Tracy Ringolsby accuses Rangers of a “cover-up”

A less-than-intellectually-inspired Tracy Ringlosby column today about Ron Washington and the Rangers [I’ve deleted Ringolsby’s unnecessary paragraph breaks because I think readability is more important than faux drama]:

Washington is an engaging personality. He has developed a strong bond with the Rangers players in his three years on the job. He’s even won over most of the critics he once faced in the Dallas-Fort Worth media because of his straightforward approach. But some things can’t be ignored. Washington crossed that line last July when he dabbled with cocaine. Washington and the Rangers tried to cover it up. They could not, however, hide it forever. And it finally came out on Wednesday . . . Face it, there was enough concern over what Washington did that the manager and the team tried to hide it. They were exposed this week and tried to put on a happy face. It’s called whistling in the dark.

Was this really a “cover-up”? Because from where I’m sitting, it was a situation in which an employee’s drug test results were kept in-house. Which is exactly what should be done with employee drug tests. Indeed, model federal drug-free workplace guidelines set forth pretty strict confidentiality rules for this sort of thing absent express written consent by the employee to the contrary (which is why PED results are released for players). For their part, the Rangers can do whatever they want with this stuff, but I’m guessing that they don’t have an “issue press release when drug test results come back” policy. Nor should they.

But hey, maybe Ringolsby has a point here. To prove it, I’m going to go ask FOX and whatever bankruptcy receiver has possession of the Rocky Mountain News’ old files for copies of Ringolsby’s employee drug tests dating back to, oh, 1978 or so. I’ll let you know if I get them. Or if, as was the case with Ron Washington, a cover-up is afoot.