So I was drinking by myself again, while watching the ESPN repeating loop of that kid in Philly being tazed, when it occured to me - how many PR problems professional sports leagues face in this country could be solved by rethinking their attitudes towards alcohol?

May be, just may be, it might be time for MLB, NHL, NFL & NBA to stop selling beer at the games. Not just after the 3rd quarter or the 7th inning, but don't have it in the building at all. Of course this would mean losing all the beer sponsors. Is that a hit they'd be willing to take in return for good PR, the safety of fans driving home & (sometimes) the safety of players on the field?

Also there could be a new policy that any time a player runs into trouble off the field (ice, court) and public drunkeness is involved, an automatic quarter of a season suspension gets tacked on to whatever else the player gets (Hey, Big Ben, you might want to pay attention here!). That would be 4, 20 or 40 games, depending on the sport.

Clearly nothing would happen without getting the NFL on board, since they're the biggest dog in the yard. But they also seem to be the ones with the biggest problem in terms of player behaviour in this area.

Now I'm not saying I'm in favour of this idea. It's something I just thought of. It might breed more problems than it solves. Just something I'm throwing out there to see what you think.

But since we're talking about how PRIVATE organizations deal with their employees, customers & sponsors, please, no talk of "socialism", "big government" or "the nanny state". Other than that, have at it.