Twins Baseball Pitcher Sidney Ponson … “he stayed away from his biggest problem, Aruba.”

So what does Sidney Ponson know that the rest of of us should? Aruba is his biggest problem. This is hardly an endorsement for the ATA. We have never seen this quote on all the Aruban travel brochures. How can an island relatively so small be such a distraction and problem? A rather telling comment indeed.

(Ponson Freed from Aruban Jail: WAPO)

Sidney Ponson stated that this off season he stayed away from his biggest problem, Aruba. What he meant is that in Aruba he knows many people and the lifestyle he lives by in Aruba is not the best for a Major League pitcher trying to revive his career. (Aruba Zone)

Sidney Ponson time line

Sidney Ponson according to all accounts has been given one last shot to make the best of a once promising career. Ponson has decided to give up his past destructive life style. Its a make it or break it year. The destructive life style Ponson refers to … Aruba?

He’s fresh off an offseason in which he lost weight, had minor elbow surgery, got engaged and, most important, decided to ditch the destructive lifestyle that derailed his once-promising career.

“As soon as the offseason came, I put it behind me,” Ponson said. “You have to leave the bad habits in the past. It’s a clean slate. My personal life is (in order). You guys know what happened in the past, and I’m not going to do that again. I’m not going to put my mom and family and friends through that, and especially the organization.”

It’s worth noting that Ponson has made similar promises before, only to backslide into his bad habits. For instance, Ponson said he was a changed man after spending 11 days in jail in his native Aruba stemming from a Christmas Day 2004 altercation with a judge on a beach. But Ponson’s life went into a tailspin after that. (Pioneer Press)

This is the effect that Aruba has on an individual?

Swearing to never embarrass his friends, family or employer again, Ponson spent only three weeks in tiny Aruba – where he is a knight and a national celebrity – this winter instead of his usual six. He got engaged. And he tried to stay out of trouble by hanging out at his home in Fort Lauderdale. (West Central Tribune)