An affinity for a certain baseball team that resides on River Ave.
in New York is something a person shouldn’t be judged for. A propensity
for bad disco music is something a person shouldn’t be judged for.
Apparently, a major league baseball player’s affinity for illegal
performance enhancers falls into the same category — at least according
to Jamie McCourt.
The Los Angeles Dodgers CEO, currently in Jerusalem for the Maccabiah Games, told Boston.com she refuses to judge Manny Ramirez for his PED use, which earned him a 50-game suspension from Major League Baseball.
“Not everyone is perfect and I am not going to judge what anyone
does in their lives,” McCourt told the Web site. “But he has paid the
penalty and it is now up to us to welcome him back to the team.”
Manny blatantly cheated. The best right-handed hitter of this
generation gave himself an even bigger leg up by injecting his body
with substances that enhanced his ability to be obscenely good at
baseball.
This is not a matter of being judged; this is a matter of understanding what it means to cheat at your job.
Does McCourt refuse to judge Bernie Madoff, too? Is she ready to welcome him back into the free world with loving, judgment-less arms?
“Manny is Manny,” McCourt continued. “He goes about his business and
he works hard to be good at what he does. From a work ethic perspective
and how he prepares for a game, he is a good addition to the team and
an example.”
An example? To who? The minor league PED abusers of tomorrow?
The whole love-not-war, all-people-are-special attitude is refreshing, even if it comes from the same state that did this on Sunday. But this is taking it too far.
If Madoff needs a job when he gets out of prison in 150 years, though, he knows where to look. The McCourts don’t judge.
