Controversial Hiring of Bruce Drennan by Sports Time Ohio

Something tells me that Major League Baseball is going to be watching very closely how the recent hiring by of Bruce Drennan by SportsTime Ohio to do a daily talk show works out, considering it will give him access to Cleveland Indians players, coaches and other staff.

If you didn't already know, SportsTime Ohio was created by the Cleveland Indians ownership in late 2005 as a cable outlet controlled by the team for Indians telecasts. The channel has slowly begun to fill programming slots, and is scheduled to become a full time sports channel this coming April 1st, and despite some of the challenges the channel has faced along the way, the April 1st date is not an April Fools Day prank, but some might interpret the hiring of Drennan as one, and here is why.

Drennan, 56, pled guilty last May in U.S District Court to two counts of filing false income tax returns by failing to pay taxes on gambling winnings he realized while betting on, get this, baseball from 2000 to 2004. Yes, you heard it right, Drennan bet between $14,000 to $37,000 on baseball during this four period.

Something smells a bit fishy here, and to me the most fishy would be the fact that SportsTime Ohio has put the Indians management in a difficult position of having to decide what type of access and when Drennan will have access to the team in any capacity. To their credit, through team official Bob DiBiasio, the Indians have already released a statement saying that Drennan would have access to the press box and the playing field, but not the clubhouse. Drennan's response to this comes across as a bit arrogant in my opinion as he stated that before he got into trouble he rarely went into the clubhouse anyhow, because that certainly wasn't the place to get information.

Now, Drennan, a long time Cleveland television and radio broadcaster prior to his conviction had always come across as "abrasive", to me at least, so that is why his response seemed to be just a little like an attempt to still be confrontational. I don't know about you, but I believe a more appropriate response should have been one of gratitude to SportsTime Ohio, Cleveland Indians owner Larry Dolan and team President Paul Dolan for giving him what certainly must be a "last chance" opportunity to be relevant on the Cleveland sports scene.

I also think that Drennan cannot afford to rattle the cage of Indians team officials, especially the very professional Bob DiBiasio who has become a very terrific liaison between the team and its fan base. If anyone can sell the public on accepting Drennan back on the scene, it would be someone like DiBiasio, and Drennan should make him an ally, not an enemy. Again, this at this point is just me interpreting Drennan's comments, but it comes after listening to Drennan many a time on Cleveland airwaves in a variety of capacities. Again, I would like to commend not only DiBiasio, but also Bart Swain for responding to the announcement as thorough professionals by not addressing the hiring itself, but focusing on how Drennan's access to the team would be handled.

The Cleveland Browns also issued a statement through a team spokeswoman that was also very professional addressing press credentials and the Cleveland Cavaliers through spokesperson Tad Carper also issued a statement that the the team was in the process of determining how they would be handling the situation.

Which brings me to Major League Baseball and its reaction to the announcement. Since baseball continues to be a nervous about even discussing gambling since the Black Sox scandal days of 1919, not to mention the public relations damage control they are currently dealing with due to the recent resurfacing of additional comments from the permanently banned Pete Rose, and the ongoing steroids investigations.

There is always a chance that this situation will "fly under the radar", and MLB will not have too put forth too much effort as far as damage control, but rest assured that they will be watching with interest, and all that I've seen thus far is a statement issued by MLB spokesperson Richard Levin that will be looking into it further. What exactly does or could that mean? Well, for starters, I'm guessing that MLB officials will not only be watching, but working with the Indians officials to ensure that baseball's integrity doesn't take another hit it really cannot afford right now.

Lastly, I have saved the best for last, SportsTime Ohio has decided that the name for Drennan's show will be "All Bets Are Off." Now if this isn't just a tiny slap in the face to our local sports teams officials, their players and even their fans, I don't know what is. I'm guessing that they would simply say that it is an attempt to be catchy, or edgy, but for me, an average everyday fan, I take it as an insult to my intelligence. I'm not saying that Drennan doesn't have a right to work, or that SportsTime Ohio doesn't have the right to hire him, but try being a bit more subtle, instead of hitting us right between the eyes with a mallet to remind us of how controversial Bruce Drennan can be. I'm sure given enough time, he'll do that just fine all by himself.