Elijah Dukes: Saying Sorry Cures All?

Well, athletes certainly have more rights and are given more chances than pretty much everyone in society.

From ESPN: Troubled Tampa Bay outfielder Elijah Dukes apologized Tuesday for allegations contained in a published report revealing his estranged wife sought a restraining order after being threatened by the 22-year-old rookie.

Dukes spoke briefly before Tuesday night's game against the Detroit Tigers and initially bungled remarks that were not prepared in advance when he mistakenly apologized "to the organization for sticking with me in a situation like this."

The Devil Rays issued a clarification in which Dukes said he misspoke because he was nervous.

"I would like to apologize to my family, teammates, the fans and the organization for the distraction that this situation has caused," Dukes said in the prepared clarification. "I would like to thank them for standing by me and hope that my family and I can move on and put this behind us."

Of courser, he was kept out a few games last week after the St. Petersburg Times reported that his wife needed protection from him due to a text message with gun attached to it and a threatening voice mail. As well, he threatened his wife at the school she teaches.

Ok, he's 22 with FIVE kids.

He threatened to MURDER his wife of two of his children. He's a thug who had a hard life, but obviously hasn't learned a thing.

I swear to frigging God if it were any one of us, we'd be looking at 5 to 10. Even more tragic, if this was the 25th man on the roster, he'd be gone so quickly that he would not have time to collect his belongings.

Ah, talent - how it does pay! If your hands are dirty, as long as you can run, hit and throw the ball, the dirt just comes right off...

I'm sorry solves problems, especially if you're languishing on the bench...