Manny Ramirez dared to say that if the Red Sox lose the playoffs, it’s “not the end of the world.” Specifically, he said:
“Why should we panic? We’ve got a great team. It doesn’t happen, so who cares? There’s always next year. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.”
And so Red Sox Nation, of which I am a proud member, is supposed to be furious with their best hitter talking about being okay with losing. Except I’m NOT angry — I think Manny has the perfect attitude. It’s that same laid-back attitude that lets him NOT get rattled when he’s at the plate in the bottom of the ninth with two outs. He doesn’t care if it’s two outs or one or what team he’s playing for or what month it is. He stands there, focuses on the pitch, and swings as hard as a wrecking ball. Fine with me.
I don’t like peer pressure to stand up and talk the big talk. If you’re a mellow guy but you’re good, then be mellow, dude. I’m on board.
On my iTunes now:
Child Star by The Unicorns from "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?"
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Oct 18th, 2007 at 11:51 am
What time is it? Oh, yes… it’s TRIBE TIME NOW!
-Terry
Oct 18th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
“They played a great game. We had our opportunities but weren’t able to take advantage of them. But it’s one game at a time. We need to come out tomorrow and focus and get ourselves a win. The most important thing is we stay relaxed and focused and do what we came here to do.”
– All atheletes ever
Oct 18th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I still think that at some point you gotta have that fire in your belly. Being laid back and mellow is good, but don’t you need that drive to win?
http://postgame.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/manny-ramirez-likes-to-lose-kills-puppies/
Oct 18th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Manny’s post-season stats thus far: .429 batting average, .613 on-base, 1.000 slugging which include four home runs. Whatever amount of fire he possesses is enough.
My point is that conventional wisdom wants us to see all of the atheletes on our favorite team breathing fire out of their noses. But in reality: different people operate differently — and the way Manny goes about his business works for him to a degree that is gonna put him in the Hall of Fame.
It’s refreshing to me whenever I see someone famous not simply spitting out the same old cliches. I like Manny. I hope he sells a barbecue grill during Game 5.
Oct 18th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Will, you beat me to posting Manny’s stats.
Oct 18th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Cats!
Oct 19th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
That’s definitely consistent with what I’ve read about Manny. It was probably his way of defusing a loaded question by a sensationalist reporter. But, with stats like he’s putting up, he can say whatever he wants. It’s also nice to see him doing so well with such a counter-Yankee (championship or nothing) type mentality. He’s one of the few reasons I’m still watching baseball this year.
Oct 19th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Hey, at least Manny is talking to the media!
I’d be fine if Boston bucked their own logic and signed Manny to a 3 extension this off-season.
Oct 19th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
3 year extension.
not sign him to 3 separate extensions.
Oct 19th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
With the crap the yankees did the Torre I want Joe T to be the bench coach of the Red Sox….. for free. And he takes A Rod with him.
Oct 19th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
I don’t know any Boston fans who are up in arms over Manny’s comments. If anything, I’m hoping that laid back attitude spreads and gets them playing as relaxed as the Rockies are right now.
The Boston pinhead media though, they jumped all over this and provided a perfect example of why Manny never talks to the media. There was another article lamenting that Boston with their $180 million payroll could lose to Cleveland and their $84 mill payroll. Probably by the same clown who would claim some sort of moral victory over defeating the Yankees and their $200 million payroll.
Or, let’s pretend that the Sox had only spent $60 million this season to make it to the ALCS. Said reporter would be ranting about how the Sox refused to spend money and how terrible it was to lose to Cleveland - a team willing to spend money.
I swear, the sports reporters up here are all a bunch of clowns and haven’t written an original article in forever.
Oct 19th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
I agree Jim! The most amazing aspect of typically poor sportswriting is how they immediately change their opinions based solely on the most recent game they watched. When Boston pummeled Cleveland in Game 1 — all articles seemed to be handing the series to Boston. But then, right after Game 2, the doomsayers were all predicting Boston’s downfall. And here we are the night after a Boston win, and I’m reading “it’s anyone’s series now.” It’s always anyone’s series until someone wins 4 games.
What’s more amazing is that Boston is the town where the impossible (coming back from 0-3 in the playoffs) DID happen 3 years ago — and yet we continue to write off any degree of long shot.
I still like reading about baseball.
Oct 22nd, 2007 at 9:08 pm
Sox come back to win and make the series, yet I couldn’t find any articles on Manny’s important pep-speach. Amazing.