Yes I realize that Tony La Russa’s DUI, mentioned in the previous post, is a month old, but now this issue is completely relevant. As my buddy Matt Watson pointed out to me, St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Bill McClellan (pictured) wrote in March that a DUI could help Cardinals manager Tony La Russa’s image with the local fans.
So while everyone will agree that drinking and driving is a bad thing, this will, in a strange way, help his relationship with St. Louis.
I guess that was McClellan’s way of saying the DUI gave La Russa street cred. But correct me if I’m wrong — McClellan’s espousing a message that DUIs are OK. Are you saying anyone who read that would’ve taken back the sentiment that getting a DUI would endear them to the public? Maybe you should have thought twice before you wrote that McClellan. Seems to me like it’s about the worse way you could possibly spin a prominent figure getting busted for a serious offense. You should have been using your position to remind people what a poor choice that was by La Russa, and what the potential dangers and harms there are of driving drunk. Instead, you decided to point out that a DUI will help La Russa’s image. Given what has now transpired with the St. Louis ballclub, I hope you regret your words and will choose to pen your next column on the message of why drinking and driving is wrong.
Oh, and if you’re about to leave a comment defending La Russa’s DUI, or what McClellan wrote, then you clearly are missing the point.
