Mizzou's Coach Gary Pinkel Arrested For DWI Last Night

Update: I heartedly congratulate Mike Alden for taking a bold first step. Although Mizzou officials did not throw the kitchen sink at their coach, they handed him harsh penalties. He is suspended without pay for a week and will not be able to attend Senior Day at Faurot Field Saturday. He must donate to an alcohol awareness program; do 50 hours of community service and forfeit any bonus for taking his team to a bowl game. Further, his salary is frozen for a full year.

Hats off to the university administration for not sweeping this under any black and gold rugs.

Call me a moralist, a teetotaler. Call me what you want, but I've grown sick and tired of our so-called sports luminaries getting behind the wheel while drinking and driving.

University of Missouri's 59-year-old coach Gary Pinkel was just hauled off the road last night for driving while intoxicated in Columbia, MO.

DWI—those chilling three letters.

Pinkel said he was out for dinner with friends, had some drinks, knew better and would be responsible for his actions. Then be a man and resign your job. You set an example for the youth across Missouri.

What a travesty this has become. Pinkel preaches sobriety to his 95 players, then goes out and pulls a stunt like that. Pinkel kicked Blaine Dalton, quarterback from the Kansas City area off the team for driving and subsequent arrest for drug possession.

Enough is enough. I hope Athletic Director Mike Alden fires him on the spot.

Leonard Little of the St. Louis Rams crashed his car into a victim in downtown St. Louis 10 years ago, killing a woman from Oakville. Her family's life was left in ruins, and he walked away without a scratch.

The escapades of broadcaster Dan McLaughlin have been reported all over town, often right here on Patch.

McLaughlin managed to crash his car twice within one year, being arrested for a DWI both times. He's walking free at the moment. This makes me sick to my stomach.

McLaughlin was belligerent to police officers, tried to offer a bribe to the arresting officer, urinated in his pants and was so drunk he could hardly stand up.

Fox Midwest and the Cardinals and Blues ought to cut all their ties with McLaughlin once and for all. What a terrible example this is setting for our youth, the leaders of tomorrow.

For years and years, our hockey boys from the Blues used to go out and get rip roaring drunk. Almost always, they walked without further consequences. No such luck for the late Bob Gasoff who died on the back end of a motorcycle after a night of drinking.

Jim Hanifan, coach of the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals, was pulled over for a DWI, then let go without further consequences.

Tony LaRussa was so bombed at spring training, he passed out in his car in the middle of an intersection in Florida. An officer had to wake him up from his stupor.

If you are a sports celebrity, expect a free pass out of jail. If you are a nobody, expect to have lots of points on your license, expensive fines and maybe some jail time.

We live with this enormous double standard for our so-called sports heroes.

Others non-sports figures do it, too. A Whitfield teacher was recently buried, a victim of a daytime drunk driver.

Where is Mothers Against Drunk Driving these days? I am not hearing the human outcry against all this awful behavior. The group used to shadow court cases, causing judges to dish out harsher sentences than when they were operating out of the eye and glare of the media and the public.

Mike Alden, somebody, draw that line in the sand. Fire this coach. Stand up for something good and decent. Quit worrying about all the money the Tigers are netting for your school. Do the right thing.

In Sweden, the law is much stricter than in the U.S. and DWIs have been reduced significantly there.

Doesn't anyone stop to realize drunk drivers kill and ruin lives? Children and spouses are left to fend for themselves. Who are the real victims?

This all makes me sick.