Tim Lincecum is perhaps one of the most collected players in baseball right now. He has won an NL Cy Young and could possibly win another this season. Among the young players in the game he is far and away the biggest get in baseball products right now. In essence he is on top of the world both in baseball and in the hobby and he is only 25 years old. So now what . . . get stoned!
Thats right, the poster boy for baseball right now is a pothead. If you haven’t already heard the story, here it is in all it’s glory (taken from a Yahoo! sports article):
“It all stems from a traffic stop after sunrise on Oct. 30 in the town of Hazel Dell, about four miles north of the Oregon border. A Washington State Patrol trooper said Lincecum was driving his 2006 Mercedes at 74 mph in a 60 mph zone on Interstate 5. The motorcycle trooper who pulled over the 25-year-old All-Star starter smelled marijuana as Lincecum rolled down his car window.
Washington State Patrol spokesman Steve Schatzel said Thursday the former University of Washington star and native of the Seattle suburb of Bellevue immediately complied with a request to hand over the drug and a marijuana pipe from the car’s center console.
Schatzel said police consider the 3.3 grams a small amount for personal use, well below the maximum of 40 grams before possession is classified differently and carries a more severe penalty.”
So after reading this, here is my take, he bought 3.3 (probably more than that) grams of pot, and while speeding he had a pipe and the pot in the car. How f!@&ing dumb do you have to be to jeopardize your career and your popularity. Many might dismiss this, but if you are a Lincecum fan or a Giants fan, you have to be concerned. Look what happened to Dwight Gooden, he was never the same after the first drug charges were leveled on him. Many players after getting charged with drug possesion never are able to come back.
Personally, I think that Tim’s stats are going to decrease now. It has some to do with the drug charges, but also it has to do with the fact that he is a power pitcher. Players like him simply can’t be effective for a long time. Power pitchers tend to fall off as they approach their late 20s. Collectors don’t seem to care, as his cards are still selling for fantastically high prices, but you have to wonder, is this just a one time thing? Or is this just the only time he ever got caught and he’s been doing it for quite sometime. Drug use might be acceptable in a college environment, but once, you leave you should have left that behind too. Bad decision for this former Cy Young Award winner. I hope this helps him quit.
Big deal, he smokes pot. Gotta tell you, there’s a good number of his peer group that does the same. And he really isn’t jeopardizing a whole hell of a lot either, certainly not his career, besides which, if he retired tomorrow he’d be set for life anyway.
If it were Coke, Heroin or Meth I might care, but the fact that he smokes pot doesn’t make me angry at him or even look down on him. In fact, I like him more now than I used to. It’s all about perspective. besides which, Washington State has legal Medical Marijuana, as does California.
Plus 3.3 grams, which is a little less than 1/8th of an ounce, isn’t that big a deal, we’re talking a street value of under $75.
I always knew he was a pothead. no joke, since he was a rookie he had that kinda look and swagger like the druggies from my school. the beanie hats, the bracelet, the hippie-ish lifestyle he lives. I always had a hunch that tim lincecum was a pothead!
Come on. Don’t you think you’re being a bit hard on Tim? He can’t smoke a little pot on the off season? He’s not doing cocaine or steroids, which has certainly happened enough. Or LSD for that matter, like old Doc Ellis. No, he’s just smoking a little bit of pot, a couple grams. Really, don’t you think alcohol, our country’s socially acceptable drug, can be much worse to a athlete’s career? And if Tim got caught drinking and driving, wouldn’t that be so much worse? Drinking and driving can truly ruin a career, in one commute.
I just think all the shock about athletes smoking pot is ridiculous. Should we take away their olympic medals? Their Cy Young’s? Ha!
I do think pot can make you slow and stupid and lazy over a prolonged period of usage, and that could certainly be bad for a pitcher like Tim with so much potential. But let’s offer a little forgiveness for one charge.
