Thursday, May 07, 2009

Manny Should Be Gone For Good

MLB’s All-Stars are making a mockery of their sport and with years of warnings gone unheeded things are spiraling out of control. You can count me as a person who used to be a Manny Ramirez fan but not anymore. Even though his antics were sometimes over the top, not knowing what to expect from him next made him fun to watch. He wasn’t always the best example of what it meant to hustle either but yet he still managed to make mind blowing plays like catching a fly ball on the run, jumping off the wall to high five a fan and then throwing out a runner. It was just fun to watch.

Now, with the news of Manny popping positive the fun is gone and so should Ramirez. It has become abundantly clear that Major League baseball players think the league’s substance abuse policy is a joke. With Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, A-Rod and now Manny all being exposed as cheaters the owners need to either decide to really start dropping the hammer on these guys or just legalize it and let it go. A fifty game suspension is significant but not significant enough to get the high profile stars to buy in.

Offer up one of these guys as a sacrifice fly by giving them a lifetime suspension from the game and heads will really start turning. Until then Manny is just the next guy to get busted for doing what has unfortunately become the norm.