Bat boy suspended on a dare

Major League Baseball is cracking down on another case: drinking milk. The Florida Marlins' bat boy was suspended in a game against the Dodgers for drinking a gallon of milk. He did this on a dare made by Dodgers' pitcher Brad Penny. The deal was if the bat boy could drink a gallon of milk in an hour without puking he would receive $500. Somehow the Marlins organization thought this was an inexcusable activity during a game and served him a 6 game suspension. When did drinking milk at a baseball game become a violation? The milk corporation didn't feel this way, rewarding the kid for his public use of their product by giving him cash money and and an endorsement offer. This more than made up for his absence of work (It's not like he was making much to begin with here). The bat boy was promoting good health instead of chewing tobacco, smoking a cigarette, or holding a bottle of steriods...um I mean vitamin pills. The Marlins should be so lucky.

Professional sports are getting too serious when a team worries about kids having good old-fashion fun. When did this ever hurt anybody? The worst part about this incident is the length of the suspension compares closely to that of a steroid offender. Come on, it sounds ridiculous to me that a player guilty of using steroids is tossed for 10 games while a passionate milk drinker gets a 6 game removal. A tendency to overreact is one thing, but actually thinking such normal behavior will have such a negative effect on the game is ignorant. Sure the bat boy could have puked, but that that's far less a problem than discovering a dirty, blood dripping syringe left on a bench or chair by one of the players (Oh God! That really is disgusting). For all the public knows, players could be smoking crack in the clubhouse between innings. These are the real issues which demand the most attention. I suppose Major League Baseball will be in for a shell shocker when someone takes a dump on the field because they won't be able to make it to a restroom in time.