Nationals bench Dukes after Little League-related tardy note
Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 5:22 pm
***Note: If the content of this thread is useless to even one member of the forum I apologize... Some people prefer I only post things that they find interesting.***
Just when you thought your 1-10 Washington Nationals couldn't grow any more absurd comes some news that goes beyond the ridiculous and into the territory of the just plain laughable.
On Saturday, Washington outfielder Elijah Dukes was benched, fined $500 and threatened with a demotion to the minor leagues after he showed up to the park a mere five minutes after the team's usual reporting time.
OK, so rules are rules, but sometimes there are exceptions that should be made and Dukes' excuse would seem to qualify him for one — he was doing charity work for the Nats at a local Little League.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_le ... mlb,157410
Now It's the Community Giving Back to Dukes
He stayed for the speeches. He stayed for the parade of Little Leaguers -- all 54 teams' worth. He stayed for the cheerleaders and the introduction of the high school team and the national anthem -- perhaps getting a little fidgety, but staying nonetheless. Finally, Elijah Dukes took the microphone, said a few words to the kids and parents about "working hard" and "having fun." Exactly the type of stuff a big-time professional athlete would say on opening day of the local Little League.
And then . . . "Boom," said Jim Mraz, president of the Great Falls Little League, "he sprints to his car and he was gone."
It wasn't until later that day that Mraz and the other organizers and parents from the league realized what had happened to their keynote speaker after he left: Dukes had arrived five minutes late to Nationals Park, earning himself a $500 fine from his employers, the Washington Nationals, for whom he plays center field.
"The next day we're reading the paper, and we're hearing he was [fined and] benched," said Leslie McClain, mother of 11-year-old Luke. "We were just really horrified by that, so our first thought was we want to raise the money in the community to pay that fine. We just think it's appalling."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03203.html
Just when you thought your 1-10 Washington Nationals couldn't grow any more absurd comes some news that goes beyond the ridiculous and into the territory of the just plain laughable.
On Saturday, Washington outfielder Elijah Dukes was benched, fined $500 and threatened with a demotion to the minor leagues after he showed up to the park a mere five minutes after the team's usual reporting time.
OK, so rules are rules, but sometimes there are exceptions that should be made and Dukes' excuse would seem to qualify him for one — he was doing charity work for the Nats at a local Little League.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_le ... mlb,157410
Now It's the Community Giving Back to Dukes
He stayed for the speeches. He stayed for the parade of Little Leaguers -- all 54 teams' worth. He stayed for the cheerleaders and the introduction of the high school team and the national anthem -- perhaps getting a little fidgety, but staying nonetheless. Finally, Elijah Dukes took the microphone, said a few words to the kids and parents about "working hard" and "having fun." Exactly the type of stuff a big-time professional athlete would say on opening day of the local Little League.
And then . . . "Boom," said Jim Mraz, president of the Great Falls Little League, "he sprints to his car and he was gone."
It wasn't until later that day that Mraz and the other organizers and parents from the league realized what had happened to their keynote speaker after he left: Dukes had arrived five minutes late to Nationals Park, earning himself a $500 fine from his employers, the Washington Nationals, for whom he plays center field.
"The next day we're reading the paper, and we're hearing he was [fined and] benched," said Leslie McClain, mother of 11-year-old Luke. "We were just really horrified by that, so our first thought was we want to raise the money in the community to pay that fine. We just think it's appalling."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03203.html
