FanHouse DUI

Jon was supposed to cover the Diamondbacks yesterday to close out our Spring preview of the NL West, but he got busy and I will be taking over today. I know you were expecting something wacky and facetious, but this is the Diamondbacks, and Arizona is a franchise deserving only the most reserved, tactful perspective. My original idea was to cover all of the new faces in the ballpark this year and the ramifications of agism and maturity in baseball, but then I remembered that D. Baxter the Bobcat was arrested for DUI and all I could type was "lol" with a bunch of o's in the middle. As a Cleveland resident, I eagerly await the story about Slider punching a woman in the face.

Today's Dugout is after the jump.

Colorado Rockies reliever Luis Vizcaino doesn't play for the Tampa Bay Rays -- if he did I'd have introduced him as Tampa Bay Rays reliever Luis Vizcaino -- but he does spend his offseason living in the Tampa area. So it's quite possible that he's rooting for the Rays right now just to fit in with his neighbors. It's also possible that he couldn't care less. I don't know, I can't speak for the man.

Regardless of Luis' rooting interests, I'm sure there were a lot of Rays fans who were hitting the bottle last night after watching their team get blasted 10-2 on Sunday night to take them to the brink of elimination.

I don't know if that's why Luis Vizcaino was drinking last night, but whatever his reasons for it are, he probably shouldn't have driven himself home.

Wisconsin linebacker Jonathan Casillas is due in court Friday to face DUI and other charges related to an August 24 incident, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. Casillas was pulled over by university police while driving his moped with a passenger on it. His preliminary blood alcohol level was .15, almost twice Wisconsin's .08 limit.

Badger coach Bret Bielema told the Wisconsin State Journal that he has already disciplined Casillas and the linebacker will not face additional disciplinary measures. Casillas will not miss any games due to jail time, either; the worst penalty he can face is a $300 fine, a $355 surcharge, and a nine-month suspension of his driver's license.

Now, there's absolutely nothing funny about drunk driving, which kills about 13,000 people a year in the United States, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Casillas is lucky he and his passenger weren't hurt and didn't hurt anybody. And I know, gas is quite expensive these days. But ... come on. A moped?

With a passenger?

At least we know he wasn't speeding.

This has to be the most embarrassing college football player incident since Kansas's Dion Rayford went batcakes over a missing chalupa and got stuck in the drive-thru window at a Taco Bell. Why do I have a feeling that the bulk of Casillas's in-house punishment involved having to endure the hoots of laughter as the details of his incident became known to his teammates?

Also See ... Then Laugh

Spurrier Addresses 30 Moped Owning Gamecocks After Accidents

Sad news today for anybody who enjoys watching the five most enjoyable minutes of RAW every week; TMZ.com is reporting that WWE wrestler Santino Marella, real name Anthony Carelli, was pulled over by Tampa cops this morning and arrested on suspicion of DUI.

Reports say the police pulled over l'automobile di Santino after witnessing the car drifting back and forth on the road. He had "bloodshot, watery and glassy eyes" and failed two field sobriety tests including one where he couldn't hold his balance. Santino claimed to have only had a few beers (that always works). The whereabouts of tag team partner of Carlito Caribbean Cool are unknown at this time.

An important thing to remember (as Wrestling News World, who first broke the story, astutely points out) is that according to the arrest report, Marella's blood alcohol content wasn't over the legal limit of .08. Santino clocked in at somewhere between .061 and .062. TMZ adds that he took the test almost two hours after being brought in on charges and can still be prosecuted.

Marella was released on $500 bail and the WWE has yet to comment on the situation, which at worst could mean wishing Santino well in his future endeavors and at best could mean a handicap match in this very ring, right here tonight.

While St. Louis Blues fans can get free food for attending home games, it appears that they won't be able to get free beer, despite a promotion that hyped such a thing.

We all know the way to most men's hearts is through their stomach. Free beer? How could that not work? You could get men to do many embarrassing things for free beer, or at least mundane household chores.

