Before we really get in to the meat of this post, I feel it necessary to proclaim my unconditional platonic love for Manny Ramirez one last time. I don't care how bad things might have gotten since the All-Star break, my feelings about Manny won't change. I have liked him for too long to change the way I feel. He has entertained me too much. I have defended him too many times (in fact, the first ever roomofzen post was one I wrote defending Manny after he came under harsh criticism during the 2007 ALCS. It may well have been this criticism that finally pushed us to start this site) to suddenly cave and join those very people to whom I had been defending him. I still love Manny, and I can't change that. He has meant too much to me. And, more importantly, he has meant too much to the Red Sox.
Obviously, I'm far from objective in this case. There is a short list of athletes about whom I simply can't be objective. It includes Manny, Pedro, Paul Pierce, Randy Moss, Eli Manning, Rodney Hampton, Taliek Brown, Kevin Freeman, and Carlos Quintana. I believe that the front office is at least partly to blame for Manny's departure. I also think that when he told the team he couldn't play in Seattle because his knee was bothering him, they should have diffused the situation by simply saying after the game "Manny said his knee was bothering him. That's fine. We don't want him playing if he's hurt." And then they should have done the same against the Yankees. I'm not saying Manny's totally innocent here. I just think the Red Sox could have handled the whole ordeal more tactfully.
What's done is done, and I need to move on. I'm happy to have Jason Bay here, and I'm also glad that I happened to be in attendance at Manny's final game in a Red Sox uniform (in which he went into the green monster for one last piss. He must have known a trade was coming). I wish Manny the best of luck in LA. Much like Pedro, I'll always want to see him do well.
Some final thoughts on this matter:
- I can't help but laugh whenever I picture Manny in LA. It's the perfect place for him. If Manny comes out and says "If it doesn't happen, so what? There's always next year. It's not the end of the world." in LA, the fans will probably just nod in agreement and say "yeah, he's right. If they lose tonight, we'll just go to the beach tomorrow. And, as he pointed out, there is always next year. Pass me some more guacamole" (I'm convinced the abundance of avocados is the main reason why everyone is so happy in California).
- Along those same lines, I don't think any athlete has ever been in a situation that would lend itself better to a major reality show. I would watch a reality show of Manny in LA instead of any other show on television. I'd upgrade to the highest level of cable. I'd even get a dish if I had to, even if the show was in Spanish (as long as there were subtitles). Somebody forked over the money to make Bonds on Bonds. I have to believe somebody out there wants to make this.
- I wasn't surprised to hear Manny thank the Boston fans. I remember being at the 2007 World Series parade and seeing him yelling that Boston fans were the best fans in the world and inviting everyone to his house for a party (I don't know if anybody ever took him up on that). I knew that what happened was between he and the front office and did not reflect the way he felt about the city itself.
- It will be interesting to see what happens with Manny's dreads. Joe Torre told him to cut them , but as of now (I just watched a highlight of him hitting a homerun in the second inning) he has not. The ball is in Torre's court now. Will he force the issue? He should know that Manny does not take well to being asked to conform. He should also know the the fans in LA will not support his neo-fascist bullshit like they did in New York. They shouldn't. I hate hearing about this stuff in professional sports. It reminds me of when Ben Wallace clashed with the Bulls, who had a no-headband rule (it should be noted that after the Bulls signed Wallace, they put up a big billboard outside the United Center of him wearing a headband. So it's not hard to see why he was confused about the rule). Manny, if you're reading this, please don't cut the dreads. You're an American citizen and you're a millionaire. You can wear your hair however you want.
- Finally, I just want to say that I don't think there are many jerseys out there more badass then the white Dodgers #99 Ramirez jersey. I've spent a lot of time this week convincing myself not to give in to the temptation.
Now, before we move on, you may want to crank this:
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All cultures are different. I know, for example, that in Germany it isn't strange for somebody you know to come up to you and just say "you really look like shit today". They are just very blunt and honest with each other. I'm not sure what the culture in China is like, but I have to believe that it's similar. A difference in customs is the only way I can possibly figure out the way Yao Ming publicly handled his team's acquisition of Ron Artest. Judging by American standards, he could not have handled it worse.
Let's look at that quote again. When asked about the addition of Artest, Yao said.............
"Hopefully, he's not fighting anymore and going after a guy in the stands."
I really can't think of anything worse that he could have possibly said. Calling his mom a slut, calling his mom a whore, making some type of racial slur. None of these would have been as bad. Think about it. Is there a darker moment in NBA history than the brawl at the Palace? Nothing even comes close. I'm sure there are ex-NBA fans who stopped watching professional basketball that night. This was a full-blown disaster. I'm sure Ron Artest has tried extremely hard to make people forget about what happened in Detroit. And now, his newest teammate has brought it right back into the news.
When I first heard that Yao quote, I assumed that this potentially great move by the Rockets might be doomed before the team ever got a chance to practice together. However, Artest has handled the situation very well. There is no response he could have given that would have been as inappropriate as Yao's. But, I would have liked to see some type of dig. Maybe "yeah, and hopefully Yao won't dominate for the first half of the season and then break his leg or injure his foot AGAIN causing all of the media to scrutinize Tracy McGrady and wonder why he can't get out of the first round on his own." But, even that isn't the same.
