Many Boston fans felt as though Manny was their property. He could be temperamental and obnoxious and annoyingly nonchalant and an all-around huge pain in the butt, but he was still Boston’s. He was a part of the family. And also, he could hit. Watching him walk away was kind of like watching Jack Shephard leave the Island. You knew it was for the best, and you knew he’d be better off, but still, there was a small, selfish part of you that was too stubborn to envision life without him, especially with Dodgers fans getting all giddy with their “Manny Being Manny” posters and their dreadlocked wigs.
And then Manny started being Manny, and the Dodgers got a good look at the man behind the charm. It took a while, but it happened.
Maybe it began last season, when Manny took 85 years to work out a deal to stay in L.A. because he wanted more money. But it was certainly perpetuated this week, when Manny’s outspokenness once again got the best of him. Now, all of a sudden, Manny is done with L.A. after 2010. That’s it. Cue the closing credits.
Wasn’t it just two summers ago when Manny told his agent that L.A. “was the spot for him” because the suburbs were “just like Cleveland”? (I know that every time I go to L.A., that’s the first thing I think.)
Now, Red Sox Nation no longer has to feel jealous that their pride and joy shipped out of Boston and seemed all chipper and happy in California. Manny may never be completely chipper and happy. Maybe he’s always going to want something else, and nothing will ever be perfect for him — not Boston, not L.A, not anywhere.
I spent the last two years getting all nostalgic and saying to myself, “Why didn’t he act like that while he was in Boston?” Now I can’t help but feel a little satisfied that the Dodgers faithful are getting a taste of the real Manny. And when it comes to the real Manny, he always feels like there’s something better out there. You can’t take it personally, even after tries to backtrack on everything he said, in typical Manny fashion.
In other news, the NBA takes another step to make Caron Butler's life miserable, and Johnny Weir has some choice words for those politically incorrect Australian commentator critics of his.
"I won't be here next year, so I just want to enjoy myself. I don't know [if I’ll play next year]. I just know I'm not going to be here. When the season is over, I will see where I'm at."
–Manny Ramirez, on ESPN.com, on wanting out of L.A. after the 2010 season
"It's a safety issue, period,"
–NBA senior vice president for basketball communications Tim Frank, on ESPN.com, on why Caron Butler is forbidden from chewing straws during games
"Every little boy should be so lucky as to turn into me. And that's all I have to say about that."
–Men’s Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, on Entertainment Tonight, after Australian commentators made homophobic comments during one of his routines in Vancouver
"Madden has never done me wrong, and all of my characters in the past have been pretty awesome. A lot of people come up to me and tell me that they're sacking the crap out of the quarterback in the game. … If I make the cover, I'm going to straighten my mullet and make it as trashy as possible. You have to highlight the tools that got you there."
–Vikings defensive end Jared Allen, on NBCSports.com, on being a finalist to grace the cover of the new edition of Madden
"From the waist down, I feel 15. From the neck up, I feel 43. I feel good."
–Ramirez, on ESPN.com, on how he feels heading into spring training
"We took the kids to my wife's family out in New Mexico and told them we were going to the North Pole, so we landed there, and they flipped out. As big a deer hunter as I am, a couple of deer walked out, and my son thought it was Rudolph. I told him, 'Grab my bow and arrow.' He said, 'No, Dad, it's Rudolph.' You can't shoot Rudolph. That was off-limits for me."
–Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew, in the Boston Herald
"It's not like I can ask to be put into that group. I can't ask that group for admission, really."
–Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, in the Boston Herald, on whether he has the chops to turn Boston’s Big Three into a Big Four
“There are people who say, ‘I don’t have Gucci shoes.’ But I say to them, ‘You have feet. Be thankful, because there are people worse off than you.’”
–Ramirez in the L.A. Times
"You should see me naked."
–Red Sox DH David Ortiz, on WEEI.com, on what good shape he's in this spring
"I don't think I can hit anybody deep. I think my deep is over with. The only thing I can hit is a golf ball — all over the place."
—Hank Aaron, to The Associated Press, on how he’d fare in baseball today
"That stuff is going to work itself out. I'm really not too concerned with it. I don't really have anything to say about contract stuff today or probably any time during spring training. I definitely don't want to let that be the focus of what I'm trying to do."
–Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett, on MLB.com, on whether ongoing contract talks will become a distraction for him this season
"I think the whole league played through injuries. When it comes to being a professional, we're not supposed to cry. We're not supposed to moan, we're not supposed to feel sorry for ourselves. I never cry about my injuries."
–Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss, in the Boston Herald
