Short piece of the article is below - link to article here: http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/news/story?id=5003261&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines
"Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington apologized Wednesday for using cocaine during the 2009 season and will voluntarily submit to additional testing by Major League Baseball in the future.
Washington told the club he used cocaine and offered to resign as soon as he was randomly selected for a drug test by MLB. Club president Nolan Ryan, general manager Jon Daniels and other officials decided not to accept the offer after they were convinced that Washington had used cocaine just once.
"I apologize for a huge mistake I made," Washington said in a prepared statement at a news conference Wednesday. "I'm not here to make excuses. I'm not here for sympathy. That would be asking too much. I'm truly sorry for my careless, dangerous and, frankly, stupid behavior last year."
Washington immediately entered into MLB's drug program, which included testing three times a week. He completed that program a few weeks ago, but said he will ask the league to continue to test him in the future."
My reaction: The Texas Rangers offered an interesting response to their managers admission and positive drug test - but they also have Josh Hamilton on their roster so they have had to confront the problem of drugs before - if you do not know additional information on Josh Hamilton and his journey is available at the links below - I found it interesting that the Rangers had a sit down meeting with Washington and decided that he was apart of their family and wanted to give him a second chance with certain guarantees - such as a minimum of a drug test every week (up to 3 per week) all randomly given - it will be interesting to see how this plays out this season
Josh Hamilton story - one of my favorite stories of an athlete telling what happened during his down hill but taking full responsibility for his actions -
Article 1: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2926447
Article 2: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/albert_chen/05/27/hamilton0602/
Random side note - Josh Hamilton - an All-Star - who had that fabulous moment at the All-Star Home Run Derby at the Old Yankee Stadium - could have been a Cub for longer than the few hours he was - would he not look good as a power hitting left hand hitter?
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