Coming back from vacation, this is not the journal entry I wanted to write. In some ways I m shocked that it happened; in other ways, I m shocked it doesn t happen more often. Whenever my friends visited me in St. Louis, their first comment about the city is always the same: how come all St. Louisians drive like wimps? In some ways, the city prides itself on its speed traps, 55 mph speed limits, and the slow and safe driving that you just don t find in cities on the East Coast.

However, cautious driving is not the story in the Gateway City today. Yesterday, WORLD CHAMPION St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock died in a car crash. He died on a stretch of highway that I ve driven hundreds, if not thousands of times. It s the same highway where the infamous Leonard Little incident occurred. Little, a St. Louis Ram who already served jail time for killing someone in a drunk driving crash, got caught going 100 mph and failed a breathalizer just a few miles down the road. And then there was Tony LaRussa, the great Cardinal manager, who got arrested this spring for passing out drunk at a stoplight in Florida. It seems like my hometown city has a monopoly on drunk drivers, a monopoly I wish did not exist.

So it comes as no surprise when reports came out today that Josh Hancock had consumed adult beverages before his last drive. There is more and more evidence that he had a massive drinking problem, one that unfortunately cost him his life. As much as I hate to say it, from the current evidence, Josh Hancock is not someone who deserves any sympathy.

While I m a huge sports fan, I never did idolize sports players. However, I ve never bashed an athlete for poor behavior either. Athletes get paid and praised for their on-field performance, not their off-field decisions. Heck, I once owned a fantasy team that I nicknamed the Model Citizens , as everyone on the team had some sort of checkered past.

But Josh Hancock will go down in history as a hero, a World Series Champion. Yet the same people who worship Hancock are the ones who bash Barry Bonds, Gary Matthews Jr., and a slew of others for alleged, unproven steroid use. Seriously, which crime is worse?