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Whatever he drank, it was enough to damage his car, and it could have been a human being. If it was no big deal, why did they cover it up?

He drank, he drove, he hit a curb, he was arrested, and he was belligerent to the arresting officer. Doesn't matter if it were a single glass or a whole bottle. Entitlement doesn't free you from consequence, it merely allows you to believe that you are.

If LaRussa was barely drunk, then at the very least, his statements make him the biggest tool in the shed. Being buzzed would make that point a little moot as if you are ever out with your friends and they are hammered and your sober as a judge, you realize drunk people say the strangest things. When you are equally as drunk, you don't notice. I would also like to know Tony's definition of being legit. He's a baseball HOFer, so he is legit. Is the guy driving home from working the second shift at Walmart not legit? What is the criteria?

Nightengale should face some type of retribution for promoting drunk driving by minimizing it's hazards. What a clown that guy is.

Not political at all, except when you tried to frame the argument around politics. The DUIs are an issue separate from his politics. When you start endangering people's lives, there is a big problem.

I don't think it's overboard. This hire has the ability to do more damage than losing an advertiser, which is unlikely - and even if they do lose an advertiser - I think they deserve it and it will hold them accountable. It may even make them re-think their decisions and better understand that there are consequences for their actions. We can also go back to advertisers, if the Sox do the right thing, to thank them for their attention and say they now support them advertising the White Sox.

Bullshit. I didn’t sign away my rights at any point. The White Sox and their sponsors have no right to my money and I have not given up my right to free speech. Boycotts are the exact opposite of what you are describing. I am not asking for any government action, by definition that is not mob rule. I am using my rights to voice my opinion and to decide where to spend my money based on their actions and I refuse to give them up.

As someone who has a friend with permanent brain damage because he was driving a car hit by a drunk driver, I believe your stance on no charge unless something really bad happens is beyond ridiculous. If I were to shoot a gun at you and miss, because I missed, does that mean I should be able to go my merry way? LaRussa already had a DUI and proclaimed to the world it would never happen again. It happened again, and if they just let him go his merry way this time, and the media never found out, there is a good chance it would happen in the future. The guy has a problem. Whether he drinks excessively or is a lightweight and can't handle a drink or two, it needs to be recognized. The fact is, people called it in. He was swerving all over the road. It's lucky he didn't do damage to someone or something other than his tire. He is a 76 year old man who claims to know better. But he throws out his tough guy HOFer baseball person. Legit. The guy is a piece of shit, but for some reason JR just can't get enough of him. I had enough in 1986. But there is a double standard. If he was still playing and alive, if Bob Probert got caught doing the same thing, Blackhawks fans would be very sympathetic. If this was AJ Hinch, the people that wanted him hired, would spin it as nowhere near a fireable offense. And DUI's shouldn't be fireable offenses unless you are a school bus driver or a pilot, or something along those lines. DUI is a real lack of judgement. Especially from a guy like LaRussa who claims to be so sincere. For a guy so upset the police officer was embarrassing him,. he doesn't think trying to hide this and having it ultimately come out embarrasses the White Sox even worse.And they all were his actions.

I am not a court of law. I can apply my own judgments to a guy. I can decide that these should be diversionary paths that most DUI single time offenders have a right to not have their lives destroyed because a lot of people make that mistake and destroying the lives of a lot of people is a bad thing for everyone. I can make peace with Tony LaRussa having the ability to take one of those diversionary paths. I also can decide that Tony LaRussa is a piece of ? who has done this more than once, demanded that the cop let him go because he’s legit while lying to the cop about how much he had, and does not deserve a very public role and a million dollar salary with a company I have long supported. I can also let other things he’s done, like criticize people for not being sincere and outline why that’s the most important thing to him, when he lied to everyone’s face and said this would never happen again, influence my opinion of this asshole, when aside from previous charges a court should not do that. And if I feel completely let down by this company, I have every right to choose not to do business with them or their sponsors, and I have every right to make sure they and their sponsors know that. It is not dangerous, it is fully my right. And if Tony LaRussa wants to complete a short jail sentence, lose his license for a year, and ride public transit in Phoenix to a job as a waiter for $2.15 an hour plus tips, he should have every right to do so. I would even encourage it. No one has a right to a public million dollar job. Being immune from public criticism is not in the constitution.

Tell people who have lost loved ones to drunk drivers (I'm not even one of them) how "petty" you think this is, and also stuff your ridiculous assumptions about what people would have done if it were a different coach.

