Manny Ramirez is a Fool

Being a Rockets fan, I would have no problems writing a column about the physicality in game 2 last night. Fisher got suspended, Artest didn't, and Kobe got fined. We can all talk about what should be different, but these are final decisions and tomorrow's game will actually go on as planned. Shocker, I know.

Something really irked me today on a number of levels. Manny Ramirez is out for 50 games now. His explanation? He didn't know that the drug his doctor prescribed him was on MLB's banned list. I feel like I've heard that explanation before from someone else...


But I digress. What did he take? A drug named hCG, human chorionic gonadotropin, which is a women's fertility drug. You can call it fact, or journalistically spinning it the way readers want to hear it, but most proven steroid users use this to re-align their testosterone levels after drugs like nandrolone and other banned substances completely wreck and drain their testicles of the "essence of man", if you catch my drift. Manny claims that he had a personal (read: sexual) health issue that could only be solved by this outrageous concoction of a drug (and I thought Cialis advertised pretty well...) and it was 'unfortunate' that the drug contained a banned substance. And he has nothing further to comment at the time.

I despise the work of Bill Plaschke. I absolutely cannot stand the guy (google him) or anything that gets written onto his column, but I watched Around the Horn today, and I couldn't help but agree with his sentiment. I'll get to that in a second, but let me move along the same lines of his argument.

The Los Angeles Dodgers invested MILLIONS of dollars (in a weak economy) into a player they believed could bring the franchise to the forefront of SportsCenter every night. They advertised him all around arguably the largest sports market in the country (I suppose New York and Boston are up there too), and even dedicated two sections in the bleachers near left field to their new star, "Mannywood". Even if I play Right Bench for the Kansas City Royals, I realize that, especially if my boss has insecurity issues with the drugs I take as an employee, I am fully obligated to ask my boss first if any drug is ok BEFORE I take it. Even if my "issue" is being unable to get it up at night, I swallow my pride and I say, "Well, I AM being paid millions of dollars to stand at a plate four times a night and try to hit a ball. I guess life is alright."

Manny Ramirez, you are a complete and utter moron. We all know that your air-head persona is a big joke, so don't think you can fall back on it now that you got popped for steroids. And what bothers me personally...I don't care how big a public figure you are: if I get accused of taking a performance enhancing drug, and I honestly haven't done anything wrong, I will start my own freaking YouTube channel of video blogs to beg that the public believe me when I say, "I am innocent!" I do everything short of door to door campaigning in South Central and kissing babies in the street. You really are an idiot for seeing what a city has invested in you and blowing it on a "mistake".

But now we have a bigger problem on our hands. When Clemens got exposed, there was disbelief. Until the case unfolded, people still believed he was clean. When A-Rod was exposed, more people were quick to judge him in a poor light (personally, I am of the same mind) because it became less surprising to have a star exposed. To me, this news flash does something a lot bigger. Now, can we consider anyone safely? Can we trust ANY power hitters' numbers? Being an Astros fan, it's taboo to look at our players in a light like this, but was Tejada truthful in his sincerity regarding his drug use? Furthermore, is Berkman juicing? What about Carlos Lee? If Hunter Pence gains 30 pounds next year, are we just going to say he changed his diet and workout plan? I hope to the high heavens that I am wrong, but I think you, the reader, can agree with this: can we trust ANYONE anymore?