Texas Rangers OF Josh Hamilton was the subject of sports headlines this week but not for reasons he would want. Josh Hamilton admits to relapsing and having several drinks of alcohol this week.
What this teaches us is that the addiction is never truly broken and is always in the back of the affected person's mind waiting to break out. Regardless. The fight to stay sober does not end til the day we pass on. Josh Hamilton is a human being and made a mistake.
Showing posts with label baseball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baseball. Show all posts
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Friday, September 17, 2010
The Derek Cheater incident...another reason baseball needs replay. (UPDATED)
Derek Jeter has done something I never expected to do. He faked a Hit By Pitch (HBP) to get first base awarded to him. Watch the play here.
This is upsetting, if you watch the MLB Network analysis of the HBP it shows he looked up to see if they were buying it, so not only did he fake the HBP, he smugly looked up to see if he was acting good enough to sell it. The Rays weren't buying it though, and who could blame them, just listen to the sound when the ball hits. It sounds wooden, not like it hit flesh. The Rays commentators made a good point last night. If he had actually been hit he would have been in the dug out or locker room icing it and possibly even going for an X-Ray to check for a break. So not only did he fake it, he faked it horribly, replay shows if it would have hit him it would have hit him in the elbow not the wrist like he was faking. So not only did he mess that up, as soon as everything was said and done he was not even rubbing the location in pain. He was fine. So the worst acting job in history and the umps still fell for it hook, line and sinker. These ump either wanted to help the Yankees win, which I doubt, or they are deaf, blind and idiots. An now listen, via this link, to Jeter's interview by YES Network after the game below, followed by Joe Maddon's reaction after that.
So, not only did he fake it, badly like I stated, he admitted it as soon as he was asked the first time. Unbelieveable. I held Jeter to a high standard, he's a role model to kids and he pulls this crap. Not cool. Now to add the manager of the Rays plus everybody else in the sports world wants to give him an Oscar. Cheaters don't get Oscars. Now the point could be made that he didn't break any rules, which is entirely true. But have we really degraded that far as a society where Sportsmanship isn't expected out of professional athletes anymore? Where did we go wrong?
The other argument in favor is "Soccer, the most popular sport in the world has cheaters all throughout it's sport." So? Why must we throw out sportsmanship? There is no excuse for what happened last night. The only thing that makes what Jeter did worse is that a majority of fans, sports writers, etc. agree and condone it.
This just adds more fuel to the fire that MLB needs some sort of expanded replay system. It could be as little as a Challenge system similar to the NFL and it would make a world of difference. So Bud, how many more blown calls from the umpires do we need to see before you get off your butt and do something? You've already had Jim Joyce cost Armando Galaraga a perfect game, had Bob Davidson blow like 20 huge calls this season, what else?!
I tell you now where I sit, if sportsmanship has gone out the window like it apparently has, then I fear for the future of sports in general and the future generations.
UPDATE: It happened again tonight at Yankees Stadium in the Brox, again with the Yankees facing the Rays, this time the actor was Jorge Posada. Watch the "HBP" here. Does this team have any shame? How about the umpires who screwed it up again?! This is really getting old, it's time for Bud Selig to add a managerial challenge system for the sake of the integrity of the game.
This is upsetting, if you watch the MLB Network analysis of the HBP it shows he looked up to see if they were buying it, so not only did he fake the HBP, he smugly looked up to see if he was acting good enough to sell it. The Rays weren't buying it though, and who could blame them, just listen to the sound when the ball hits. It sounds wooden, not like it hit flesh. The Rays commentators made a good point last night. If he had actually been hit he would have been in the dug out or locker room icing it and possibly even going for an X-Ray to check for a break. So not only did he fake it, he faked it horribly, replay shows if it would have hit him it would have hit him in the elbow not the wrist like he was faking. So not only did he mess that up, as soon as everything was said and done he was not even rubbing the location in pain. He was fine. So the worst acting job in history and the umps still fell for it hook, line and sinker. These ump either wanted to help the Yankees win, which I doubt, or they are deaf, blind and idiots. An now listen, via this link, to Jeter's interview by YES Network after the game below, followed by Joe Maddon's reaction after that.
