Manny Ramirez

It is a sad day for Dodger fans and baseball.

Although I live in L.A. I am originally from N.Y. and a die hard Yankee fan (yes its been painful). Since Manny came to L.A. it is hard not to be excited for the Dodgers(plus he is not lighting up Yankee pitching anymore). He has turned them around, took them to the playoffs and currently they have the best record in baseball. They just set a record for consecutive home wins to start the season, all was well in Dodger town untill today.

The best team in baseball just lost their best player for 50 games and disapointed Dodger and baseball fans alike. It shocks me that with all the bad steroid press and just signing a 40 million plus salary he could be so stupid and jepordize his career as well as loose over 7 million in salary. The Dodgers should have tested him BEFORE signing him, oh well.

It just goes to show you you can give someone millions of dollars but that doesnt make them any smarter. If he didnt already have enough bad press over how he left Boston now he has secured his name as one of the biggest fools in baseball. Yes Clemmens, Giambi and Arod have had their names tossed in the mud but they did what they did before the rules were in place and though their names are tarnished they didnt put their teams or careers in jeapordy and have never failed a test once the rules and tests were in place.

Once again I am not even a Dodger fan but can't begin to tell you how disapointed I am in Manny Ramirez. I love baseball and this is just what the game didnt need.

Very sad:(

as a San Francisco Giants fan i have mixed feelings about this. on one hand love or hate him, he couldn't be ignored and i admit he was fun to watch at times. on the other hand i am happy to see a rival team lose such a productive and game changing weapon. i hate to see him go this way with a banned substance scandal, it hurts baseball in general to have such a problem with banned substances and steroids. but i am happy it gives my team a better chance to win tomorrow night and the rest of the season.

What he tested positive for, hCG, is actually a pregnancy hormone. It is used for fertility drugs for women, but can also help restart the natural production of Testosterone, mostly after steroid cycles. So while he never tested positive for roids, he most likely took them.

It just really sucks that he and his doctor didn't check the list of banned substances before he got this prescribed. That way, if he didn't take roids, this wouldn't be an issue, but the fact that they completely overlooked that is just completely irresponsible.

Pretty much the way I look at it now, is that there are very few people that play the game the right way(Albert Pujols is the only star who I really think I trust) so why even bother testing anymore. Just make a separate record book and let these people ruin their bodies if they so please.

How sad that yet another sports star has done this. All the kids that play on sandlots, that dream of having the chances he's had, to play in the big leagues and he blows it like this. What a disappoint and shame to waste his gifts, his reputation over something like. It's really sad that none of these people seem to get that little kids look up to them just like they looked up to the sports stars of their childhood. :(

In my opinion the whole era is now tainted to an extent, I think most of them did it and MLB didn't care shame on them they just wanted to fill the stands after the 94 strike. My opinion on players like Bonds, Manny and A-Rod doesn't change they are some of the best to ever play especially Bonds. I guess we"ll just learn from all this and make sure it doesn't happen again hopefully.

A very sad day for baseball.

I think there needs to be more testing and harsher punishments; if you're caught, first time is suspended from baseball without pay for an entire year, 2nd time banned from the league for life. I blame the league almost as much as the players for turning a blind eye for so long.

I miss Pete Rose.

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Originally Posted by dreese88

What he tested positive for, hCG, is actually a pregnancy hormone. It is used for fertility drugs for women, but can also help restart the natural production of Testosterone, mostly after steroid cycles. So while he never tested positive for roids, he most likely took them.

It just really sucks that he and his doctor didn't check the list of banned substances before he got this prescribed. That way, if he didn't take roids, this wouldn't be an issue, but the fact that they completely overlooked that is just completely irresponsible.

Pretty much the way I look at it now, is that there are very few people that play the game the right way(Albert Pujols is the only star who I really think I trust) so why even bother testing anymore. Just make a separate record book and let these people ruin their bodies if they so please.

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Dylan i was reading the test intially showed artificial testosterone which made them do more involved testing which revealed the HGC. So who knows whats going on. I dont think the story of my doctor gave it to me for personal reasons is true unless Manny was trying to get pregnant.

The guy is an amazing talent but not a very smart individual.

Personally I dont like the steriods but if any normal person took steroids they are still not going to be able to hit a 95 mph fastball, that is talent.

Unfortunately as Jo said so many kids look up to these guys and if they do it kids are gonna think thats what makes them great and possibly try it.

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

Personally I dont like the steriods but if any normal person took steroids they are still not going to be able to hit a 95 mph fastball, that is talent.

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Which makes it even that much sadder IMO. His gifts are already so great that he should just ride his natural talent, I just don't see the need for the steroids.

Be great because you were born great, not because you juiced yourself up.

50 games hes out....imagine the money he is out.

Just signed that huge contract and goes and blows it like that????
LOL

I'm not a huge baseball fan in the slightest, but I did hear about this and I didn't feel that it was entirely his fault. As someone mentioned above it was a pregnancy hormone (also used to spark late puberty in boys) was prescribed to him by a doctor who didn't know this substance was banned with the new restrictions passed in the mlb (in 2003 i think)

I know that 7 mil that hes losing out of his 25 mil salary will hurt though .......... kinda.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by West Coast Jungle

Dylan i was reading the test intially showed artificial testosterone which made them do more involved testing which revealed the HGC. So who knows whats going on. I dont think the story of my doctor gave it to me for personal reasons is true unless Manny was trying to get pregnant.

The guy is an amazing talent but not a very smart individual.

Personally I dont like the steriods but if any normal person took steroids they are still not going to be able to hit a 95 mph fastball, that is talent.

Unfortunately as Jo said so many kids look up to these guys and if they do it kids are gonna think thats what makes them great and possibly try it.

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Raul, I hadn't heard about the elevated test levels until this morning. I bet he was on a cycle then stopped before the season and then took the hCG to get his natural production back up...If I were to speculate, that would be my guess.

I do, however, agree with everything else you've said. I'm not sure when or if he took the roids, but regardless, Manny Ramirez is regarded by many, including myself, to be the best right handed hitter of all time. I mean, the man had 165 RBI's one year in Cleveland. That does not mean he's a smart one though. I feel the same way about Bonds, except I think he just thought he was invincible. He was a 30-30 guy with the Pirates and then moved to the Giants and his head got the size of a hot air balloon and he gains 40 lb and viola, he hits 73 HR

Like I said in my OP, just give these guys a separate record book and let them do to themselves what they please, this era is already tainted.

The times when athletes were good role models are over. You don't have anymore Kareems in the NBA, Roberto Clementes or Hank Aarons in the MLB...shoot I can't really think of any good role models in the NFL. Warrick Dunn maybe...but I digress. They don't see themselves as role models for the most part and (i think) it was Charles Barkley that said he personally didn't want to be a role model. When I was in the elementary/middle school age, I saw what these guys were doing on and off the field and as a young athlete, I had to admire their physical talents, but couldn't admire them as a person because they were always getting arrested. My parents raised me to be one way and these guys were living life a different way, which I thought was wrong, so I never really had an athlete "role model' even though sports were my life until I was 18. I don't know how to solve the role model crisis that is going on with athletes, but I would guess that if so many parents didn't live and die on the successes and failures of their favorite sports teams(college athletes are just as bad as pros) then you would see a lot fewer kids looking up so much to the athletes.

/speech
*EDIT* Oh...and Manny couldn't give a rat's tail about 7M...that's chump change to him and all of the other megastars