I can go along with the Hawks on this one, who argue that Lueke's "No Contest" is -- in practical terms -- an admission that he did it. Whatever "It" is.
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What I don't get, is why these same Hawks don't skip on to the next cliff ledge after that one: what Lueke's punishment was.
The judge, privy to the circumstances where we are not, sentenced Lueke to time served. Why is the first 50% of the judicial outcome emphasized, and the second 50% not considered?
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A quick Google shows that date rapes commonly get 10, 15, 20 years' prison time if the circumstances warrant (and, admittedly, light punishment in other scenarios). With a No Contest plea, the judge has the prerogative to be harsh. Why wasn't that the case?
Q. Do you think that Lincoln and Armstrong are sincerely aghast about Leuke, or do you think they're just managing PC relationships?
A. I'm sure that they're sincerely revolted by the charges against Leuke.
And the fact is, that they've been doing corporate culture like this their whole lives.
Hey, a 4th-level didn't care about this org's mission. He's lucky he didn't get fired. That's their conditioning, in my opinion.
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The mistake they are making, in my opinion, is that they're forgetting that they're lawyers rather than baseball men.
When they have this kind of miscommunication with a real baseball man -- "Hey, that's over the line in the way you acquire talent" -- they ought to go back to Go, do not collect $200, and recall that they themselves are a bit lucky to be involved with these decisions in the first place.
For whatever reason, the ownership board in Seattle has seen fit to allow its two CEOs to cast themselves as baseball men. It's not like that in many other ML orgs. This fact should be kept in mind when the real baseball man dives into the ring and starts throwing knees and elbows in the talent free-for-all.
Poor form for spectators on the sidelines, themselves in safety and comfort, to hire a bouncer to clean out their bar and then take offense at the wristlocks that he puts on the guys with knives.
I mean, sure, it's Lincoln's job to manage the community mission. But you hire a bouncer to hit people.
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Q. Did the Mariners really want a bouncer?
A. I had been under the impression that the Mariners, sick and tired of the losing and the glide path from 3.2 attendance to 2.2 ----- > hired Bas Rutten to go win the talent fights.
So Bas gets in there and knocks the first three guys' teeth out, and right off the bat he's in trouble for doing his thing.
I think they wanted a bouncer, but didn't want any blood. You know what I mean? If you don't want Bas Rutten in your bar, don't call him. If you don't want Jack Zduriencik to turn you into the Milwaukee Brewers, then let Patty Murray run your team.
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Q. What, Lincoln doesn't have the right to show his fangs over an issue like this? Sodomy?
A. Sure, but if he'd asked my counsel, I'd have reminded him that he hired a bouncer, and that those guys are a different breed.
Go over the rules calmly. Z didn't do anything wrong here; it was an unfortunate situation but not a punishable one. Just re-clarify. That's what I'd have advised.
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Q. Maybe he did, and this was like a fourth offense.
A. Maybe. Like we said, we're reading between the lines - we weren't in the meetings. If the information is materially incorrect, so are my opinions.
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Q. Whither from here?
A. We imagine that Josh Leuke will be flushed long before he gets a chance to become a great reliever for the Mariners.
Zduriencik's position in Seattle remains to be seen. SSI is quite concerned about whether Capt Jack will be here for the long term, and if so, under what conditions.
The insider M's fan is given another thunderous kick to the man region, as to what this baseball team's priorities are. Carmen Fusco was a big part of this reeling effort to turn the Mariners' franchise into a real, Brewers-style franchise.
I notice that the Mariners are 55-90. They need to go 7-10 from here, in order to put another 100-loss season onto their resume. Are you, the hyper-educated Mariners fan, rooting for or against those 10 more losses?
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Q. Optimistic finish?
A. The Mariners had the same corporate culture when Gillick won 116 games.
It's not impossible to win with this "competitive ballclub and nice family night at the ballpark" culture. It's a handicap, not a death sentence.
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My $0.02,
Jeff
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Comments
According to this article the prosecution wanted 3 years prison time, but Lueke held out and got time served. That is more like a superior negotiation rather than a judge finding that he only deserved time served.
I have to admit that on this issue I find my self between a rock and a hard place. As a man that believes in second chances and mistakes and things that happen when your young and dumb my first instinct is to tell everyone to calm down about what happened and give Lueke (and therefore Z and Fusco) a break. It isn't like the girl wasn't in at least some way complicit (she wasn't forced to drink alcohol until she blacked out). On the other hand as a man of morals and as a father to daughters I find my self thinking it is reprehensible that a young man would allow himself to be drunk in the first place or that he would consider sex with some one clearly inebriated is ok, or even that sex before marriage is ok. And that side of me wants to applaud HowChow for standing up for what is right.
I worry that my selfish desire to see my favorite team do well is warring against my moral desire to see right done and to see men treat women with respect, and to see young people acting responsibly (the young woman is being punished in all of this too). It worries me that I really WANT to agree with your article, and really WANT to bash on Lincoln and Armstrong, but then there is this nagging voice inside my head that says, "they are right you know, having sex with a blacked out girl IS wrong! Who cares if the guy can throw 95".
Really for the first time in my life I think I can look at Howard and Chuck and say, well done, maybe you are the only Pres and CEO that would stand up for a young girl, that would stand up for what is morally right, but that doesn't make all of the other CEOs right.
Of course then there is a third side of me that wants to say, well the kid served his time and was punished lets just drop it now, you guys are over reacting. So... I don't know, this is a much more complicated issue than, they brought in Z to bring in talent so don't get upset at how he does it. I think that is painting with way to wide a brush.
They want Z to bring in great talent because he is a great talent evaluator and good at finding diamonds in the rough, not good at buying low on someone else's damaged goods!