March 22, 2007
Asleep at the Wheel
The police busted Tony La Russa for drunk stopping:
Police arrested St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, a misdemeanor, after he was found sleeping at a green light in his running Ford SUV about midnight at Frederick Small Boulevard and Military Trail.
Police on Thursday said they grew suspicious because the running SUV was stopped at a light that went through two cycles of green. A driver behind it had to go around, police said.
Rough day at the ballpark? The Cardinals pitching staff owns the best ERA in spring training, so it's not like there's a lot of pressure on Tony right now. Maybe he's just part of the long history of hard drinking, successful managers.
I wonder if he'll serve as his own attorney?
Update: There's a great map of the incident scene at Deadspin.
Posted by David Pinto at
10:26 AM
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Wow, this is no laughing matter. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the media as Tony is generally a very well-liked, respected guy. The fact remains that drunk driving kills people, and he's lucky they found him asleep at a stop light and not in the middle of a 3 car pileup.
You have to be pretty drunk to just pass out in your car. I'm assuming the car behind him probably honked too. What an ass.
Once again, the question is....if you make that much money for that long, why not pay someone to drive your drunk ass home??
phil,
because the biggest problem with drunks is they won't freaking admit they are too freaking drunk to drive. they say **** like - oh, it's just a mile home. oh, ain't nobody on the roads. oh, i drive better with a few beers in me.
they when they crash, hurt people, kill people, they whine bout how they couldn't help it cuz they was drunk and it wasn't their fault.
Calm down there, Lisa, before you get yourself into trouble. LaRussa was driving late at night; he had a BAC of 0.0.93 which is barely over the limit. According to the police report he had had two glasses of wine with dinner four hours earlier. And he was stopped because he had fallen asleep with the car sitting at a light. He wasn't driving crazily; he didn't hit anyone. Don't accuse him of being a lush right away.
Couldn't happen to a nicer guy....looking forward to see him squirm out of this one....or just squirm in general. When you spend your days being a smug, condescending douchebag who acts like he invented the game like LaRussa has, the fall is usually quite steep.
I'm with Rosie on this one. I'm finding it quite amusing that one of the biggest steroid-era apologists is in trouble for something like this.
I'm certainly not trying to be an apologist, but the guy works his butt off. Read his book with Buss Bissinger (Three Nights in August). He doesn't sleep much, combine that with a couple of glasses of wine and the situation is understandable. Yes, he broke the law. But let's not be too harsh.
As one Deadspin commenter noted, La Russa manages in the NL, where they don't use the designated driver.
"He doesn't sleep much, combine that with a couple of glasses of wine and the situation is understandable."
Nice....now we have apologists for apologists........So, Ryan, does he bear any responsibility for this at all? Or is this the media's fault? This guy has more money than God, is it really that hard to call a cab? Or do you want to make an excuse for that, too?
He was drunk. 0.093 is what he tested at when they found him. It is not what he would have tested at if they found him earlier. Stop excusing him for his inexcusable behavior. Even if he was tired, that is impaired driving. Have you ever heard of falling asleep at the wheel? That kills many people every year. He deserves no sympathy. Through the book at him and the Cardinals should distance themselves from him.