Here’s the thing, he had the pot in his car with the pipe, chances are he has smoked and driven. He has probably smoked during the season (probably on off days). Even if he is good, it is against the law. I’m just saying the Giants are going to back up the Brinks truck to sign him after next season, we are talking 6 years and maybe as much as $150 million. For that money I just want someone to come to work and pitch like a MF. I don’t want drama, I don’t want pull overs where any drugs are involved, no DUI’s etc. We give athletes the free pass way too much. It’s time for them to realize the repercussions of their actions.
Not suspending Dwight Gooden for fighting cops and doing coke (because he went to rehab) in the late 80′s is giving athletes the free pass. Not thinking it’s a big deal when Timmy is pulled over for a misdemeanor…yeah…not even close to the same thing. I have no problem giving the guy a pass on this one. And I like to think that he’ll realize not to drive like that again.
I think you’re being a little hard on the guy. Linc, like Michael Phelps, is insanely good at his sport. And Linc, like Michael Phelps, was caught toking up OUTSIDE OF THE SEASON. I don’t imagine either of these guys is dumb enough to smoke before a big meet or practice or game or something. It appears to be a recreational thing, and what’s wrong with that?
Smoking weed is really no worse than drinking (granted, a little on your lungs, but so is cigarette smoking there), and it’s a lot harder to get addicted to weed. Would you be saying that his stats are going to decrease if he was pulled over with a .04 BAC (under the DUI level, but still a few beers)?
It’s terrible that he did it while driving. But a little reefer isn’t going to turn Timmy into Livan Hernandez. He doesn’t need to quit. He just needs to be smart about the stuff IMO. Dwight Gooden Timmy is not.
Drug use is unacceptable in a any environment…..!!!!!!!!
I think he needs to wake up and quit the drugs! This is the first time I have heard of this. What is MLB’s response to this arrest?
Tom, the MLB is not responding since it is a misdemeanor. I think the Giants are hoping this all goes away quickly.
So what the guy burns a little. What he does in his personal life is his own business.
He has obviously smoked in the past, and I doubt it will effect his future. He is still the Nolan Ryan of this generation, and 3 grams of bud is not going to change that.
Mojo
This time it was 3 grams. But you know it has been much much more. Wake up if you think this was his first time, my guess is that he’s been rockin the ganga since his U dub days!
Mojo said “He has obviously smoked in the past, and I doubt it will effect his future,” to which you responded “Wake up if you think this was his first time.” I don’t think anyone thinks that it was Linc’s first time. And Mojo definitely said that he didn’t. So I don’t see why you said that there.
I bet he has been “rockin the ganga” since high school. So what? I cartianly don’t see this as something that will effect his career. I’m sure that he is not the first big-name player in any sport to smoke weed (or the first since Phelps at least).
If he ever gets busted with a pound, then I could see where you are coming from. But until then, we will have to see.
Marijuana is a recreational drug. Its far less dangerous then a bottle of vodka, and there has never been a death associated with its use.
I think we are all missing the point. It is illegal to use or have pot. Whether or not it is dangerous or not is not the point. So unless Timmy is using it for “medicinal purposes” he is s@#t out of luck. Plus even though he lives in CA he was stopped in WA.
Also when I mention the fact that he is the ” Nolan Ryan” of his generation I say that in remarks to the “Power pitchers tend to fall off as they approach their late 20s” remark you made towards the end of your post.
Timmy is a small guy, and relies on his mechanics for a majority of his velocity. He is a freak of nature, and if doubt anything marijuana related is going to change his mechanics, or the way he delivers the ball.
It is also Illegal to be intoxicated in public, but that doesn’t stop millions of people from doing it on a daily bases.
Personally I think that if someone smokes pot in the comfort of their own home, that is their own choice which they shouldn’t be punished for, so long as they don’t do anything wrong while or under the influence of it.
BUT, Tim clearly did so something wrong while under the influence of marijuana. Numerous scientific studies show that Marijuana affects one’s ability to drive, just as alcohol affects ones ability to drive. Tim’s actions potentially put people’s lives at risk on the road. As such, Tim should be punished by the law and MLB, otherwise it doesn’t set a very good example and could be seen as encouraging such reckless behaviour.