As someone who has gotten one DUI (no one was hurt and I was pulled over for speeding and then arrested with alcohol on my breath), I would like to put my two cents here. I went through two stages of counseling, 6 months of hell financially and legally, and I realized through that process that I needed to reevaluate a lot of things. after doing so, I realized that I couldn’t do things the same way. It wasn’t the first time I had driven under the influence. After a lot of reflection, I ultimately made the decision that alcohol was not something I could make a judgment call of any kind after imbibing, so I have been sober since a few weeks after the event, about 3 and a half years. I feel like I was extraordinarily lucky to make that choice. While I went through my legal process and counseling process, I encountered a lot of individuals who could not make that choice, and were on DUI number 2, 3, 4. Some showed up to court or to class or therapy drunk. I have empathy for people who struggle with alcohol - it is socially accepted and loudly encouraged. Driving under the influence is not only tolerated, it is apologized for. Let me be clear: it’s absolutely unacceptable, and it shouldn’t happen- and we need to address it culturally. We haven’t yet. I’m not saying alcohol is bad at all. It isn’t. It’s simply dangerous. And it inhibits judgement. As an editorial comment, my experience with the process informed me that the system we have has little interest in saving lives. It’s easy to save lives - we require breathalyzers on all vehicles just like you mandate seatbelts. The cost is subsidized by the government. You train the public on how to use them, they do, people complain, but lives are saved. A few people are 15 minutes late to work because they forgot mouthwash is problematic. But - nobody dies. I find that troubling that the system doesn’t make that choice. The system is set up to be a reliable revenue generator. Business is great, by the way - hundreds were in the courtroom every time I was there. Spending thousands of dollars they can’t afford. No mechanism is set up to do anything more than punish them. Most importantly, TLR himself needs to address this problem in his life, because 2 DUIs is a chronic problem. He is in danger of putting his, and other lives, at risk. There are no doubt more instances he got away with. However, nothing will change if he is enabled here. That’s first and foremost. Moreover, the White Sox deserve more from the manager of a storied franchise. We deserve a first class manager who can give his full attention to one of 30 professional organizations at the very highest level in the world. TLR had a great career, but this is an unacceptable set of circumstances for the incoming manager of the White Sox. While dealing with the legal fallout from this, he will be distracted. While the media frenzies about this, the organization will be distracted. The players will have to now tolerate an utter circus while trying to focus on championship baseball - in a pandemic - and they will be distracted. We don’t have the luxury with the window we have to deal with this. my two cents.

Nah, it's fine. On top of drunky La Russa, you got (allegedly) Rapey Boston. This is perfect.

Hate this org man

Jose should just answer "Why are you asking me, I don't hire the manager. Next question please."

"In doing so, they sent two letters of the alphabet to their loyal followers: F (faith) and U (unity). I think that’s what those letters stand for."

Can’t wait for JR to keep Tony but slash payroll as an FU to the fans for complaining.

But that won't do anything to JR. He likes to be able to tell people they were wrong and he was right. This LaRussa hire is just the latest. It is going to take more than bothering his employees for him to see the light. Look how long it took him with everything else. Krause, GarPax, Bevington. The list goes on and on. He isn't going to quickly say he was wrong. I bet he still thinks TLR is going to lead him to hs next WS, and he looks forward to telling anyone who is blasting Tony now that they were wrong.

Brooks is really a good guy. I had a couple emails to him many years ago, and he doesn't know me from Adam, but he replied, and they were replies that didn't seem like "I guess I have to respond to this". They were well thought out, answered by questions, and fired me up for the next Sox game. I feel bad for him if his inbox is getting pounded. He deserves better.

If they do this I hope they are ready for an armed revolt because there is no way that doesn’t end up in mass chaos and violence.

Free agents are starting to sign and we're arguing over how may glasses of wine the manager had before getting behind the wheel of a car. Cool.

Craig Calcaterra said on Bernstein’s show that reporters are going to start going to the players to comment on this if the Sox won’t put anything out.

I hate Bob Nightengale almost as much as I hate Tony La Russa

It's more than likely that most people on this board, and most Sox fans in general, have been affected by someone driving drunk. This is not something that we should be shrugging our shoulders about and saying, "Hey, people make mistakes", or trying to normalize it by saying he's old and alcohol affects the elderly differently. Especially when it involves someone who is supposed to leading a team. All that being said, I think most of the anger is being directed at the team, and rightfully so. They purportedly knew about the arrest before hiring him, and now that the story has gotten away from them they aren't saying a word. The fact that we haven't heard much of anything since he was hired leads me to believe that they knew this shitstorm was coming. Not a peep about coaches, no players being contacted. Now this nonsense. There's not much the team can do to save face here, but the right thing to do (by far) is to part ways.

I was actually mad listening to it.

Wow this Nightengale interview is embarrassing. He’s making the DUI sound like a jaywalking ticket.

What kind of a person defends TLR right now?

