With apologies to Lou Gehrig, Ron Washington has to feel like the luckiest man on the face of the earth.  How else can you explain why Washington, who flunked a urine test and admitted to cocaine use last season, still has his job as manager of the Texas Rangers.

The Rangers have issued a "zero tolerance" policy for future indiscretions and claimed that their organization believes in second chances.  But how do you allow a second chance to a pivotal player in the future of your organization who admitted to illegal recreational drug use.

The word is that the Rangers are poised for a big year and that to disrupt the continuity now would stunt their progress.  I wonder if Washington were a manager of a team that had lower expectations would he still be employed.  I also wonder why he shouldn't be fired to set an example to others that the Rangers organization will not support, defend or enable those that choose to use illegal drugs.  The message the Rangers organization is sending to their players, field personnel and front office is "it's okay to get caught once."
Is that the proper message to send to anyone? 

At the very least, I would levy a heavy fine on Washington and possibly a ten to twenty-five game suspension.  If Manny Ramirez, a star player and huge box office attraction can sit for fifty games for using steroids, why can't the Rangers sit  Washington down?  You wouldn't even have to clear it with the player's union.  Yet, the Rangers fiddle while their reputation burns.

The other view of why Washington still has a job is because he is in the last year of his contract and Rangers owner Tom Hicks has sold the club.  Hicks obviously wants the new owners to do the dirty work, so he has retained Washington, who, if he doesn't win the AL West this year, can kiss his job and possibly his career goodbye.

In most workplaces, an admission of coke use would be followed immediately with a pink slip and a security guard escort out of the building.  I know in my business, ownership is very sensitive to that and unless your name is Howard, Rush or Glen, you can count on being canned if the press ever discussed your name and cocaine in the same sentence.

In Texas, however, Ron Washington continues on.  Most fans would prefer that their manager stayed outside the white lines and didn't try to snort them.