Why do athletes get preferential treatment no matter what the crime is?

That’s the question that Chicago sports radio producer Rock Mamola asks on his blog “The Rock Report“ referring to Detroit Tigers star Miguel Cabrera and his recent alleged drunken domestic assault of his wife.  

Rock does a great job pointing out that none of us regular folks would get the star treatment from police or our employer that he received.

It’s obvious to him and many others of us who are now aware that the Tigers were more desperate to win than to treat him for his problems and treat his wife with more respect.

So sad the Tigers lost the playoff game to the Minnesota Twins. Had Cabrera’s life been in better order, he may have been able to do more for his team than go hitless in 11 at bats while the Tigers lost a two-game division lead over the last couple of games of their season.

Tigers defend decision to play Cabrera; Dombrowski unapologetic

The Detroit Tigers remain unapologetic for playing star Miguel Cabrera in a crucial game last weekend despite the fact the team’s premiere slugger had been on a police-documented, all-night drinking bender just hours before.

According to this Canada.com article:  Dave Dombrowski, Detroit’s president and general manager, said Thursday “the feeling was at that time that he was capable of playing in the game.”

The GM did admit to being angry, upset and sad about Cabrera’s actions but said he appeared alright at game time and that the Tigers are satisfied the player with his agent will address his issues.

Cabrera still drunk while going hitless in Tigers’ Saturday loss to White Sox?

Detroit Tigers star Miguel Cabrera may have still been legally drunk and certainly still had plenty of alcohol in his system when he went hitless last Saturday night in an important game vs. the Chicago White Sox.

Cabrera went 0-for-4 and stranded six runners in the Tigers’ 5-1 loss to Chicago on Saturday night, a game that started about 12 hours after Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski picked him up at the station.

According to this ESPN story:  James C. Fell, the Director for Traffic Safety and Enforcement Programs of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, in Calverton, Md., told ESPN.com’s Buster Olney on Tuesday a person requires many hours to process alcohol.

“The 26-year-old Cabrera registered a 0.26 blood alcohol content, more than three times above Michigan’s legal driving limit. The average person metabolizes alcohol at about the rate of .015 per hour, Fell said in a phone interview. An experienced drinker would metabolize alcohol at about .020 per hour. That means that “the standard person” would have required more than 17 hours to metabolize alcohol that had reached 0.26. An experienced drinker would have required 13 hours to metabolize alcohol at that level, Fell said.

Police answered a 911 call from Cabrera’s home at about 6 a.m. last Saturday. Dave Dombrowski picked him up at a police station following a fight with his wife — apparently over his late arrival from a night out — about 12 hours before the Tigers’ game at 7 pm.”

Guess the Tigers were desperate to play him. After all, they are paying him $152.3 million over eight years, so they should expect him to produce.

He did hit .323 with 33 home runs and 101 RBIs this year, but he seriously needs to stop hitting his wife and the booze.

Listen to ESPN’s Mike and Mike describe their disappointment in Cabrera

Courtesy of this ESPN radio show podcast, listen to what ESPN’s Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg have to say about Miguel Cabrera’s drunken altercation with his wife last Sat. morning.

I agree with them that he let down his family, team, fans and all of baseball with his antics!

The Tigers should never have allowed him to play additional games!

Cabrera apologizes; Tigers manager accuses media of ‘going for gossip’

Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera apologized to his teammates for being drunk and fighting with his wife last weekend after going hitless in 11 tries while the Tigers lost two games and fell out of first place.

Then he had two big hits in their tiebreaker which they nevertheless lost to Minnesota, ending the Tigers’ 2009 season.

After the game, Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland was unwilling to respond to reporters’ questions about Cabrera’s situation, accusing the media of “going for the gossip.”

As thousands in Detroit are saying, Cabrera should not have been allowed to continue playing.

Police: Cabrera, wife won’t be charged

In this ESPN article, Detroit police say that neither Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera nor his wife Roseangel will be charged for their domestic violence incident which occured early last Saturday morning after he returned home drunk and loud enough to awaken their young son.

Great preparation for a very important game! According to the article:

“Cabrera went 0-for-4 and stranded six runners in a 5-1 loss to Chicago on Saturday night, a game that started about 12 hours after Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski picked him up at the station. 

On Friday night, Cabrera had gone 0-for-4 and left four runners on base in an 8-0 loss to the White Sox. Cabrera went hitless in three at-bats on Sunday, a 5-3 Tigers win.”

Dombrowski had no comment when contacted Monday by The Associated Press.

“I have had a conversation with Miguel,” the Detroit GM wrote in an e-mail over the weekend. “It is a personal situation, and I am not at liberty to discuss it further.”

Personal situation? Sure, for thousands of people, including the whole team and their fans!  How stupid to call it a personal matter!

Cabrera released a statement in which he also called it a personal matter:

“There was an incident that took place on Saturday, and it is a personal matter,” Cabrera said in a written statement released Monday by the Tigers. “I am sorry this has become a distraction, and I apologize to the Tigers, my teammates, and all of the fans. I would appreciate it if you would respect my family’s privacy as I prepare for our next game.”

Message to Cabrera and Detroit Tigers: “Domestic violence is everybody’s business.”