Baseball's Jim Sorensen is a Drunk Again

Holy shit, I thought I knew how to drink, but this guy puts me to shame. Jim Sorensen, former MLB player and Detroit Tiger play by play guy, was arrested on his 7^th drunken-driving related incident last night. Detroit cops found him passed out in his car on the side of a Detroit highway. He was taken to the hospital where it was discovered that his BAC was 6 times the legal limit.

Jim was sentenced to 20 months in prison for drinking during 2005, and released in June 2006 after serving 14 months. Most people might consider hitching a ride to the party after 6 DUI’s and a 14 month stay in prison, but not Jim. I was going to ask what type of friends would let Jim drive with that drinking resume, but then realized a drunk of his caliber probably doesn’t have too many.

Michigan’s legal limit is .08, so that means he was at a .46 at the time he got tested. Who knows how long he had been passed out on the side of the road or how insane his BAC was at it’s highest point? I remember the alcohol classes I had to take after getting a couple drinking ticket in college, and they always showed us this ridiculous chart of BAC levels and the symptoms that accompanied them. (see below)

The lady leading the alcohol class always said two things.

1. If you’ve been arrested once you’ll be back again. (She was right.)
2. Any BAC above a .30 is extremely dangerous, and any BAC above a .40 usually results in comatose or death.

Seasoned drinkers will usually laugh at the 2^nd statement. Anyone who knows how to party has hit that .30 mark once in their life, and the true drinking “stars” have come close to that .40. Yet, when one gets into the .40’s, it’s just scary -and more often than not -deadly. Good ole’ Jim was getting pretty close to a .50, and still had the wherewithal to get off the road.

Reckless, drunken idiot or "leading light" for alcoholics everywhere? I’ll let the public decide.

Really though, 7 DUI’s? Come on now, Jim.

MA