Thursday, July 31, 2008

Boston Does Not Deserve Manny Ramirez - It Never Did


"The Red Sox don't deserve a player like me," ... "I've seen how they have mistreated other great players when they didn't want them, to try to turn the fans against them."

Now I could care less about professional baseball...

But the Red Sox and their self-important fans are ungrateful idiots for trading Manny Ramirez.

Point of fact, I stopped following them completely when they got rid of my all-time favorite baseball player in Pedro Martinez.

Show me one athlete in the history of sports like Pedro or Manny who's signed a ginormous, multi-year contract (Pedro got the richest contract ever for a pitcher - 6 years and $75 million and Manny got a 8 year contract worth $160 million!) and then gone out and earned every penny of it. They made the team competitive, exciting, and victorious.

Of course, management thinks THEY are the ones responsible for breaking the Curse of the Bambino...



I don't really hate the Red Sox; I just loathe their fans. This pagan religion really gets under my skin.

If you haven't already, read my prior post - Marginalizing Red Sox Fans.

(In it, see if you can find one of my most *asinine* predictions ever.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

First off: I like the Red Sox. I am a fan. I agree with you-just without all the self righteousness:-). It is crazy how people are obsessed with the Red Sox in particular and sports in general. My sons 3rd b-day part in May: Many friends and family members are over having fun, playing, eating, etc. 3 guys in their early 30's park themselves on the couch and turn on the TV to watch baseball. WTF? This is a party and social event. The TV is not on at my house for social events. The only exceptions are for events specifically for something-watch a movie, game specific, etc. People give me dirty looks sometimes when I turn on music!

I have got to argue you on one point: NFL and college football fans are just as stoopid. They follow along all offseason, wathc preseason games, training camp videos, and on and on.

My take on sports: I like sports. I like baseball and basketball. I cannot play either one for crap. I really like individual endurance sports like cycling and skiing of course. I participate in those sports. They will never be big on TV because the only people who watch are people who do them.

One more thing: I never buy any merchandise. They don't need my money. I do have some freebie stuff that I get from a supplier. I only own it cause its free. I tend to wear the shirts to workout in at the gym. I am with you there, grown men should not be wearing $100 jerseys. Why is it that the people who can least afford that crap always wear it too?

Lastly: Manny Ramirez was a very fine baseball player. He is 36 years old and in decline. If he was in his prime they would have put up with him. It is only because he is not as productive as he once was that they put their foot down on his bad behavior. My take: Ehh, life goes on. One should never take this stuff personally.

As for Pedro: He was past his prime too. He has not been very good for the Mets. The Sox made the right business move to let him go.

Slow out.

CaptiousNut said...

Haha. We both have to unplug the cable and hide the remotes for future celebrations. Maybe, I will put a parental lock on the baseball channel!

I have very little experience in college football meccas. Yeah, they are probably just as insane but baseball is a long, neverending season. AND, when it ends, it seems to start right up!

If they could tolerate Manny for all these seasons (7.5?) why not suck it up for two more months? They got nothing for him and aren't even saving any money (they are paying his salary still - I believe).

All I know is my friends who are Yankees fans are ECSTATIC for the Sox to be Manny-less.

As for Pedro, they could have used him in at least the next season where they got swept by the White Sox. Matt Clement, David Wells, and Tim Wakefield weren't going to scare any lineup. The Red Sox gave up 24 runs in those three games.

Pedro was 15-8, 2.82 ERA, and league-leading .95 WHIP in 2005 for the Mets. Yeah, he got injured after that but if he wanted 3 years the Red Sox would have offered him 2. If he want 1 year, they would have offered him 3/4 of a year. They made it about money BUT then went out and gave stiffs Edgar Renteria and Jason Varitek $10 million per year contracts.

This quote from Wikipedia really sums up Pedro as a Red Sock:

The seven-year contract he received from the Red Sox had been considered a huge risk in the 1997 offseason, but Martinez had rewarded the team's hopes with two Cy Young Awards, and six Top-4 finishes. Martinez finished his Red Sox career with a 117-37 record, the highest winning percentage any pitcher has had with any team in baseball history.