What would Mac T have done?

Jim Leyritz gets off from vehicular homicide. He blew a 1.4 blood alcohol level several hours after destroying Freida Veitch's car, and causing her death after she was ejected from the car. The original testimony from an eyewitness was that he ran a red light. Under a penetrating cross examination, the witness couldn't be sure if it had been a late yellow or a full red. The defense said that Leyritz was drinking straight vodka shots, and that might not have impacted his blood alcohol level until AFTER the accident, so its feasible that his blood alcohol level was actually at or below 0.8 at the time of the manslaughter. Astonishing.

And the cocksure, macho, World Series hero, got off. He bawled so hard during the testimony that the judge had to clear the jury. He appears to have lost his swagger.

Widower Jordan Veitch calls it "Excruciating." His motherless children, Julien and Kayla, are the ones propping him up, keeping him strong. It is a bastardization of justice. Awful. My 12 year old son said he was impressed by the defense. I tried not to lose my temper. A woman dies because a boozed up ballplayer got behind a wheel of an SUV after a night of drinking shooters on his birthday. And he gets a wrist slap for DUI while Julien and Kayla have only photos of their mother. Awful.

Quick flashback to another pro athlete, in similar circumstances, except that he was not drunk. In 1984 Boston Bruins center Craig MacTavish rear ended a car driving north on a late night commute home from the old Boston Garden, causing a death. It was a poorly lit stretch of road, and he might have been able to play the celebrity card and opted for a plea, but Mac T took his punishment, pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter, and doing a year in jail in the Walpole (Mass.) state pen. He knew he could never play in Boston again, but Harry Sinden's pal Glenn Sather picked him up for his Edmonton Oilers club, despite MacTavish having spent an entire year off the ice.

After paying his proverbial "debt to society", Mac T won three Cups with the Oilers, and was on the ice for the Rangers dramatic Cup win in 1994, and a lengthy career as an NHL coach and executive.

The future of Leyritz, the beneficiary of a wide-eyed star culture, remains in doubt. He will dodge most, if not all, of his anticipated jail term. While our lasting image of MacTavish is celebrating a miraculous championship with Mark Messier on Garden Ice; the lasting images of Leyritz is him crying uncontrollably in a court of law.