A friend of mine called me this morning completely saddened by the driving under the influence (DUI) arrest of Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton. He pondered if there are no good role models anymore in Major League Baseball.
What do you think? Of course all of my loyal readers know my take on the situation. Despite being a huge baseball fan generally, and a Todd Helton fan, I never want to place the moniker of role model on a celebrity.
Helton has been a model of consistency and comportment. He has been an excellent player and has never had a negative mark on his reputation on the field or off.
Yet his recent DUI offense is disturbing – especially his mug shot. While Helton is saying many of the right things – like apologizing profusely for his actions, there is no excuse for going out in the middle of the night and endangering the life of others.
What was so important that he had to leave his home in a drunken stupor in the middle of the night? He had to buy lottery tickets and chewing tobacco!
He claimed he had consumed two “Igloo” cups of red wine about 8PM – 6 hours before the incident. I don’t know about you, but the only way to get that hammered on two “Igloo” cups of wine were if they were the 60-ounce coolers!
I hope Helton takes an alcohol class and decides to help raise alcohol awareness in his community. We can all forgive him this one indiscretion, right?