Re pro athletes & bars/nightclubs. Why don't coaches just ban players from these places

[Dead_Cat]

@Thing_Fish

But was he sent to the reserves for breaking an explicit rule against “partying” (meaning what? no going to nightclubs? no drinking at all?), or was he sent down because his partying was affecting his work, in the same way he would have been if his overeating or excessive devotion to Bible study were affecting his work?

One possible cultural difference is that in the US, it would be very unusual for a coach or team official to publicly say that a player was being punished for partying. Even if the guy’s picture is all over TMZ cavorting with strippers at four in the morning the night before the big game, the official press release will say he was “suspended for an violation of team rules”, and requests for clarification will be denied out of respect for the player’s privacy.

As regards your first question, I’m not sure - it could have been either (or both), but the impression was certainly left that it was the former. Or to put it another way, I think the management was almost more upset that he was ‘caught’ (i.e. photographed by paparazzi) than whether it actually affected him physically, which is pretty much the opposite of what you say in your last paragraph.

@RickJay

Alcoholism was a pretty big thing in MLB.

…

What it created, really, was a lot of headaches…

Well played, there :).

[Velocity]

@Airman_Doors_USAF

If they ban players (who are adults, by the way, even if they act like fools) from those places, all they’ll do is hurt the team when they suspend 10-20% of the team every week. The players know this. They have all the leverage.

It’s not the military, to the players it’s just a job, one that lets them do whatever they want to. They have no reason to listen to the coach anywhere but on the field, which is where they guarantee future earnings. And besides, the reason Johnny Football and Pacman Jones are infamous for their after-hours activities is because it’s rare. If it were common it wouldn’t be notable.

That is only true if the player is established and already financially set. $30 million guaranteed contract? Sure, go party.
A player who barely eked it on to the roster as a 7th round pick earning $600,000 a year? He has good reason to fear being released from the roster and seeing his career end abruptly.