Garner rips tobacco ban

Milwaukee Phil Garner is no fan of the decision to ban chewing
tobacco from the AllStar Game in Cleveland on Tuesday.
The Milwaukee Brewers manager said it wasn't a matter of public
health or of promoting a positive image, but simply one of freedom of
choice.

"I'll probably catch some flak about this, but for me the question
goes more and more toward individual liberties," Garner said as he puffed
on a cigar.
"Yes, I would prefer that the kids didn't do it, and if we're role
models to that extent, I would prefer that we didn't do it," Garner said.
"But to what extent do you go because you're a role model to exterminate
your individual liberties?
"Because once they go, you don't get them back; you don' get them
back without a revolution."

Garner said he realized that it sounded as though he were making
too big a deal out of the ban.

"Some people, say, 'Gee whiz, this guy's on a soap box.' But,
unfortunately, in my lifetime, I've seen individual liberties slip away,"
Garner said.
"Why not in the next round let's eliminate fat? Because if we're
going to say that cigarettes cause all kinds of problems healthwise in our
country and because of the billions of dollars in damage it causes that
we've got to eliminate that for a healthy society, well, fat causes a lot
more problems than cigarettes do. So, let's eliminate potato chips, because
they're the worst offender.

"I could see it going there somehow, we're going that way, because
if you're going to eliminate smoking, let's eliminate drinking, let's
eliminate fat," Garner said.
"Big Brother is setting the standard here."