Manny being Manny: this bothers me.
The Manny Ramirez situation leads me to a quote I’ve heard before but hate to hear: Things are going to get worse before they get better. I don’t care about Manny; I’m happy that my new hometown Giants don’t have to face him for a few months, and most of San Francisco is relieved that the team didn’t make a greater attempt to sign him this offseason (while the media screamed for it). Here’s the most interesting tidbit to me: Bill Simmons’ article on Manny.
The article is typical Simmons (who I do enjoy reading), but one thing struck me: He had a very well thought out, well written article in what seemed to be minutes after the story broke. More info has come out on the situation, but Bill’s piece was a little too well timed. Yes, he works for ESPN, so for all we know he got the story last night. But what do I really think? The written story has been going on in Simmons’ mind since 2004. He either wrote this piece months ago, or he’s been playing it in his head for the last four years without writing it down. The only change he had to make was which Red Sox player was the one who got caught.
The media has blamed themselves for not blowing up the steroid story years ago; talk radio (which I generally dislike) has blowhards screaming all the time about who is and who isn’t on steroids. As a fan, you want to sound educated and preferribly not a blowhard that makes outlandish comments. So the steroid issue becomes the issue that shall not be named. And the players that have bizarre performances become those who shall not be questioned. And we go about making excuses for our favorite players as to why there is no way that those who shall not be accused did not do what shall not be named. I moved to SF in the spring of 2000, so I’ve witnessed (and taken part in) an entire metro area living in denial for 5 – 6 years over Barry Bonds. I’ve heard it all — Bonds stopped trying to steal bases so he worked out more. Bonds wouldn’t disrespect the game because his father and god-father (Hank Aaron) played it. Rinse. Repeat.
But in the back of your mind… you know. And that is what Bill Simmons outlines… he knew something was up. He’s spent years thinking about it. His article is too well thought out and too well voiced for him to have written it in one sitting. And what’s my point? We’ve all done the same thing, with <insert name of favorite team here> instead of the Red Sox.
Its something no one wants to talk about, and I feel I can’t talk about it. Yes I think it, but for some reason no one wants to talk about it. So I’m always stuck trying not to sound like a talk radio douchebag trying to get ratings. But I can take the issue that shall not be named and compare it to a favorite team that shall not be named in a productive season that shall not be named and it bothers me. And unless you’re a Royals fan, you’re probably running the same thing through your head.
So no, i don’t have the solution here. My only thought is… the media wants to talk about it, but can’t accuse anyone. Simmons had 1500 words (guessing) lined up for this instance, and he probably could have used it for any other member of the ‘04 world series team. I don’t want to talk about it, but feel like its slowly propping its head into this season and we all have to deal with it in silence. That that shall not be named is affecting things that cannot be talked about and its still having a negative impact on the 2009 season, and probably 2010 season. And it bothers me. And I hope it bothers you. And I hate Harry Potter.