Manny
I have nothing to say about my favorite baseball player being busted for use of a performance-enhancer, even though seemingly everyone in the world of sports has a take. My silence must appear pretty convenient, considering how hard I went after Barry Bonds a few years back.
Probably, this is because Manny never took dough out of my kids’ mouths. And a little of my lack of take has to do with following Ramirez from his rookie year with the Cleveland Indians. I’m mad at him like I get mad at my boys when they fuck up royally. To the San Francisco Giants fans I’ve tortured over the years — “Barry Bonds fucks pigs!” I shouted, repeatedly, two years ago up at AT&T — all apologies from down in L.A.
Mostly I just fret about the young Dodgers and how they’ll deal. That’s where the real drama sits.
I’ve called my sons, tried to talk through the mindless hero worship that I’ve encouraged. No turning back; it’s time to move on. Just about all of the greats in my offspring’s lifetimes — notably excepting Derek Jeter, Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey — have gotten busted. If Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard eventually test positive, I won’t be shocked. (But if Tim Lincicome does, my jaw will drop.)
It’s time to accept that the best in the game that’s officially America’s pastime have gotten to the top with chemical assistance. And mothers, don’t let your babies grow up to be ballplayers.
May 8th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
So hold up. Your principal only applies
when your cake is on the line. You teasin’ me D?
Come on ock. I just tweeted today about
the kids gloves that MSM is given Arod,
versus the overt hostility that Barry got.
That shit is hella racist.
May 8th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
I’m sayin’, yeah, I’m a hypocrite.
That’s why I apologize.
The day A-Rod stops being of use to the Yankees, that’s when he starts getting treated like a stepchild. Same with Manny. The Dodgers got hella marketing money tied up in dude. They shan’t be mad at him. Not yet.
Barry’s a bitch though. That’s why he gets treated so bad. He brought that shit upon himself. That, plus he did too much. You can’t be swellin’ up like a fuckin’ zeppelin, hit twice the homers you ever did and THEN demand that nobody ask questions. Come on, now!
May 8th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
I think more of my hatred for barry came from the stories of his triple-wide locker room suite and the exceptions made for his entourage’s access to the clubhouse than his blackness.
May 8th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Yeah, man. Me too.
May 8th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
You forgot Greg Maddux as a guy who more than likely is clean.
Suspicions about Manny have been broached before, but a lot more quietly. I found itm interesting that on Jim Rome on Thursday, Vernon Wells said he wasn’t shocked by it. I think baseball has gotten very blase about the whole thing.
While I’m posting publicly, I plan on starting vacation around June 5-6 and I’m thinking about going to L.A. Are you going to be around? I’ll e-mail you personally with more details.
May 8th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Maddox. Of course. He’s not juicing.
Drop me a line about your visit. I’d like to privately lord over the dominance of LockerRoom Aroma in the realm of fantasy baseball. Nobody here cares, with the exception of the handful of posters who are actually in the league.
May 8th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Lincecum actually looks like a junkie. Really, the dude looks like he spends time between innings puking into a trash can. Reminds me of Jimmy Page in more ways than one.
May 8th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
“That shit is hella racist.”
Eat my dick. Barry Bonds was a piece of shit when he was a ballplayer and he’s probably still a piece of shit and enormous waste of oxygen and it has nothing to do with race. He was one of the most fucking amazing baseball players who ever lived, while at the same time he was (and is) also total gumsplotch on the bootheel of humanity; just a towering wall of douche.
He deserved every piece of metaphorical dung that was ever flung at that enormous noggin. I hope someone runs him over with a steamshovel.
May 8th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Um, wow.
Even I can’t add anything. That’s some solid-ass opprobrium.
May 8th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
And maybe Lincecum will record a droning three-cd concept album about PEDs one day and we’ll all come to know the real deal.
May 8th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
“He was one of the most fucking amazing baseball players who ever lived.” From a hater. Game. Set. Match.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
He was that. No one’s arguing how great Barry was without steroids. Only Griffey was better at his peak.
During a college internship, I became friends with John Yoo, another notorious guy from our era. He reminds me of Barry in the sense that he was incredibly gifted, but too ambitious for his own good.
Sometimes, being incredibly talented should be enough. Excess ambition will destroy a man.
May 9th, 2009 at 12:19 am
What Barry, Manny, A-Rod, Clemens, et. al. share is that being great was never enough. Call it ambition, call it ego, call it whatever, it’s as insidious a drug as steroids. Excess is a drug too, only it doesn’t even take a prescription.
Strange that the most prescient voice in this insanity has been the most cartoonish, Jose Canseco. He has to know he’s a clown, but sometimes we learn the greatest truths from the village idiot, not the mayor.
Speaking of which, where is Bud Selig in this mess? I think we need another Scott Van Pelt rant about him.
May 9th, 2009 at 7:18 am
We’re so used to Selig’s absence, we forget to notice it. I actually didn’t think about Selig until you mentioned the commissioner right there.
May 10th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
“Jose Canseco. He has to know he’s a clown, but sometimes we learn the greatest truths from the village idiot, not the mayor.”
I’m not listenin’ to that greaseball. Confessing for himself I could take, naming others was crap. I’m not condoning the use, just choked at the way he did it. Other players weren’t banking off books sharing Canseco’s use. It was a dirty career capped with a sleazy TMZ ending.
ew
He had a right to tell his story. He could have told some truths without naming the guilty. Why should he be trusted? Lied for years, now he is credible?
no.
inter-league a few years back had me at AT&T with homemade noisemakers. Big orange plastic cups with white caps and printed labels
Barry Bonds BALCO
Creamy Clear
80,000 mgs 5x a day
refills: ∞ (infinite)
the security at the Park looooved it.
May 11th, 2009 at 11:40 am
Jose told the truth. There’s just no getting away from it. Sometimes, the truth is ugly.
There’s a growing sense among some that Manny actually had some weird issue that made him take these meds. I’m looking into it.
Anyway, the game’s changed. I think we all suspect that everyone is doing something to boost their game. As the old adage goes, if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.
I live in LA, where you’re expected to fuck on Viagra, women get their knockers inflated, and everyone over 40 is working with a hairpiece or nips and tucks. Folks ain’t that mad at Manny here. They know Wolverine Jackman didn’t get ripped without using the available tools of the trade.
May 11th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
and law school students all over the U.S. take Prescription meds to get thru the competition.
I’m not the least bit surprised there might be an * to Manny’s *.
I will always love Manny Ramirez tho’.
Jose acted like it was a rightous thing he was doing… for the kids.
When it seemed to me a confession limited to himself would have sold almost nothing,
we all already knew.
I don’t suspect everyone is doing something. Prolly one of the benefits of being a Red Sox fan.
Normal in LA isn’t normal outside SoCal. Mary J’s HGH in that environment made sad sense.
Big, Bloated, agro athletes aren’t in that industry. Being altered medically isn’t the same. Lowell is clean, I’d bet. Varitek too. Manny didn’t test bad in Mass.
dangit
May 11th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Ellsbury! Aint nobody dope as he.
http://redsox.fandome.com/video/111665/Jacoby-Ellsbury-Steals-Home-Against-Andy-Pettite-and-the-Yanks/
May 12th, 2009 at 7:18 am
Great player, great play.
Pettite was asleep though. He just didn’t allow for the possibility.
Roger Clemens was on the radio this morning, denying all of the allegations against him. Now, the case against that guy is astounding, and he has giant sack on him.
Manny’s telling folks that his drug use was about sexual dysfunction. How crazy is it that you actually tell people your junk ain’t working in order to save face?
May 14th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
no way
I don’t think it hurts with women.
Reads as a challenge.