As I said, I think Yao's comments were the result of cultural differences and the language barrier, which is evidenced by this quote after he apologized to Artest:
"If something I said would make Ron feel uncomfortable, I apologize," Yao said. "I'm really sorry about that".................Uncomfortable? Why? You just brought up the most sensitive issue surrounding the league's most vulnerable player, who happens to be your teammate. In fact, you should say it again straight to him when he first arrives to Houston. He'll love it.
As for the move itself, I think it's great for the Rockets. In terms of impact, I think that this was the biggest transaction of the off-season. I've always liked Artest. I actually really wanted the Celtics to pursue him when he was coming back from his long suspension. If they stay healthy, this could be the best defensive team in the league next year. In Artest they've acquired a guy who is not only a top tier defender, but also a 20 point per night scorer (averaged 20.5 last season). Considering what a strong defensive team Houston was already, the sky is the limit for this team.
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LeBron James made the announcement that he would be willing to play in Europe for a salary of 50 million dollars per year. People have been discussing this all over tv (of course ESPN is trying to make it into a huge issue). But, I have to wonder if it is really news. I guarantee you 75% of the guys in the NBA would say the same thing. Who wouldn't go to Europe short term for that type of money?
I'm sure that if an offer of that magnitude comes to LeBron once his contract with Cleveland is up, he will have somebody crunching numbers to determine whether he will make more playing a max contract in America with endorsements or playing for that huge contract in Europe (which would probably bring a whole new lot of endorsements).
There is no salary cap in Europe, which means that these European teams have a bargaining advantage with NBA superstars. All it will take is one top tier NBA player (someone better than Josh Childress) to really make commisioner Stern worried about losing his most marketable names overseas. There are two ways that he could deal with this:
Option A (which I hate): Would be to lift the salary cap to ensure that American teams can offer contracts that are competitive with the Europeans. This would set the league back in my opinion.
Option B (which I love): Stern could expidite his plan to expand the NBA overseas. I'm sure that many of these teams would be thrilled to join the NBA. They would no longer have to overpay to get NBA talent in their arenas, they would have it there every night. Stern has already talked about doing this. If he feels the threat of LeBron leaving the United States in 2010 is real, he may want to stop talking about this plan and start taking real steps towards executing it.
One thing that seems very apparent in all of this is that LeBron does not have any interest in remaining with the Cavs after his current contract is up. I'm glad about this. Mike Brown's offense is horrible for him. It's almost like Brown is attempting to set up obstacles to LeBron's scoring to see just how high a degree of difficulty he can pull off. He never gets the ball in good spots. The system relies totally on his athleticism.
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As I'm typing, it just came across that Brett Favre has been traded to the New York Jets. I'm sure people are sick of hearing about this story, but let's just all take a minute to acknowledge what a unique saga it was. This story was unlike anything that I have ever seen. Never in my life would I have imagined that the Green Bay Packers would be doing everything in their power to keep Brett Favre away.
Suddenly, I have to wonder whether or not this Jets team can challenge New England. At the very least, I expect them to be in the mix for the playoff spots up until the very end of the season. Remember, the Jets added a lot of talent on the offensive line and on the defensive side of the ball. They already had a strong backfield and good wideouts. The only problem was that they didn't have a quarterback.
How long will Brett Favre play? If he improves the Jets tremendously, don't you have to believe he'll come back for one more season?
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A lot of Celtics fans have expressed concern over the news that Paul Pierce was handcuffed in Las Vegas this week. Obviously I wasn't thrilled about the story, but there are a few things that we need to remember here. First, the reason for Pierce being pulled over has been clarified. He changed lanes illegally. While it is a violation of traffic laws, it's certainly nothing to be concerned about. Second, if you're like me then you had already heard the news on the radio, so you just skimmed the article and noticed the name Cassell. You suddenly said to yourself "oh my god! How long have Paul Pierce and Sam Cassell been in Las Vegas?!" I thought of the pictures of the two of them, among others, celebrating in Vegas over a month ago, and assumed the worst.....
However, upon closer reading, it appears that Cassell is actually just the name of the police officer. Sam Cassell was not involved. Third, Pierce passed a field sobriety test and a breathalyzer. Finally, in a conversation thread over at Green Bandwagon, Weeks informed me that Pierce has trained in Vegas in the offseason for the past few seasons. He has always shown up to camp in great shape. Until he does otherwise, I don't think we need to worry.
So to recap-
this whole thing was because of an illegal lane change
Pierce was not over the legal alcohol limit so he was not violating any laws or putting people in danger
Cassell was the name of the officer and not of the point guard who tried to sabotage this team over and over again.
Pierce was not out with teammates partying, he spends summers training in Vegas.
Now, if he comes in out of shape, then we can all start worrying. The truth averaged 36 minutes per game last season, and the Celtics will most likely need more than that out of him this year if they want to repeat.
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I don't know who Tangent5000 is, but this live Bob Seger footage might be the most impressive Youtube video I have ever found. Amazing quality for being from 1980.
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