Thinking along those lines, the St. Louis Blues planned a section of discounted tickets for Tuesday night games where by the buyer would get free watered-down room-temperature stadium beer.

Unfortunately, the PC Police must have seized upon this, because now the promotion was canceled before it even began. Phooey!

Shortly before lunchtime Thursday, the St. Louis Blues sent an e-mail to fans announcing "Tuesdays on Tap," a promotion offering unlimited free beverages, including beer, for certain tickets to five upcoming home games.

At 4 p.m., Blues executive Peter McLoughlin told the Post-Dispatch, "This one is not happening."

Asked why, he said that it was a "business decision."

A business decision? Bah! More like those screeching harpies over at MADD heard about the Rob Ramage sentence and got their panties in a knot. "Oh, noes!!! How can a team give away alcoholic beverages? The world will slip into chaos!!"

On a more serious note, how could any major league sports team think that giving out free UNLIMITED beer would be a good thing? A (single) beer? Fine. A whole bunch of them? That's just asking for trouble, lawsuits, and potential DUI-related accidents. Let's face it, most people can't handle their alcohol, and many aren't smart enough NOT to drive after downing a few brewskis.

Rusty's Getting Rusty

"The thing he doesn't understand is, when he was winning all those races, there weren't 43 cars that could win. There were, like, five."

-Steve Wallace, on father Rusty's expectations for him in the Busch Series [Valvoline Track Talk Newsletter, h/t MotorsportsNews.Net (work)

Elliott Less Than Awesome
Riverside Speedway in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, is not feeling the awesomeness from Bill Elliott after he canceled a track appearance he made before committing to drive the #21 car:

"We don't want this type of driver...representing our facility, our sponsors or our race fans. If we had any idea Elliott was that kind of person, we would never have approached him, but instead chosen a Cup driver that understands a deal and the seriousness of his actions."

"I Wasn't Driving, Officer"
Recipe for 4th of July BWI and Reckless Boating, NASCAR Style

Ingredients:
Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch's boat
Greg Biffle's registration
One unidentified front tire changer
One unidentified girlfriend
Vats of alcohol

Mix all ingredients, nearly collide with a lake patrol officer, realize you're screwed, perform Chinese fire drill, wait for charges to be passed out ... wait awhile ... then find out that Busch wasn't actually on the boat that actually isn't his.

Tony La Russa is requesting that his DUI case stemming from last month's arrest goes to trial. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

His initial appearance in Palm Beach County Court, where La Russa could have entered a plea, was originally set for today. Instead, the arraignment was waived after La Russa's attorney in Florida, David L. Roth, requested that the case go to trial.

The move is a standard request in drunken-driving cases, although many are settled before actually going to a jury.

I can understand if this is a standard request, likely orchestrated to reduce car insurance premiums and his right to drive in the state of Florida, but it doesn't really seem like he has much of a case -- police officers found him asleep behind the wheel of a car that was still in gear -- were it not for the pure luck that he didn't move his foot off the break while sleeping, his car would have drifted into the middle of an intersection. Even if he can find a way to dispute the blood-alcohol test (he blew a .093 and a .092, above Florida's limit of .080), it'll be damn near impossible for him to justify getting behind the wheel when he was so tired.

Assuming he cops a deal, it'll be interesting to see what punishment -- if any -- he receives from the Cardinals or Major League Baseball. The Sacramento Kings suspended head coach Eric Musselman without pay for two games after he plead no contest to a DUI charge last October -- and he was presumably pulled over instead of found asleep at the wheel. Then again, he's just a young coach with a losing career record, not a veteran World Series winner who's probably expecting (and has received so far) preferential treatment from the media and his employer.


Previously on FanHouse:
La Russa Apologizes for Arrest, as Does St. Louis Media
Tony La Russa Busted By Undercover Cops
Tony LaRussa Arrested for Driving While Intoxicated

International Speedway Corporation, the track company that is a sister to NASCAR, finally -- and I mean finally -- dropped their plan to build a speedway in Washington state this year.

And it took this long?

