Tuesday, July 11, 2006

In Defense of Manny

Manny Ramirez is not playing in the All-Star Game tonite. He was the leading vote-getter in the American Leauge. He is taking the opportunity to rest a sore knee. Good for him. Would I like to see Manny drive a couple guys in tonite in an exhibition game? I suppose. Would I rather have Manny healthy and productive for the rest of the season for the Red Sox who are battling two teams for the Division lead in a year where the Wild CArd will probably come from the AL Central for the first time in years? Damn straight.

This is what Tim "Let me insert my rambling opinion here" McCarver had to say over the weekend during the FOX national broadcast (which incidentally did NOT feature the Red Sox):
Tim McCarver said the worst thing about his knee injury was “remembering which leg to limp with.”

In anticipation of the blowhards at FOX (I'm looking right at you, McCarver) inserting some derogatory editorial comments about Manny Ramirez, I give you this excellent column, Manny Ramirez - Reality vs. Perception

My grandfather can't stand him. (And before him, Mo. Gramp's is a little too "old-school" Boston, if you know what I mean.) My dad was ready to ship him in the big A-Rod, Magglio menage a trois trade. Every year the Boston media rides his ass through spring training and pounces on every little thing through the season. As the article points out the same shit coming from Trot Nixon is forgiven because he smashes stuff in the dugout when he forgets how many outs there are. Temper tantrums and faux-intensity gets gushes from the media (ask Paul O'Neill). Easy-going, happy to be playing a game for a living like Manny? Capital offense.

Fuck that. This guy is arguably the best hitter to wear the Red Sox uniform since Ted Williams. It's too bad nobody treats him that way.

Honestly, how do you not love this guy?



8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good stuff, Furious, and great link to that article.

I've never lived in Boston, but coming from NY I know what idiotic sports press is all about. Manny's one of the greatest hitters of my lifetime, and all fans who know their shit feel the same way.

Not to mention, I'm with you: I LIKE wacky, spacy dudes . . . especially when they all-but average a 1000 OPS for a decade!

Anonymous said...

Crock o' shit, IMO. NOBODY with a "bum knee" plays all 19 innings of a game. Nobody that valuable plays that many innings if they're "hurt". Just doesn't happen. Truth is, his knee is fine. I'll bet we don't hear a damn thing about "a knee" for the next month.

And then, despite being the highest vote-getter, HE DOESN'T EVEN SHOW UP to the game. What a huge FUCK YOU to the fans. What's the flight time from Bos to Pitty? 45 minz? Are you kidding me? Petulant, childish, bullshit behavior from, yes, one of the best players in b-ball.

Guys in the radio here were sticking up for him screaming "knee!" as long as he did the right thing and at least showed up (Reyes, anyone?). He'll be skewered, and rightly so, by many in the media for this crap.

-Punch

Mr Furious said...

You might have a point, Punch. I wasn't even thinking about the 19 inning game. If his knee was barking that bad, he never would have played that whole game.

Anyway, I still love the guy and McCarver's still an a-hole.

Anonymous said...

Maybe it's all Bull to give him an excuse....

The Boston Globe had a report from Baseball Prospectus that Manny Ramirez has a slightly torn meniscus, citing Will Carroll, one of CBS SportsLine.com's experts league members. "It's an injury he can play with, but one that can 'grind' a bone-on-bone situation that is unpredictable and painful," Carroll reported.

Sunny Fla

Anonymous said...

I'm not so pissed about MacCarver as I am with Fox in general. What's with that insanely assinine graphics they used on Vlad? Were those supposed to look like crayon drawings? WTF? And exactly how many gallons of drool was lost by Fox execs over Dave Wright? Where was "Scooter", the cartoon ball that explains...well...nothing?

Seriously, you give Fox hockey, and they give you a blue and red puck. Give 'em football, and they give us Terry Bradshaw. Give 'me baseball...well, they give us a tutorial on Vlad's body parts. Fucking incredible how they can so bastardize sports coverage.

Punch

Anonymous said...

Especially in light of the bang-up job they do with the news.

Otto Man said...

McCarver is a royal douche. He's such a douche that when uberdouche Deion Sanders dumped that bucket of ice on his head, I was actually rooting for Sanders.

It's conflicts like that -- like, say, the Eastern Front in WWII -- that really force you to rank the people you despise.

Otto Man said...

Fucking incredible how they can so bastardize sports coverage.

They're just trying to explain the games to their semi-retarded viewers. It works so well with politics on "Fox and Friends" and "The O'Reilly Factor," so why not try it out with sports?