So, not only did he fake it, badly like I stated, he admitted it as soon as he was asked the first time. Unbelieveable. I held Jeter to a high standard, he's a role model to kids and he pulls this crap. Not cool. Now to add the manager of the Rays plus everybody else in the sports world wants to give him an Oscar. Cheaters don't get Oscars. Now the point could be made that he didn't break any rules, which is entirely true. But have we really degraded that far as a society where Sportsmanship isn't expected out of professional athletes anymore? Where did we go wrong?
The other argument in favor is "Soccer, the most popular sport in the world has cheaters all throughout it's sport." So? Why must we throw out sportsmanship? There is no excuse for what happened last night. The only thing that makes what Jeter did worse is that a majority of fans, sports writers, etc. agree and condone it.
This just adds more fuel to the fire that MLB needs some sort of expanded replay system. It could be as little as a Challenge system similar to the NFL and it would make a world of difference. So Bud, how many more blown calls from the umpires do we need to see before you get off your butt and do something? You've already had Jim Joyce cost Armando Galaraga a perfect game, had Bob Davidson blow like 20 huge calls this season, what else?!
I tell you now where I sit, if sportsmanship has gone out the window like it apparently has, then I fear for the future of sports in general and the future generations.
UPDATE: It happened again tonight at Yankees Stadium in the Brox, again with the Yankees facing the Rays, this time the actor was Jorge Posada. Watch the "HBP" here. Does this team have any shame? How about the umpires who screwed it up again?! This is really getting old, it's time for Bud Selig to add a managerial challenge system for the sake of the integrity of the game.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Either unite or lose the team
I have really lost some respect for the people of St. Pete, Florida over the past couple of weeks.
The way they are acting over the fact the Tampa Bay Rays need a new stadium is so juvenile, and it's not just the city leaders. The residents have been just as bad. Some even going as far to refer to the residents of Tampa as "Tampons". This attitude has turned me off to visiting the city to watch a baseball game in June. Which is not what the city nor the team needs.
In case you haven't heard, the Rays in 2008 proposed a water front stadium in St. Pete to replace the aging and inadequate Tropicana Field. It was, as expected, not well received cause of where it would be built (it would have been built on the current location of what is known as Progress Energy Park) and how it would be funded (a small tax hike). The Rays abandoned the plans in February of last year when they learned it would be inadequate as well. And so then-St. Pete mayor Rick Baker along with the Rays, established committee to explore possible areas for a new stadium. When the group released their report one year later, there was a negative reception from St.Pete officials cause it was rumored that the committee explored and agreed to areas outside the St. Pete city limits. St. Pete wanted nothing to do with he report citing a lease with the Rays to keep the team at "The Trop" (Tropicana Field) until 2027. Meanwhile, a few Hillsborough County officials (the county where Tampa is) wanted to hear the report, to which St. Pete threatened legal action if any further interference from Tampa and Hillsborough county officials happened to "help the Rays breach a contract".
There have been reports that former Tampa mayor Dick Greco is working with group to get a stadium built on the Florida State Fairgrounds. While another report has a local, small time realtor shopping for land in the Channelside area next to the St. Pete Times Forum for a possible new stadium, but the realtor behind the "shopping" said it's only preliminary plans that she doesn't expect to go any further unless the Rays want them to.
Part of the committee's findings say if the Rays do not get a new stadium before 2027, they expect the Tampa Bay area to lose the Rays to another market like San Antonio, Portland or, by a slight chance, Orlando.
Commissioner of Baseball, Bud Selig has said himself that the Rays need a new stadium QUICK. Stuart Sternburg, the owner of the Rays, has said he can't afford a new stadium himself or he would build it himself.