Take a look at the bolded in the post I replied to. You leaped way beyond declaring him guilty being a bad thing to include people who are writing advertisers. That is why I’m here. I don’t care what the courts say in the end and I don’t have to. I can judge things for myself. Tony LaRussa has every right to a fair hearing by the legal system. He should receive that, and he should be treated as others are treated (note right here that he already received privileged treatment compared to a person of a different skin color being aggressive with a cop). REGARDLESS of the legal process, I have every right to write their advertisers based on the currently available information. He has zero right to this position and that is the case regardless of any legal process. I can judge where I spend my money based on the character of the individuals and I can make that clear to companies that have agreements with them. It is the White Sox, the team that hired him, that should worry about the unintended consequences of anger amongst their customers, and that is not mob rule. That is a $2 billion business that relies on public interest and public money, meaning they need to care about public opinion. If Tony LaRussa needs a job to get back on his feet, and he’s friends with the owner, he can be given a job in the mailroom to rebuild his reputation and earn better references. I am totally ok with that and encourage the White Sox to offer such programs. But that is very different from him being given a very public endorsement and job out in front of a business asking for my attention and money next year.

This interview is AWFUL. Bob compares the possibility of TLR spending the night in jail during spring training to David Ross missing the first few days of spring training with the flu.

Yup he admitted it. That’s why we heard about it and he was upfront about it during his media events. It’s not like they just hoped no one would send notice of the charges to the press and that it would just go away.

Not sure what the first statement has to do with anything, but cool I guess? As for the second, no one is saying strip his accomplishments or his HOF record. We just don’t want La Russa as our manager right now for obvious reasons and the DUI is really the final nail in the coffin. And this goes beyond just driving drunk, but rather the fact that La Russa has deemed himself the judge & jury of sincerity and meanwhile is unable to live up to his word. He’s an ego-driven hypocrite and that’s not going to fly in our clubhouse.

I like this move for Stroman. He gets $19 million this year in the worst free agent market in history, and gets to go back to free agency next year without a draft pick hanging over his head. He can also still negotiate an extension with the Mets, which is very possible right now.

And now you know why he felt so comfortable ripping the Sox

I sent an email to a sports organization for the first time in my life, never thought I would actually do that but here we are.

Agreed, every word was thoroughly disgusting. Bob Nightengale related links below, Mothers Against Drunk Driving - National: https://www.madd.org/ Mothers Against Drunk Driving - Illinois: https://www.madd.org/illinois/ Mothers Against Drunk Driving - Arizona: https://www.madd.org/arizona/ Gannet Corporation: https://www.gannett.com/contact/ USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com/contact/staff/ https://twitter.com/therealmccarter https://twitter.com/nicole_carroll MLB: https://www.mlb.com/official-information/about-mlb https://www.mlb.com/sponsorship/official-sponsors Twitter: https://twitter.com/BNightengale

This logic doesn't make it OK. It is still a deadly activity that shouldn't be excused and encouraged.

Other people have done dumb things before is about the worst reason for excusing multiple DUIs.

It's less a question of whether he deserves to lose his job, and more that his behavior should have disqualified him from consideration in the first place. If anyone else were chairman of the White Sox Tony La Russa would never have been considered for this job. The mental gymnastics one has to go though to fit current TLR into the description of what Hahn said his ideal candidate stains credulity. A DUI charge during the hiring process probably ends the process for any other club. We the fans have the right to expect better from this organization.

I get that, but at this point, getting off is a technicality. He still drove drunk. The best receiver for Iowa got suspended for last weeks game because 2 weeks ago, he was arrested for DUI. He hasn't had his day in court, yet the school suspended him. If there were no breathalyzer or blood test showing his alcohol level maybe you have a point. But getting off now is just privilege.

La Russa just goes in his pants at this point so there should be plenty of room in the executive bathroom

You seem political when you decide to bring the kneeling issue into this.

Alomar. You take away from a division rival.

The petty bullshit that is this thread never would have started if the sox hired cheaters cora or hinch and they blew a 0.09. This is petty bullshit from posters who were already against TLR.

I firmly believe in 2nd chances in life. TLR has already burned his up. He made a decision to get behind the wheel after drinking, AGAIN, and was caught (how many times did he do this without being caught?). He has lost all ability to be a leader of men and hold others accountable. I have lost all respect for him and am not interested in hearing any excuses or half baked apologies. He has already made it clear that he thinks it’s ok to drink and drive. I disagree

Hows your back feeling from carrying all that water harold?

Like...um...Steve Stone?

Two DUI's and his arrogant entitled belligerence at the immediate consequence of his actions during arrest. The fact that he had to say he wasn't racist during the press conference. His total ambivalence to rampant steroid use in his locker rooms. His age, mental acuity, and current decision making. His lengthy time away from a job that is drastically more modern and advanced today. These are just off the top of my head...

Dear State Farm, do you believe in your heart of hearts that you would be able to give TLR the safe driver discount? We both know the answer to this. Do the right thing. sincerely Sox fan and safe driver since 2009