Yet another pro athlete, New York Mets relief pitcher Francisco Rodriguiz, proved himself to be a candidate for an anger management class after being arrested for assaulting his girlfriends father. And thats assault with a vengence – Rodriguiz banged the man’s head against the wall and repeatedly punched him ironically outside of the “family room” at Citi Field. He received a two day suspension for his actions. In my other blog at www.angermanagement.net, I’ve written frequently on athletes and anger management problems.
My most recent post concerned Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano being suspended for an altercation in the clubhouse after taking exception to being removed from a game. In that post I argued quite strongly that Zambrano should be suspended for an extended period because his outburst happened while on the field and that it takes time for anger management classes to really stick. In the end Zambardo took an anger management class and was back on the field within a week.
So, I may come across as a hypocrite when I argue in this post that, despite public outcries to the contrary, Rodriguiz should not be suspended for his actions (he was placed on “restrtictions” for two days and is back with the team as I write).
Why am I coming down so hard on Zambardo, but not Rodriguiz? Well, there is a difference between the two. Zambardo’s actions occurred while he was at work and involved his teammates and manager. In contrast, Rodriguiz’s actions, although they did happen at the stadium, did not happen while he was actually at work and did not involve his team mates.
If this was private industry and Zambardo did what he did at the office he would have been fired immediately. If Rodriguiz had a regular job and got into it with his girlfriend’s dad its unlikely that his employer would even know about the incident, let alone have legal grounds to take action against him.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not in any way saying what either one of them did was right- just that they shouldn’t be held to a different standard for their anger management problems because they are pro athletes.
What do you think? Should athletes be made to pay a professional price for their off field actions? Let me know, I’m really curious about what you think.
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