Timmy was NOT under the influence (all he was guilty of was possession of 3.3 grams and paraphernalia). A lot of people are mistakenly assuming that.
“The motorcycle trooper who pulled over the 25-year-old All-Star starter smelled marijuana as Lincecum rolled down his car window.”
Sounds like to me he had just smoked the marijuana and was thus under the influence – either that of the trooper has an extremely sensitive sense of smell.
Alex,
According to some reports, the officer didn’t “smell” anything. The pipe was sitting in the middle console of the car in full view and the cop noticed it.
And if he did “smell it,” well weed is kind of pungent, and left out in the open it’s a little noticeable/can tend to fill a room.
Regardless, reports say that Timmy was not under the influence and so he was NOT driving high. So let’s stop assuming that.
Here’s one blog that says he wasn’t high and driving:
http://www.nowpublic.com/sports/tim-lincecum-marijuana-arrest-giants-pitcher-busted-weed-2510295.html
The truth is pot slows down your ability to react on the road, just like alcohol. He could have easily killed someone. Perhaps when he murders someone while driving like Dany Heatly did in Atlanta he will learn his lesson.
Of course we all forgave Heatly, as he is now making tons of cash in SJ.
Was he even smoking? If he was actually smoking the stuff then I imagine that he would have gotten a DUI. It appears that the office smelled the stuff because it was sitting in the front of the car, not because Timmy was smoking it.
Regardless, yeah it’s dumb to smoke while driving, and if he did then I hope he learned his lesson. But weed =/= cocaine/heroin/etc. You are treating it like it is. Weed is about as bad as alcohol is, but less addictive (some say non addictive). It’s only illegal because of a bunch of dumb propaganda back in the day.
And when I say was he I mean Timmy, not Heatly. But also, Heatly’s BAC was well under .08…it was actually under .015…so to bring up his accident and blame it on alcohol is just uninformed. The guy had practically the equivalent of a few sprays of binaca in his system.
What would happen to the rest of us (most of the rest of us, anyway) if were caught with marijuana. I suspect that we be at risk of losing our jobs and/or would have trouble finding another one when the background check was completed. Getting a little tired of athletes getting a pass. Being “insanely good” does not entitle someone to be let off the hook and I’d question the judgment of anyone that felt that is even remotely a factor.
Charecteristics of a stoned driver.
1. Missing your exit twice.
2. Driving to slow.
3. Driving to fast, and then realizing it > back to number 2.
4. Leaving you blinker on 6 miles after you already changed lanes.
5. Forgetting where you parked, and loosing your car.
6. Driving with the heater on in the middle of July.
7. Playing with your radio ( very bad).
Anyhow its not the stoners Im worried about it these damn teenagers, and their cell phones.
Very funny.
For those of you defending him, if it was Barry Bonds that was in the same situation, would you feel the same way?
Barry already has all sorts of drug convictions against him (steroids) – not the same situation. Take someone I hate who has been clean – say any given Yankee ever (let’s say…Mark Tex) and put him in that situation. And would I feel the same way?
If anything, I’d be more positive about it. Like damn…I guess Tex is human and not just a money grubbing jerk after all.
That said, Tex would probably be traded by the Yankees after that, which would be silly. Timmy was driving around with 3 grams. If you drive around with a 6 pack it is not illegal, but the end result is about the same if you smoke/drink the contents. I’m not going to come down on someone for doing something illegal if the thing that they did is a law that I do not agree with.
Back to back not bad for a pot head!
power pitchers always fizzle out? tell that to randy johnson, john smoltz, roger clemens, and nolan ryan.
So what. the kid smokes. i’m sure mlb has more smokers and even harder drug users then we could imagine. he made a mistake and will pay for it. like anyone else, he’s moved on. i’m a ranger fan so of course ive got respect for his ability on the mound. high or not he beat us twice in the world series.