Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Approving Thuggery

Arbitrator Shyam Das has terminated the suspension of Rangers' thug/moron Kenny Rogers. The Players Union filed a grievance against Major League Baseball on Rogers' behalf complaining of the 20-game suspension that commissioner Bud Selig gave Rogers for assaulting a Dallas-area cameraman during pregame filming (something the Rangers allow the camera crews to do).

This is yet another poor ruling by an arbitrator when confronted with the heinous and criminal actions of a unionized professional sports athlete. Two words: Sprewell reinstatement. After choking coach PJ Carlesimo, Latrell Sprewell was suspended for the remainder of the year and all of the next season. The arbitrator split the baby and ruled that Sprewell had to be reinstated for the next season.

The arbitrators in both cases have approved thuggery by minimizing the harsh sentences (and Selig's was limited to just 20 games by contract -- he would have been justified in meting out a longer one) that the leagues have imposed. A bad message to the sports, the athletes and the fans.

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