FanHouse Drunk Driving

The culture of boozing it up permeates the NHL player ranks like a Trojan virus. Steve Chiasson's 1999 drunk driving death of was, sadly, reflective of the beer-swilling, drunk and dangerous driving nature of many NHL players.

The latest dopey NHLer to be caught boozing and cruising was Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mark Bell, who could face jail time for his stupidity. Thanks to his athletic status, however, he won't miss any games for the Buds.

Bell pleaded guilty in a San Jose courtroom Tuesday to charges of drunk driving causing injury and hit and run.

The Leaf forward, picked up in the Vesa Toskala trade with San Jose in June, will be sentenced to six months in a Santa Clara ,California county jail to be served at the end of this upcoming season.

The charges stem from an incident in San Jose on Labour Day last year when Bell's vehicle rear-ended a pickup truck in the early morning hours, leaving the driver of the truck with head injuries.

While hockey players are generally good citizens, especially compared to their other North American sporting brethren, drinking and driving is the one long-standing tradition the league would rather not have blacking its eye..

As writer Jamie Fitzpatrick points out, such incidents have lead to quite a few accidents and deaths for NHL players (and not just Chiasson), including one involving Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish, who had a woman die in a crash he caused.

I could go on, but John Berkovich put together a pretty 'nice' list of the drinking and driving incidents NHLers have been involved in. The list is far too long for any sportsfan's liking.

Sure, the NHL claims to be helping people through it's joint substance abuse program with the NHLPA, but it doesn't appear to be helping any. Until the newer generation of players learns that drinking and driving is far from acceptable, this is a trend that we'll, sadly, see continue.

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.