Now before I get all the comments about how there are NASCAR fans in the Seattle and Northwest region, I know that. I know there are NASCAR racing fans all over the country. And props to you folks.

But this idea has been a failure for months now. Remember the insinuation by the Washington state Speaker of the House that Richard Petty (yeah, that guy that owns the race team that doesn't allow alcohol sponsorships) has a had a DUI? Dude ate crow for that one.

I won't even get into amazing comments made by State Rep. Larry Seaquist that NASCAR fans "aren't the kind of people you would want living next door to you". (Note: Seaquist did apologize and said he was referring the NASCAR as a company, not the fan base. I still don't buy or understand that explanation)

Even aside from the legislative hating on NASCAR racing, this plan just doesn't make sense to me. California Speedway can't sell out and it has two dates, but a track in the Northwest would? L.A. already proved "location, location, location" isn't a good marketing tool for NASCAR, but apparently ISC thought that building a track an hour and a half away from Seattle (yeah, it's smaller than that SoCal population) would be a tremendous enterprise.

As a NASCAR fan from the mid-west, I realize that I've got it pretty good with plenty of options to see a race. But you know, its almost a slap in the face to fans in the South and East that have built this sport to be building tracks and trying to get the sport away from them. There really is something about going to a NASCAR race in Charlotte and seeing how virtually the whole city is wrapped in the excitement.

Does NASCAR get that in Los Angeles? What about at Vegas? I couldn't tell you for sure, but I'd imagine it's not the talk of the town.

I'm glad NASCAR and ISC lost this battle in the Pacific Northwest. I've always been a firm believer that you should never pull your roots -- and apparently that is at odds with Brian France and the rest of the Daytona posse. Apologies to all of you loyal fans in the Northwest, but right now is just not the time for this sport to expand into Washington, much less anywhere else.

In a follow-up to Jon's entries from last week (link to first; link to second), Jared Allen has apologized for getting his second DUI citation. Whether Allen apologized on his own, or was forced to by the team, he nonetheless said all the right things.

Now he has to act on it. One DUI you can perhaps brush off. A second DUI, however, raises suspicions about whether the person is capable of avoiding a third. Rightly or wrongly, in the public's mind the burden shifts to Allen to prove that he can stay away from a third offense.

This is important not only to the Chiefs, but also to Allen's personal life. The NFL is none too forgiving of third offenses, and neither are judges, particularly in a conservative area like Kansas.

The onus is not only on Allen, but also on the Chiefs' management and players. Management should have a process in place that provides the necessary resources for players to overcome alcohol or addiction problems. Allen's teammates also need to make sure that they're available for him if he needs it. You can't stop Allen from drinking if he's not an alcoholic, and there isn't sufficient evidence to prove he is one, but any amount of alcohol impairs judgment, including whether it is safe to drive or not. Let's just hope that Allen has plenty of numbers on his cell phone's speed dial.

The worst suspicions have been confirmed. Jared Allen, according to the Kansas City Star, was arrested for driving under the influence.

According to the Kansas City Star:

Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Jared Allen was charged Friday with driving under the influence after a police officer pulled him over for driving erratically earlier this week, police said.

Police said another motorist called dispatch about Allen, saying he appeared to be impaired. When Allen was pulled over at 135th Street and Roe Avenue in Leawood, he refused a Breathalyzer test and was arrested, police said.

Terrific.

My hat goes off to you, Jared Allen. Your mistake may have put the city of Kansas City into a full coma. Chiefs' fans have had to deal with watching a 2nd-string quarterback back up one of the best in the game. They've had to deal with learning that their starting left tackle is experiencing back problems that once sidelined him for a very extended period of time. They've had to deal with an 0-2 start, a tough loss in Denver, ever-changing reports about when Green will come back, ever-changing reports about IF Green will come back. Now they have to deal with the fact that they may lose their defensive end for a few games because he couldn't find the common sense to call a cab (for a second time, mind you). Now they have to deal with you? At least Green and Turley are victims of accidents they could not avoid.