Manny Being Manny?

If you would have asked me a week ago what the bigger long shot was; Mine That Bird, a 50-1 long shot the morning of the race, winning the Kentucky Derby running away, or Manny Ramirez testing positive for performance enhancing drugs and being suspended by Major League Baseball, I would have answered Manny was the biggest long shot in a heart beat. Sadly, this morning I was proven wrong, and in fact, both of these astonishing long shots have happened.

I'm not here to report the news of something that you've already heard more than enough of from every possible source, but I felt as though I should add something to the white noise that is Manny-related banter. For years I have been a huge Manny Ramirez fan. His swing is amazing, his ability to control the strike zone unmatched, his balance is unbelievable and all of these things are parts of the game that performance enhancing drugs will not affect and yet there is a very good chance that Manny's reputation will forever be tarnished, and for what?

The thing that surprises me most about this happening is the fact that any professional baseball player today, especially such a high profile player, would allow himself to even come close to testing positive. If news would have come out this morning that some unnamed source said they sold Manny something back in 1999 I wouldn't have even flinched. It was a different world then, for better or for worse. I grew up in a professional baseball clubhouse and I saw many things go on just because that's the way things were. I'm certainly not saying it was right, because it wasn't, but it is how it was and we can't deny it happened. I liked to think that we had moved past that, but unfortunately this great game keeps getting dragged through the mud. How does someone like Manny let himself test positive with the current state of drug testing in place? That boggles my mind. He had it all. Was it worth it?

When Manny comes back in early July after serving his 50 game suspension I have no doubt that he'll once again step up to the plate with his unbelievable balance and plate discipline and will take the outside pitch the other way and will deposit hanging sliders into the left field pavilion, there will always be the asterisk floating above his head and that's just too bad. Manny when you do come back, do what you do, have fun and keep smiling, and do it clean.