Now the opinion part of this blog: Tampa and St. Pete need to unite or lose the team for good. These personal attacks from both sides are juvenile and don't solve anything. I also see comments in the comments section of these articles I've read that say "Don't raise my taxes". Now my opinion on this is one thing, either you raise taxes to fund a new stadium or lose the team you fought so hard to get in the first place to another market (read this and this to learn how hard the area fought to get the team). These juvenile attacks and selfish claims of "Don't raise my taxes" only increase the chance of losing the team. Now I live in Polk County, so none of the money problems really effect me so it's easy to claim these things. But I don't think I would feel any different if I was gonna be effected. This is my baseball team, I don't want to lose my team to San Antonio or some other market. St. Pete, by way of current mayor Bill Foster, could easily stop being selfish and let the Rays out of their lease for "The Trop" until 2027 to ease the legal situation so serious talks could commence about a new stadium. Use that High speed rail money from the Obama administration's "Stimulus bill" to fund a new stadium, we don't need that high speed rail anyway.
Bottom line: Tampa and St. Pete need to unite to fund and build a new stadium in either city or lose the team. Period.
The way they are acting over the fact the Tampa Bay Rays need a new stadium is so juvenile, and it's not just the city leaders. The residents have been just as bad. Some even going as far to refer to the residents of Tampa as "Tampons". This attitude has turned me off to visiting the city to watch a baseball game in June. Which is not what the city nor the team needs.
In case you haven't heard, the Rays in 2008 proposed a water front stadium in St. Pete to replace the aging and inadequate Tropicana Field. It was, as expected, not well received cause of where it would be built (it would have been built on the current location of what is known as Progress Energy Park) and how it would be funded (a small tax hike). The Rays abandoned the plans in February of last year when they learned it would be inadequate as well. And so then-St. Pete mayor Rick Baker along with the Rays, established committee to explore possible areas for a new stadium. When the group released their report one year later, there was a negative reception from St.Pete officials cause it was rumored that the committee explored and agreed to areas outside the St. Pete city limits. St. Pete wanted nothing to do with he report citing a lease with the Rays to keep the team at "The Trop" (Tropicana Field) until 2027. Meanwhile, a few Hillsborough County officials (the county where Tampa is) wanted to hear the report, to which St. Pete threatened legal action if any further interference from Tampa and Hillsborough county officials happened to "help the Rays breach a contract".
There have been reports that former Tampa mayor Dick Greco is working with group to get a stadium built on the Florida State Fairgrounds. While another report has a local, small time realtor shopping for land in the Channelside area next to the St. Pete Times Forum for a possible new stadium, but the realtor behind the "shopping" said it's only preliminary plans that she doesn't expect to go any further unless the Rays want them to.
Part of the committee's findings say if the Rays do not get a new stadium before 2027, they expect the Tampa Bay area to lose the Rays to another market like San Antonio, Portland or, by a slight chance, Orlando.
Commissioner of Baseball, Bud Selig has said himself that the Rays need a new stadium QUICK. Stuart Sternburg, the owner of the Rays, has said he can't afford a new stadium himself or he would build it himself.
Now the opinion part of this blog: Tampa and St. Pete need to unite or lose the team for good. These personal attacks from both sides are juvenile and don't solve anything. I also see comments in the comments section of these articles I've read that say "Don't raise my taxes". Now my opinion on this is one thing, either you raise taxes to fund a new stadium or lose the team you fought so hard to get in the first place to another market (read this and this to learn how hard the area fought to get the team). These juvenile attacks and selfish claims of "Don't raise my taxes" only increase the chance of losing the team. Now I live in Polk County, so none of the money problems really effect me so it's easy to claim these things. But I don't think I would feel any different if I was gonna be effected. This is my baseball team, I don't want to lose my team to San Antonio or some other market. St. Pete, by way of current mayor Bill Foster, could easily stop being selfish and let the Rays out of their lease for "The Trop" until 2027 to ease the legal situation so serious talks could commence about a new stadium. Use that High speed rail money from the Obama administration's "Stimulus bill" to fund a new stadium, we don't need that high speed rail anyway.
Bottom line: Tampa and St. Pete need to unite to fund and build a new stadium in either city or lose the team. Period.
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