he has to be long gone.
   70. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:20 PM (#3481048)
Well, crap. For some reason I thought that he was. Dick Williams? Jimmie Foxx? Hal Chase (lots of other good reasons to can him)? Ty Cobb? Pinky Higgins?

I can't find a good list of hard drinking managers. Dang.


can't believe no one's mentioned Joe McCarthy
   71. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:22 PM (#3481050)
I'd care the moment it impacted his performance or duties.

To be clear though, I've had addicts in my life and an awful lot of them were serious problems. It would in no way surprise me to find a coke user becoming a serious problem. I've also known any number of people who were productive while abusing (pick X).


Yeah, but the problem with this is that for most jobs you really can't tell until the damage is done.

My head of product development may still be a visionary genius, even though he comes in at 11 AM half-hungover, and leaves at 4PM to catch happy-hour, but I won't know until my new product lines falls flat on its face, and we lose a ####-load of money.

Not to mention the example it sets for other employees who probably can't excel while being abusers.
   72. RayDiPerna Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:24 PM (#3481053)
To be clear though, I've had addicts in my life and an awful lot of them were serious problems. It would in no way surprise me to find a coke user becoming a serious problem. I've also known any number of people who were productive while abusing (pick X).


Yes. The silly thing about drug testing (I'm talking generally for everyday people; I don't mean the steroids issue) is that one can be the biggest drunk in the world and pass a drug test. I'm concerned about performance - not what someone does when they're away from the office. If X is impacting his or her performance, then, yeah, it's an issue. But it's a performance issue, not a "drug issue" per se.
   73. NYCTigersfan Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:29 PM (#3481057)
That may well be true. But, if you tolerate it as an owner, you're just asking for trouble.
Is your argument that it's trouble because it will inevitably impact job performance or that it brings a shitstorm from the public?
   74. Danny Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:34 PM (#3481063)
Seriously, if any of you guys owned a business, say a small business, and you found out your #2 exec was doing blow, you'd just laugh it off?

If I knew he had been using casually for decades and had been great at his job for decades, I don't see why one would rush to fire him.

Lots and lots of people manage to be consistently productive at their jobs despite using recreational drugs on their personal time.
   75. Perros Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:52 PM (#3481083)
Everybody.. EVERYBODY.. has a vice of some sort. Drugs are not good, ive never been fond of cocaine users, but look at the person's job performance and go from there.

What does it mean to be a 'druggie'? From the mormon perspective, my coffee habit qualifies. Alcohol is probably the worst drug in world history when you consider total destructive impact on human life.
   76. Lassus: Posted: March 17, 2010 at 08:54 PM (#3481084)
If I knew he had been using casually for decades and had been great at his job for decades, I don't see why one would rush to fire him.

Lots and lots of people manage to be consistently productive at their jobs despite using recreational drugs on their personal time.


I've never done a single drug in my entire life and want to punch everyone in NYC in the face today, and even I agree with this.
   77. Steve Treder Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:04 PM (#3481092)
What does it mean to be a 'druggie'? From the mormon perspective, my coffee habit qualifies. Alcohol is probably the worst drug in world history when you consider total destructive impact on human life.

Yeah, the demonization of cocaine going on in this thread is a bit much.
   78. zachtoma Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:13 PM (#3481096)
Well, coke's for horses, Lord, it ain't for men.
They say it kills you, but they don't say when.

C'mon, Mama, let's rent us a boat.
We'll sail down that Gibraltar moat;
Shed a tear every time we pass Tangiers.

Cocaine, cocaine,
'Round my heart and runnin' 'round my brain,
Cocaine, aw, you ol' cocaine.
   79. Shooty: Applying to be Fearless Leader Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:20 PM (#3481102)
I've never done a single drug in my entire life and want to punch everyone in NYC in the face today, and even I agree with this.

Seriously. It's rough out there today.
   80. Srul Itza Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:25 PM (#3481107)
He did a few lines. He probably has done it in the past. BFD.

If you disqualified everyone who did some blow from employment, who'd run the motion picture and recording industries?
   81. Srul Itza Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:28 PM (#3481108)
What in the world ever became of sweet Jane?
She lost her sparkle you know she isn't the same
Livin' on reds, vitamin C and cocaine
All a friend can say is 'Ain't it a shame?'
   82. Downtown Bookie Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:35 PM (#3481117)
Managers Testing, from the Article:

First-time offenders are generally not subject to punitive measures such as a suspension, pending the commissioner's discretion, and their names are not made public.


Well, so much for that.

DB
   83. SugarBear Blanks Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:35 PM (#3481118)
   84. SugarBear Blanks Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:36 PM (#3481119)
What in the world ever became of sweet Jane?
She lost her sparkle you know she isn't the same
Livin' on reds, vitamin C and cocaine
All a friend can say is 'Ain't it a shame?'



