OT: Manny Ramirez
Just when I was really getting into the Dodgers, we get this news. And people wonder why so many sports fans are so cynical about professional leagues and sports like college baseball/softball are increasing in their popularity.
about 3 years ago
Nestor
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On the other hand
the drug Manny was suspended for taking isn’t even tested for in college sports.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 7, 2009 10:29 AM PDT reply actions
Maybe
I don’t know the details of the drug policy for college and MLB. However, from what I am reading it seems clear rules were broken and that is not cool.
I don't deny that Manny was wrong
what bother me though is the double standard. People bash MLB for their drug policy yet it’s stronger than the NFL’s now and nobody questions college teams that test for next to nothing. A guy who is suspended can never live it down, while a NFL player serves his suspension and it’s forgotten. Manny took a banned substance, fine. He’ll serve his suspension and that should be that.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 7, 2009 9:00 PM PDT up reply actions
There's a reason for that Rye
While the NFL may have higher ratings, in the hearts and minds of many Americans, baseball is sacrosanct. It is, and likely always will be, America’s past-time. We love football for its sheer brutality. For the impact. The hits. The punishment. What attracts us to football is the same thing that makes us stare at horrible car accidents as we slowly drive past.
We willingly look the other way when it comes to the NFL because we want our football players to be aggressive, juiced up, hard-hitting punishment machines. No one wants to admit it, but we enjoy seeing the brutality of the current NFL, a brutality that was created by steroid use.
The TV ratings don’t show it, but baseball is special to us. It’s something we don’t want tampered with and we want to believe it can still be pure.
I understand the reasoning
but it’s always bothered me anyways. That and that steroid users are made out to be evil people and far worse than athletes who are continually arrested for violent crimes.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 7, 2009 10:03 PM PDT up reply actions
I am with you
That is why I used the term “professional leagues.” I don’t really pay a lot of attention to NFL like I used to back in when I was high school or even early in college. Too many loud mouths, primadonnas, and zero sense of loyalty (without even mentioning the rampant drug problems).
What He Said
Ditto for me on the NFL/NBA vs. college issue for all the reasons N cited.
As for MLB, they lost me for good with the second strike.
It bothers me too...
…but I am one of the people who do think that way. The NBA and NFL have become the stereotypical American hype machine sports. Lots of flash, lots of ego, and in return for that, we fans look the other way.
Don’t get me wrong: I’ll watch the NBA and the NFL, but I’ll never have the same connection with the NFL and NBA (as much as I’m down with my Niners and Warriors) as I do with baseball (and the real football, but that’s a discussion for another day).
Steroid users get put on blast, I agree, and that’s in part to the MSM. But also, it’s in part due to the nature of the offense. Look at Rae Carruth. Convicted of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to a term of at least 18 years in prison. Rae Carruth is a terrible human being. I think everyone can agree on that. As horrible as his crime was, it didn’t have the same impact. Yes, it impacted the victim, her family and friends, his life, etc., but the effect, wasn’t nationwide.
I believe that for a lot of people, steroid use is akin to cheating. It’s cheating the game, the honest players, the players who came before and put up records while clean, etc. The corrupt influence steroid use has on the sport is what makes people so upset.
What Rae Carruth did tainted himself. What Pacman Jones did, and continues to do, taints himself. Steroid use taints the entire sport and that’s why people are so upset about it, at least in my opinion.
People don’t have an emotional attachment to the victims of those violent crimes. It may sound cold, but I’m not emotionally impacted by the death of Rae Carruth’s girlfriend. It’s a horrible, senseless crime and he’s a terrible human being for his role in that murder. But it doesn’t hit home for me on an individual level.
Steroid use does though. I think I’m a lot of people, in that I want to believe sports is the great equalizer. That race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic background are all irrelevant on the field. It’s the one arena where merit and talent trump all. It’s where you get stories about a kid from one of Baltimore’s most poverty-striken neighborhoods, who was put into an orphanage at age 7, who went on to become the most famous baseball player of all time.
Steroid use corrupts that. It takes away from the image of sports we want to have and it makes it dirty, impure, corrupt.
For my fellow attorneys, I think of it as the distinction between simple crimes and crimes of moral turpitude. Possession of methamphetamine is a terrible crime. It does horrible things to your body, mind, etc. But it isn’t a crime of moral turpitude. Now, possession of methamphetamine for sales, that’s a crime of moral turpitude. But why? How does the weight or packaging make any difference? It’s the intention to corrupt others that makes it so.
Guys like Rae Carruth and Pacman Jones commit horrible crimes, don’t get me wrong, but it doesn’t change the game. Steroid use, on the other hand, does. It fundamentally changes how we see the sport. It destroys the purity of the game, of the competition. It goes against our notions of fair play and equality. And that’s why you see the double standard when it comes to steroid use versus other types of crimes players get mixed up in.
