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Labbe and Yates are full of it


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So "Slugger" Labbe, the No. 88 Ford Crew Chief that got caught cheating by NASCAR last week has been telling people he offered to resign, but that team owner Robert Yates has refused to accept it. This stupid and insincere tactic is about a big of a joke as there is when it comes to taking responsibility for your actions. Telling your boss who also happens to be your friend that you'll quit, but only if it's "okay with him" is an act of pure cowardice.

Let's get something straight, if you "offer" to quit your job, and that offer is accepted, that's called being fired. Your boss made a decision, and the result was you no longer being employed. It just doesn't get any more plain. If you really wanted to quit, for whatever reason, you'd quit, period. No one is going to take a Crew Chief to court to force them to honor their contract when they quit after having gotten caught cheating, there's no point.

The truth is, Labbe has said he doesn't feel like he did anything wrong, and the "offer to quit" proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that he doesn't care that NASCAR -- having the only opinion that counts -- says that Jarret's car failed post-race inspection because a part specifically and intentionally violated the rulebook. But no, he knows better than the organization that wrote the rules. He's an expert...at trying to cheat without crossing any lines.

But the story doesn't end there. Robert Yates has stated publicly that he is strongly opposed to cheating in the sport, and that he would fire anyone under his employ that was ever caught cheating. Problem is, he has refused to fire Labbe, and is in fact supporting him fully. Yates publicly lambasted Jimmie Johnson's Crew Chief, Chad Knaus, for his multiple suspensions for cheating, and had seemed to be taking a very rare positive stance against the rampant cheating going on in NASCAR today. It's an image NASCAR doesn't want, and who would. Just look what steroids did to baseball. Unfortunately for the fans, Yates doesn't have the integrity to follow through with his promise to fire anyone working for him caught cheating. I say the fans because it means the one person who seemingly was taking a stand to clean up the sport just took a giant crap all over it, and the stink is going to last for years.

Labbe's suspension must be upheld, Jarret has to speak out against his Crew Chief for cheating, and Yates must keep his word. Richard "Slugger" Labbe must be fired.

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The text of this article is Copyright © 2006,2007 Paul William Tenny. All rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Attribution by: full name and original URL. Comments are copyrighted by their authors and are not subject to the Creative Commons license of the article itself.