What Now For Jim Leyland?

It's always been a big joke about Tigers manager Jim Leyland's smoking habits. He's been made of by Jim Rome and others for his habit to smoke at the ballpark between innings. Well now Leyland will have to find a new habit.

The state of Michigan banned smoking from workplaces. In the words of Carl Lewis, "Uh Oh." Leyland said he would abide by the law of the land.

“I’m a law-abiding citizen, so it’s just the way it is,” Leyland, 65, said Friday, according to The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press. “We’re not supposed to smoke here, and I won’t do it. I’ll try to find someplace outside somewhere, I guess, but I think you’re not supposed to smoke at all in the park.”

Leyland has now turned into that person who smokes outside no matter what the weather is like. I work with a person like this. It doesn't matter what the weather is like, this person is always smoking. It could be poring down rain and this person will stand outside with their coat on and have an umbrella in one hand and the cigarette in the other.

Now imagine what Leyland will do. Couldn't you see a Tigers fan walking up to the gates of the ballpark and passing Leyland in full uniform smoking outside of the stadium. And don't think he will not do that. Read that quote again. Leyland said he will try to find a place outside the stadium to smoke. Maybe someone will join Leyland on the smoke break?

Jim is just going to have to take up chewing tobacco like the rest of the players. Unless that's banned too. Or he could just smoke in the parking lot with RJBO.

A Major League Player Can't Quit Smoking

Washington Post had a article on Washington Nationals pitcher Scott Olson. It seemed harmless, they were doing a profile on one of their players. Until you start reading the article and Olson talks about his habit of smoking cigarettes.

His vice, for this particular moment, lent only one benefit: Just weeks into his first spring training with the Washington Nationals, Olsen already had discovered his own private smoking nook, tucked just outside the right field corner at Space Coast Stadium. His teammates, less than an hour from their 1 p.m. exhibition game on Tuesday, clustered in the clubhouse. But Olsen sat outside in an unattended golf cart, legs up on the glass windshield, puffing away and telling the story of old bad habits.

A major league baseball player is like a kid in high school looking for the perfect smoking spot. At my high school kids would either go into the bathroom or walk across the street off of school property to light up. Or when we would go to lunch, they would light up then. But a major leagueer has to sneak away for a smoke break?

Olson's pension for chain smoking once got him in trouble with the umpires.

"But the situation was, [umpire] Joe West was behind the plate, and he's kind of a stickler for certain things and likes rules. We get eight warmup pitches per inning, so I threw five, and he said, 'One more.' So I threw more, and he didn't like that and I said something to him, he said something to me, and as I get off the field, Girardi walks over.

"He didn't even yell. He looked at me, crossed his arms, and asked, 'What happened?' I said, 'That guy over there, he didn't give me my eight pitches, and I'm [freaking] pissed.' I understand he's the umpire, don't piss him off, blah blah blah, but I'm like, I get eight pitches whether I'm a rookie or a 20-year guy. It's a rule. And I told him that. He said, 'Okay, just don't show up the umpire.' It's not a big deal. People see it on TV, they see Girardi grabbing my jersey, and they think, '[Expletive], he [messed] up again. Yeah, but not like you think I [messed] up."

Dude didn't even take all of his warmup pitches just for he could light up between innings. I love his excuse for when he will quite.

He tried to quit on his 25th birthday, in January, but that didn't work. Now he's thinking he'll give up the habit only when his girlfriend gets pregnant.

"I just have to get motivated," Olsen said.

You have to love a professional athlete who smokes. These are the people who are suppose to keep their bodies in perfect shape. Not Olson, he likes to pollute his lungs with smoke.

Hell if the President of the United States can smoke, why can't Olson? I guess it's better than planting your face in a bong, like Michael Phelps.