One would think
that the union would give a list of stuff guys could take. Or if someone wanted to take something like Alka Seltzer he would have someone available who he could call who could tell him if he would ride the pine for 50 games for taking it. Or it could be that his doctor is from Neptune and didn’t know who Ramirez was or what he did for a living, or had never heard of the issue.
I just wish I could cue up Jim Healy’s sound bites. This time I would use “Wow, what a nerd” followed by “Who goofed? I’ve got to know.”
What's that I hear?
I think it’s the sound of the Gigantes taking the NL West!
by AllHailMightyBruins on May 7, 2009 3:45 PM PDT reply actions
I doubt it
the Dodgers could still go 66-67 the rest of the way (which is not a stretch considering Manny will still be back in July) and win 87 games which should be more than enough to win the division.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on May 7, 2009 5:11 PM PDT up reply actions
Not going to happen
Don’t worry, as soon as the Giants become a threat again, their front office will find a way to fuck it up.
After all, these are the brilliant guys who send Liriano and Nathan to Minnesota for A.J. Smoooooth.
Wishful thinking
Trust me, I think about the Liriano-Nathan-Bonser trade and wonder what the hell Sabean could have been thinking. I wouldn’t make that trade for Mauer, let alone Pierzynski or how ever you spell that a$$hole’s name. It does seem like the new managing partner has his head screwed on right though.
The Dodgers were a .500 team last year before Manny came around though, which is where the Giants sit now. It’s def not out the realm of possibility for the Giants to make a run. Wishful thinking, that’s all.
by AllHailMightyBruins on May 8, 2009 9:08 AM PDT up reply actions
Mathematically the Dodgers should win it all still
But this is yet another nail in the coffin for the image of my favorite game. Simmons has a great article on the WWL saying that this forces you to rethink that 2004 Sox team as a whole too.
I live among lots of Baaaaston transplants
I assume your use of the term “Sox” means Red Sox. And if so, I wholeheartedly approve of your terminology about the Redsox as a “hole” and by implication their fans as more “holes.”
(By the way, Professor George Hilton (Econ. Dept in the 60’s and 70’s and probably later) was a great fan of the White Sox, and it was his thesis that the term “Sox” was reserved for the White Sox. He also claimed (and I believe him) that he included on his resume to go from assistant prof to full prof that he introduced the shareholder’s resolution at a Milwaukee Braves shareholders meeting to retire Warren Spahn’s number. It passed over management objections.)
One of the best quotes from my old man
Last summer we were talking about the NBA Finals, and he says, “I forgot what a%*holes those Boston fans are.”
by bruinbabe2000 on May 8, 2009 1:35 PM PDT up reply actions
I'm from Boston
And entirely agree. Couldn’t be happier to not deal with them anymore
HOWEVER, with that said, you have to understand that due to the weather and overall insulated geography there, there’s not much else besides Sox/Celtics/Bruins. Thank goodness we have better things to do out here.
Fair enough
I actually would like to visit Boston one day, mainly for all the history. I grew up in 1980s LA, so it’s part of my nature to hate the Celtics. The Red Sox were likable until they won, now I don’t care for them. I do have to give a pass to the Bruins, because I just can’t root against any team named Bruins.
by bruinbabe2000 on May 8, 2009 2:54 PM PDT up reply actions
Same reason
the Brits are so crazy about their football.
The other common link being lots of beer.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
I think they're actually tame...
…compared to fans in Italy and some South American countries. Yes, English fans are pretty crazy, but you don’t see the need for 10 foot tall chain link fences around the pitch, as you do in other stadiums in other parts of the world. And the fans in Milan? Seriously, what is their deal with the damn flares?
And when it comes to hooliganism, the English used to dominate. But that’s all changed. The Italians got some crazy ultras (especially at clubs like Lazio).
Boston fans are a lot like Chelsea fans. They suck for most of the time, but when their team has a few good years, suddenly every a**hole is a huge fan and they can’t stop running their mouth. Chelsea is already on a downward slide (like the second-rate chumps should be), and Boston will follow once Tom Brady, KG, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen hang it up.
There's a social commentary
in there somewhere…I wouldn’t compare Boston fans to Italy and South America fans…socio-economically…
I went to a Boca Juniors game in Buenos Aires…needless to say, I sat in the good guys sections and did not bring any jewelry. And it was a Sunday, which meant that Maradona was in attendance…the whole stadium sang for him…they have a song written just for him…unbelievable experience…scary at times though…
Anyway, you can see how low the Serie A has sunk…the Premier League is where the good football is now. Follow the money…
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
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