One of the world's greatest sportswriters, Dan LeBatard is back after a year-long sabbatical with a haunting piece on sports hero turned real life goat Jim Leyritz, who's of course, awaiting trial on charges of vehicular homicide.
Just like all of Lebitz's pieces, this column will not appease everyone. It paints Leyritz, a battered person in the public eye, with a sympathetic brush. How he lost everything financially, and professionally. How he's admitted to being over the legal limit, but has been accumulating evidence to show that the deceased victim was even more culpable(a Florida toxicology report confirmed that her BAL was .18 versus Leyritz's .14). How he used to get paid for speaking engagements, but would stay 3-4 times the required amount, just telling stories and getting to know people. And how he says the portrayal of his post-accident life is chock full of misnomers.
And guess what? I do have sympathy for Jim Leyritz. Maybe because I met him two years ago pre-accident, and he was that fun-loving, articulate, introspective person that LeBatard paints him out to be. But in an unforgiving society, I want to be the one that believes in second chances, that believes someone can still be a good person even after committing a terrible mistake.
DUI to me is an unthinkable offense. I've lost a 17-year old cousin and a 17-year old friend over the last decade in alcohol-related accidents. But while I understand that in Leyritz's case, jail time may be required to prevent another accident from happening, the real albatross is living with the fact that you took someone else's life.
As someone who knows and likes Dan as a journalist and a person, well done, and welcome back! I understand why you took a break. But I hope you are back to stay.
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