The premature death of Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock last week was a tragedy. However, the kneejerk response by various baseball teams -- banning postgame alcohol in the clubhouse -- was a complete overraction. Professional athletes (Manny Ramirez aside) are adults, who are capable of making their own decisions. Hancock may have made a bad choice that cost him his life, but that doesn't mean that every other pro baseball player should be deprived of the privilege of having a drink or two after the game. If anything, Hancock's death will cause players to think twice about overindulging and then driving, making it even less likely that it would happen again.
Bad things can happen when you drink alcohol. Bad things don't have to happen, however. In this country, we have stigmatized alcohol to the point where we have become the laughing stock of the Western World. Our drinking age is higher than that of any other democratic nation. Making alcohol so taboo has created a subculture of binge drinking, where college students who have had their desire to drink so strongly suppressed for so long go on dangerous benders, just because they can finally get away with it.
Once again, the gut reaction is to take the alcohol away, rather than teach people how to use it smartly. Shame on these baseball teams for treating their players like children.
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