Strawberry avoids jail time

[BuzzBuzzard]

Just not sure how I feel about this. How many shots does he get?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2001/0516/1200216.html

[NetShrine]

"You are at bat in the bottom of the ninth with two strikes against you," said Circuit Court Judge Florence Foster. "You have proven that you are a winner on the field. Now you must prove that you are a winner off the field."

I have a feeling there will be no joy in Strawville.

[BuzzBuzzard]

All the judge has done is guarantee the game is going extra innings.

[NetShrine]

I think we all know how this game will end - - just a matter of how (cancer, drugs, something else).

While it's a sad story, if you do play a death pool game, you want Straw in there - - along with Robert Downey Jr.

[Jen]

I'm glad they didn't send him to jail, because I don't feel jail is where drug addicts should be anyway. What good does it do? It doesn't teach them how to rehabilitate. But sending someone to treatment will only work if the person wants to quit. I don't think Straw's reached that point yet, and I doubt he ever will, just because the man is DYING and he needs a way to cope. I don't blame him for doing what he's doing. It's hard for anyone to understand what he's going through, but I can tell you this: conventional pain therapy for the terminally ill is a JOKE.

If we do a dead pool, by all means, throw him on there. Make sure you add Kathy Lee Gifford, too. :D

[95mph]

I hope that this incident is the last one from Strawberry, but I doubt it. How low does he have to sink in order to have the desire to quit? I would think that being fired is low enough.

[NetShrine]

One can sink lower than this?

[jpalexa]

This isn't really a baseball thought, but I wonder if Strawberry and Downey, Jr., are of the breed that are physiologically incapable of staying away from drugs. I mean, I know there is a segment of drug users that could, with enough self-discipline and desire, break the habit...but isn't feasible that our boys have some kind of built-in compulsion that they simply -- regardless of desire -- overcome? And how do you treat or rehab a compulsion?

No excuses. And not that they shouldn't be punished for breaking the rules -- rule are rules. But I have sadly just written off these guys as hopeless to recover.

Just goes to show that ballplayers are people, too.

[NetShrine]

Basically, they're just people with good eye sight, hand-eye coordination and freakish reflexes, for the most part. Brains are not required.

[jpalexa]

Crash to Nuke: "Don't think. You will only hurt the team."

[NetShrine]

Originally posted by jpalexa
Crash to Nuke: "Don't think. You will only hurt the team."

:loud: Good one JP.

[95mph]

Originally posted by NetShrine
Basically, they're just people with good eye sight, hand-eye coordination and freakish reflexes, for the most part. Brains are not required. So true, as much as I love Sports, I think it is so unfair that they are soooo $rich$ and ignorant. People with a keen intellect make soooo little $$ compared to them.:mconfuse:

[NetShrine]

True 95 - - sans Bill Gates, of course.

[Surhofffan]

I strongly dislike Bill Gates. :D

Re: Darryl Strawberry. Obviously the hole he's in is so deep right now, it's very difficult to get out of it. And the only way he will is if he really tries. I don't even know if he's capable of that because of the serious brain damage he is believed to have. I strongly disagreed with what his wife was saying, that he was - "a typical addict who will relapse many times before overcoming addiction." No way is Darryl a typical addict. I definitely never want to see the guy return to baseball even if he could. When the Yankees gave him another chance, I did not support that decision. Baseball wasn't and isn't going to help him. Treatment is the only thing that will. He's been a troubled person. Joe Torre is right; it is very sad. I hope that rehab and speaking to young people will help him see that he should stop leading a troubled life. If they don't, this guy should have no more chances.

[NetShrine]

Originally posted by Surhofffan
I definitely never want to see the guy return to baseball even if he could.

Don't sweat that - - Refrigerator Perry has a better shot at getting a big league AB than Straw at this point.

[Shel]

"This case is not about Darryl Strawberry, the baseball player," Strawberry said. "This is about a person who is very sick, who's been very sick for a very long time and needs a lot of help. I just thank God I'm alive today to be in front of you to deal with the situation."Wrong, Darryl. Absolutely wrong. This has always been about "Darryl Strawberry, the baseball player."

How many extra chances would any of us have gotten if we'd been arrested on drug charges as many times as Strawberry has been? Yes, he's dying of cancer, and I do feel badly about that. But enough is enough.

There is no doubt in my mind that the drugs will kill Strawberry, not the cancer.

[jpalexa]

On the other hand, would every one of Strawberry's indiscretions been plastered all over the media had he not been a baseball player? Doubtful. Would his employer, if Strawberry were not a baseball player, have given him multiple chances? Who knows.

Sure, enough is enough for Darryl. But enough is enough for a whole bunch of other drug addicts out there, too. Darryl Strawberry the ballplayer is done. Darryl Strawberry the man needs a little simple human compassion at best; to be left alone, at minimum.

[NetShrine]

Agreed.

I think we're done here? If anyone wants this one re-opened - let me know via a PM. Thanks.