A little after midnight news came out of Texas that the Rangers’ Josh Hamilton broke his arm and will miss 6-8 weeks. The play happened on the first inning as Hamilton tried to tag from third on a foul ball by the Tigers dugout. It’s too bad because the Rangers were off to a great start and losing their best player so early on could derail their momentum. It will definitely test the depth of last year’s American League Champions.
ESPN Baseball Tonight commentator Bobby Valentine, a former manager who once dressed up in a costume to sneak back into the dugout after being ejected, called the play dumb.
“Well it was the first inning and it was taking a chance with your best player and he did dive headfirst…and he knew that he shouldn’t go, and he did go. And there’s indiscretion in this guy’s life. You know, he was stupid earlier and because of that he can’t drugs now to help cure this injury and heal this injury….”
First of all I’m going to say that encouraging your best player to tag up from third, on a borderline play in the first inning of a game in April, is dumb. The Rangers have been raking the first few weeks of the season and one run in the first inning just isn’t that important. I admire the hardnosed, grind out runs mentality, but the third base coach needs to know when to flash his marbles, and when to keep his best player on third base.
Hamilton also threw the third base coach under the bus. Saying “It was a stupid play. I definitely shouldn’t have done it. I listened to my third base coach.” He even said he questioned the decision out loud during the play. I respect Hamilton for being a team guy and following his coach’s orders but he is a grown man. If the third base coach had told him to strip down naked and start doing the truffle shuffle would that video be going viral all over the internet’s face right now?
Speaking of viral, how about Bobby Valentine? Viral, meaning the old school definition which is of, relating to, or caused by a virus, and not the modern definition referring to a video that becomes popular because of internet sharing. I think of a virus and I think of something really painful and gross. Like a permanent case of Montezuma’s Revenge where you are pissing, puking, and shitting all over yourself.
That’s right, I just called Bobby Valentine Traveler’s Diarrhea, or TD for short.
Valentine somehow felt justified in comparing Hamilton’s lengthy, and well publicized battle with drug addiction, to a base running blunder. So according to that rationale, back on the playground one wrong move in a game of pickle, and kids might as well grab a crack pipe and call it a day? The man nearly ruined his life, fought his way back out of the gutter, returned to the top of his profession and is the reigning AL MVP. To cheapen that accomplishment by saying ‘Well if the guy was dumb enough to take drugs..he is dumb enough to break his arm sliding headfirst into home’ is foul on a Donald “I Don’t Want to Cure Cancer” Sterling level.
Shame on Bobby Valentine for trivializing drug addiction, and for mocking someone in recovery by saying that “You know, he was stupid earlier and because of that he can’t take drugs now to help cure this injury, and heal this injury.”
Josh Hamilton deserves our respect, and after breaking his arm, our sympathy. 
Bobby Valentine deserves to be pissed, puked, and shit off of the airwaves for two weeks, or as long as it takes for Travelers Diarrhea to run its course. That way we can make sure he is gone for good, and doesn’t come sneaking back disguised as street meat.
—-Corey
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