Luke, I'll now be long-winded to make the following points about why you are playing the excellent role of an instigating journalist with your last post:
1. Any real fan has a bitter taste about 1998 and the era of size 8 3/4 baseball cap. Of course I meant he's a good bridge to the new age of juiceless sluggers.
2. This guy is as natural a hitter as they come. He batted .556 his senior year of high school. I don't care what the quality of pitching was he faced, that's really, really high. Even Joe Morgan, who believes nobody played baseball better than Joe Morgan, said that Hamilton is simply a natural hitter. He was when he was 18 and he is now.
2-1. A former drug addict, while may seem susceptible to steroids, is the last person who would be injecting themselves with a substance if truly trying to stay clean. The addiction to drugs does not stop with a certain type of drug. Hamilton has a friend who is literally with him 24/7 to make sure he doesn't fall off the wagon. Hamilton said he doesn't trust himself to stay clean - yet. Plus, this is a guy who fell into drugs by being around the wrong people - I bet shady trainers are nowhere to be found now. Moving on past that, MLB has ramped up its steroids testing, it is much better than before. Not great, but better.
Also, it isn't like he's doing this in games. He was getting served up by a high school coach. It's been noted again and again that while it may add some length to home runs, it won't make a bad hitter a good hitter. You yourself, Luke, have made this point in a similar conversation. Here's a quote from Hamilton last year:
"I love this game. It's the only thing I've been good at," says Hamilton.
"What's crazy is that I never even considered using steroids. I know it doesn't make sense. But I love this game so much that I would never cheat it."
4. Your worthless stab at trying to peg me as a cousin-loving racist was weak. I feel as if your skills are fading with age.
First, I only mentioned Josh Hamilton, not any of the other seven players or any instance of race, ethnicity, etc. So, thanks for trying to create an extremely vague notion and pass it off as my intention. Bad. Not good, bad.
Second, I can guarantee your new culture awareness was brought on by the EXACT SAME POINT Steve Phillips made in the ESPN pre-show. And, since you left it out, there were players of color who were invited to play in the derby, but decided not to participate because of swing issues or injury (Vlad, Ortiz, Tejada, ARod and more). The only argument was that of Morneau, but they went through the list of AL players who could be in it in the broadcast and nobody was able to come up with a slugger. You Suck. Love You.
Nice weak-assed try at getting me. But, next time stick to lines like: "Jeeze Dan, what size shirt is this? Tent?"
Much better, Daniel! Way to articulate those thoughts. I just have a couple things to add.
ReplyDelete1. Rick Reilly brought up the race card, not Steve Phillips. It was Reilly who kept reminding us time and time again that yes, this man did in fact use heroin. Meanwhile, everyone else was caught up in the moment. I didn't know he was such a controversy whore. Lost some respect for him.
2. I realize that it's very likely that Hamilton is clean. I've read nearly every piece of literature on him this year, including the Sports Illustrated cover story and the article that you linked. He is a freak of an athlete, no doubt about it. All I'm saying that the steroid era has ushered in a mindset that says athletes are guilty until proven innocent. Hamilton's remarkable performance yesterday raised some eyebrows all over the country. So I want him to get tested so he can publicly state that yes, it's all natural.
I thought that was Phillips. I expect a blowhard comment like that from him. I agree with your statement about Reilly. They just kept talking about it. We get it, just watch him hit and shut up.
ReplyDeleteI hate that it has come to guilty until proven innocent and that people don't believe in natural, God-given talent anymore - or hard work ethic. I want to be 13 again when all this didn't matter/exist yet.