We Never Saw This Coming

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays super-talented and notoriously bad citizen Elijah Dukes is in trouble ... again.

From the Times:

In late April, Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder Elijah Dukes barged into his wife's middle school classroom at lunchtime.

He was so irate that she ran to get the principal and a deputy, who banned Dukes from the property, records show.

His wife, who said she fears for her life, sought a restraining order and told the court it was the latest in a string of outbursts by the 22-year-old rookie player.

Let's recount the problems Dukes has had in his glorious past, shall we?

In 2003, Gilbert accused Dukes of throwing a remote control at her. In April 2004, she accused him of harassing phone calls. Later that year, she said he hit her with a soda can, threw a glass candy bowl and ripped a phone cord out of the wall when she tried to call 911. In August 2006, deputies arrested Gilbert, accusing her of scratching her husband's back during an argument.

In October 2005, another Tampa woman, Carla Bryant, the mother of Dukes' oldest child, filed for a domestic violence restraining order against Dukes.

Four women have gone to court seeking child support from Dukes. In all four cases, the court found Dukes was the father, meaning he has at least five children by four women. Two of those women were pregnant at the same time, giving birth in 2003 within eight days of each other.

Before he moved up to the major leagues, Dukes had on-field confrontations last season with a coach and a teammate while with Devil Rays' Triple-A affiliate Durham. He was suspended for 30 games.

Dukes was charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession during a traffic stop on Jan. 15. A hearing is scheduled for June 4.

When are sports teams (if ever) going to stop hiring people like this? As a fan, I am tired of it. I don't care if they are fast, can catch passes, can hit home runs, or any of it. People like Dukes, Chris Henry, Pacman Jones, and others don't deserve to make millions of dollars playing a game, they deserve to have those privileges revoked - forever.