The Boston Red Sox is a team full of history and tradition and a certain tradition has landed the team in the limelight of media and fan scrutiny. The Sox' historic September collapse was the talk of the sports world until allegations surfaced that players had been drinking beer in the clubhouse during games. Pitchers Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and John Lackey have been accused of drinking beer, ordering fried chicken and playing video games in the clubhouse during games by the media. Anonymous sources relayed this information to the media. While these allegations are unfortunate for Red Sox fans and baseball fans alike, they are being blown out of proportion.
The implicated pitchers, former manager Terry Francona and Red Sox President and CEO Larry Lucchino released a joint statement denying the allegations. They admitted that mistakes were made during the season but drinking in the dugout wasn't one of them. "In 32 years of professional baseball, I have never seen someone drinking beer in the dugout," Francona said.
Lucchino recently said, "The Red Sox have made beer available for a long time as long as anyone here can remember." This includes 2004 and 2007, two years when the Sox won the World Series. This (statement?) seems to have been swept under the carpet when baseball fans blamed the Red Sox' September collapse on something other than lack of player performance.
The Sox players are all adults, all at least twenty-seven years of age. If they want to crack open a cold one and the organization allows them to, then why should they be criticized for doing so? The Sox are among 12 MLB teams that allow players to drink beer in the clubhouse. Should these players have had beer during the games? Probably not. But if the Boston Red Sox had made the playoffs, this story would not have even seen the light of day.
I am not condoning the players' actions. I believe they showed horrible judgment and clearly horrible timing. The fact that they did drink beer in the clubhouse during games in which they did not play is by no means a crime. Yes, the Red Sox pitchers did have a beer or two in the clubhouse from time to time, and yes, they did order Popeye's Chicken once or twice a month. But can baseball fans honestly say that these actions caused the largest September collapse in baseball history? Absolutely not.