Any visit to Firestone (like this week’s to the Bridgestone Invitational) brings feelings of awe. The course is simply that great, a jewel in the nation’s obsession with hitting a dimpled ball with a metal stick. Firestone is a great, great course. No tricks, no gimmicks, no island green, no ridiculous fairway contortions. Just golf as it was meant to be played – although I wish they had not lengthened 16 and left the monster as it always was. The most entertaining 15 minutes at this tournament came Friday during an interview with Peter Lonard, an Australian who is 100 percent Aussie. Having covered tennis and golf in my pitiful existence, I’ve come to have great respect for Aussies. They are straight-up, down to earth and real. Find me a boring Aussie and I’ll show you a Brit (Hey … it’s a JOKE). At any rate, Lonard offered the following when asked what it meant that Tiger Woods was missing: “To me him not being here is usually on average probably the difference between 39th and 38th. So I don't miss him much. But I'm sure the boys up in the big money end, they definitely notice a difference.” After shooting a 66, Lonard quipped that it was better than the 74s he had averaged the past few years at Firestone. What enabled him to shoot 74? He said: “Thick trees, thick rough, hard greens to putt on, being a bad chipper. You name it, I've got it all.” When Lonard talked about the course not being as hard and tough as a year ago, Jude Coen, the young lady next to him from the Australian Tour, said “Australians aren't hard and tough, the courses are hard and tough.” Lonard could not let that go. “Well,” he said. “The chicks are hard and tough, from what I've seen anyway, from the ones that will talk to me.’’ In this nation in this day and age, that might be considered sexist. To an Australian it’s just life. Coen laughed with everyone – while also rolling her eyes just a tiny bit. I don’t know … maybe you had to be there.
Oh … Lonard did not mention Adriana Lima being hard and tough, which of course provides an excuse to post a photo of her.
So now we come to find out that Manny Ramirez asked not to be trade to Los Angeles. His agent called the Red Sox and said he would behave (my word) if the Red Sox kept him and eliminated those oh-so-onerous final two year team options in his contract worth $20 million. Problem was the call came after the trade was completed, and by this point the Red Sox were doing dances in Kenmore Square. The offer from Ramirez’s agent, by the way, does kind of bring up the question as to what Ramirez was doing – and does pretty much confirm that the Red Sox’s belief that he was faking injuries and not trying was pretty much right on the money. Call me crazy, but that’s not the kind of guy I’d want as a teammate.
And … here's Manny signaling how many are out after the leadoff hitter of an inning flied to center (thanks to deadspin.com for this photo)
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
At least you're smart enough, Pat, to see Manny for the phony that he is. Faking injuries, "playing" the naive fool, mouthing off like some kind of degenerate. He is scum, and knowing that he's unhappy in L.A. makes me very happy. He's a big loser on a losing team. Now he can compete with Andruw Jones to see who will be the most-despised Dodger. Notice that in all of Manny's many years of hitting achievements, his teams have won only one World Series? And he could care less. It's all about Manny's Money and Manny's Stats. All else is irrelevent with this longhaired freak.
Please. That first comment to Pat's post was so inaccurate, I thought Terry Pluto had been rehired.
There is absolutely nothing in that Boston Globe piece about him being "unhappy in L.A." Furthermore, Ramirez's teams have won only one World Series? Uhh… try two. Three if you count the lovely 1997 Game 7 Jose Mesa implosion.
Who gives a crap if all he cares about is stats? His behavior this season reached the point of totally unacceptable, but let's cut the garbage about "selfish" players. Who cares what their motives are, the results are the bottom line.
And as far as the reason he suddenly didn't want to become traded … well, probably because it was entirely agent-driven. It had absolutely nothing to do with Ramirez being in Los Angeles, or in any other city, for that matter. Eliminate the two option years remaining on Ramirez' contract in exchange for staying with the Red Sox, and the agent can negotiate a new contract at the end of the season for another sweet commission. Absent a new contract, the agent won't get paid anything additional for acting as Ramirez' representation.
Oh, and one other thing, and this is directed to Pat as opposed to the Moe Howard-like silly guy who posted that comment – - There's a very good reason that broads (and superbroads … uh, I mean supermodels) wear makeup and have chemical balls installed underneath their armpits. Reality is on the left, your fantasy is on the right:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y194/Monkey119/Article/AOL/WithoutMakeup/adriana-lima.jpg&imgrefurl=http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/21687588.html%3Fpage%3D6&h=394&w=365&sz=45&tbnid=idKJ5N80zjgJ::&tbnh=124&tbnw=115&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dadriana%2Blima%2Bwithout%2Bmakeup&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=2&ct=image&cd=1
I guess Alan T. has crowned himself Ramirez's official apologist. No one can say a word against ol' Manny without good ol' Alan T. chiming in to dispute it, right? Because Manny is always right, and so is Alan T. Doesn't everyone get that? They're just alike. Living in their own little world of delusion. Two idiots who totally deserve each other, but who no one respects. Period. Alan T. couldn't fathom that Manny would "fake an injury" or "fake his stupidity." No, that would be contrary to Alan T.'s expert analysis.
Manny's greedy and evil nature, meshed with the devil himself, Scott Boros, are a combination that no sane baseball club in MLB will support. The desperate Dodgers only took him because Boston paid the freight. He'll be out pounding the pavement and crying poverty in the off-season, searching for some sucker in need of a guy who'll divide a clubhouse quicker than A-Rod strikes out with the bases loaded and a pennant on the line.
This commercial is both a riot and wickedly insightful of just how ridiculously highfalutin and dumb all this dopey "He's a selfish moron and what's he ever done for a team?" stuff really is.
http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2008/08/manny-sports-center-commercial-youll.html
Uhh … I'm not an apologist for anybody, I clearly said that Ramirez had gone overboard with his unprofessional conduct this season. I'm just pointing out that reading comments about "selfish" and "greedy" Ramirez doing nothing for his teams over the years has just been plain ludicrous and stupid. A guy who's going to be in the Hall of Fame and has two championship rings sitting in a safe deposit box, the third ring being ripped off by Jose Mesa and his gun collection, is proof positive of the rampant ignorance.
I know it isn't popular, but Alan's on target on this.
Folks, you just have to ignore A. Tucker on these boards and he eventually goes away. He just likes to hear himself talk/write, one of the many voices he hears, I'm sure. He's just an argumentative know-it-all/know-nothing who, if you say "black," he'll holler "white!" To continue intelligent discussion, just scroll on past those ramblings.
"James," I'm not really up with Internet computer lingo, I can barely turn a computer on. But I believe the proper word is that you yourself are a "troll." Just like that Rick the Creep that's been following me around the Beacon Journal's online edition, literally for years. Imagine having a really bad-smelling GPS strapped to your nuts. Heck, maybe you're the same guy, who really knows, who really cares. Regardless, thank you for lending so much of your cerebral content to the Ramirez discussion.
I'd ask you about Adriana Lima, too, but I'm somewhat concerned I'd put some thoughts in your head. Pat is borderline in this regard, but he's not at all dangerous, simply enjoying his harmless supermodel fantasy like an Irish puppy following behind her in the St. Patrick's Day parade (see Pat in the photo referenced below … kinda cute, actually). You, on the other hand? You following Adriana Lima? I'm guessing there would be a dungeon and leg chains involved.
http://www.barnesvillepumpkinfestival.com/images/Irish%20Dog.jpg
Can you provide more information on this for the rest of us far-away (Europe) Dodger fans?
y'r really nice guz