During the Olympics, AT&T (or some similar monolith) had "Perfect Day" as their theme song. I'm still a Lou Reed/Velvets fan but some of the particulars are skipping my memory ... isn't heroin the thing that makes things "perfect" in that song?
   85. SugarBear Blanks Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:37 PM (#3481122)
Well, so much for that.

DB


Outrageous.
   86. zack Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:37 PM (#3481123)
I am disgusted by the condoning of cocaine usage in this thread. Coke is so...republican.

Now horse, that's the people's drug. Different story.
   87. Lassus: Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:41 PM (#3481124)
Now horse, that's the people's drug. Different story.

Hmmm... so, I'll say, that puts you in the 42-50 age range? Or did that term last longer than I remember?
   88. Forsch 10 From Navarone (Dayn) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:46 PM (#3481128)
Ummm, wasn't Hamilton clean by the time Texas aquired him? I didn't say I'd fire someone for being an ex-user.

Well, he's relapsed at least once on Texas' watch. Moreover, it seems just woefully inconsistent to have on the payroll a guy like Hamilton, who made an absolute wreck of his life and whose recovery may be tenuous, and then deny a second chance to Washington, who at worst seems to be a high-functioning addict. I think you have to give Washington a chance to rehabilitate himself, as the Rangers, to their credit, seem to have done.

To get him as far away from your recovering-addict potential star player as you possibly can.

This is a very good point.


Why is this a good point? Are you expecting Washington to invite Hamilton to coke parties? Or do you think Hamilton will think, "The manager's using coke, so I will too"?
   89. zack Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:48 PM (#3481130)
How many 50 year old Zack's do you know?

I bet you've been smoking too many marijuana cigarettes.
   90. Mark Edward, #HEEL Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:51 PM (#3481134)
During the Olympics, AT&T;(or some similar monolith) had "Perfect Day" as their theme song. I'm still a Lou Reed/Velvets fan but some of the particulars are skipping my memory ... isn't heroin the thing that makes things "perfect" in that song?


"Perfect Day" is played while Renton OD's on heroin in Trainspotting, so you may be right...

I always thought it was just a cynical/sardonic/jaded song about an ex-significant other. Either way, I know what commercial you're talking about, and it seemed like an entirely inappropriate choice of music.
   91. Lassus: Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:51 PM (#3481135)
How many 50 year old Zack's do you know?

I know one in his forties. Really, that was less about you than the fact that I always thing of "horse" as a seventies term for heroin. I'll accept I'm completely mistaken.
   92. Poster Nutbag, Serial (Thread-)Killer Posted: March 17, 2010 at 09:53 PM (#3481139)
Champagne don't drive me crazy
Cocaine don't make me lazy
Ain't nobody's business but my own...
   93. RayDiPerna Posted: March 17, 2010 at 10:05 PM (#3481148)
Ron Washington is the third hottest item on Yahoo right now, according to their "trending now" report. A lot of people are paying attention, or at least curious.

The top 10:

1.Health Care Bill
2.Birthers
3.Ron Washington
4.Jerusalem Riots
5.IRS
6.Sandra Bullock
7.Basic Training
8.Carey Mulligan
9.Irish Recipes
10.Blockbuster
   94. Perros Posted: March 17, 2010 at 10:17 PM (#3481155)
Birthers? I read this as 'Birchers', then looked it up and found out my misreading was accurate.
   95. Srul Itza Posted: March 17, 2010 at 10:18 PM (#3481158)
Some get a kick from cocaine
I'm sure that if
I took even one sniff
That would bore me terrifically too
Yet I get a kick out of you
   96. snapper (history's 42nd greatest monster) Posted: March 17, 2010 at 10:30 PM (#3481168)
I think you have to give Washington a chance to rehabilitate himself, as the Rangers, to their credit, seem to have done.

I agree with giving him a second chance, especially given the way he came forward before being caught, and is agreeing to additional voluntary testing.

But, one more slip and he's got to be gone.
   97. Fancy Pants Handle is the AntAgonizer Posted: March 17, 2010 at 10:32 PM (#3481171)
BTW, the Headline is a lot funnier, when you read the colon as a comma, like I just did on the sidebar ^^
   98. Joe Mauer Power Hour Posted: March 17, 2010 at 10:34 PM (#3481174)
"The Rural Juror? Hey, that title's not too confusing, right?"
"No! I love that we can work while we're on cocaine!"
   99. zachtoma Posted: March 17, 2010 at 10:44 PM (#3481179)
How many 50 year old Zack's do you know?


Zack Wheat is 121!
   100. Perros Posted: March 17, 2010 at 10:53 PM (#3481182)
Listening to crooked rain, crooked rain again today and realized Lou Reed is god.

'White Light make me sing like Lou Reed/ White light gonna fulfill my EVERY need!
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