Manny Being Manny Again?

The big East Coast sports news now is that Boston Red Sox slugger Manny Ramirez shoved a Red Sox employee.

Here is what SI.com reported:

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- Manny Ramirez said he patched things up with a Boston Red Sox employee he reportedly shoved to the ground during an argument, and the club said the matter is over.

The Providence Journal reported Monday that Ramirez pushed traveling secretary Jack McCormick in the visitors' clubhouse Saturday in Houston after McCormick told Ramirez that he might not be able to come up with the 16 tickets the player requested for that night's game.

The two met behind closed doors, the newspaper said, and Ramirez apologized to McCormick.

"Whatever happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse," Ramirez said before Monday night's game against the

Tampa Bay Rays. "I talked to him and everything is fine. He's going to continue being my friend. It's over with."

Manager Terry Francona said the matter was handled internally, and Ramirez was in the lineup Monday night, batting in his customary cleanup spot.

"When things happen with us, we take things really seriously and hopefully we deal with things respectfully to all parties. But we also do it internally," Francona said.

"That's not trying to evade a question, it's telling you how we feel about it. This is something that actually happened between friends, and it was handled."

Asked if he considered the incident closed, the manager did not use that word.

"I've already talked with every one I need to, like we always do. ... It's been dealt with, if that's what you're asking," Francona said.

Teammate

David Ortiz agreed with Ramirez's assessment that what goes on in the clubhouse should stay there.

"That's something that I don't want to get involved with. I wasn't here when it happened," Ortiz said. "We are a family. We deal with things. We have a good team with good chemistry."

Monday night's game between Boston and Tampa Bay was first between the AL East rivals since a benches-clearing brawl at Fenway Park on June 5. That same night TV cameras showed Ramirez and teammate Kevin Youkilis being separated after exchanging words in the dugout at the end of an inning.
The following day Ramirez declared the brief spat "in the past."

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What Ramirez did was bad but why is this news? I'm sure stuff like this happens a lot but no one leaks it out to the media. I don't really care that Ramirez shoved a team employee. It is none of my business. However, the man who did the shoving was the great Manny Ramirez and of course that is considered "news".

Too much Red Sox talk

Recently, the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays got into a fight. Later in the same game, Red Sox teammates Kevin "Greek god of walks" Youkilis and Manny Ramirez started fighting in the dugout. I'll admit that it is interesting news. A baseball brawl and a fight in the dugout between two teammates are usually interesting. However, there is still articles on the internet and discussion about the two fights on ESPN three days after the incident. It was just a fight. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies got into a fight on June 3rd. However, buzz about the fight stopped very quickly. Both brawls were intense. You can't say that the Red Sox fight was a lot better because if you watch both videos, they are both big brawls. As for the Youkilis-Ramirez fight, something like that happened last season too. Chicago Cubs players Carlos Zambrano and Michael Barrett fought in the dugout on June 1st, 2007. That fight got a lot of local coverage but I don't recall it getting a lot of national media coverage like the Youk-Manny fight got. I'm telling ya....east coast bias is real.

By the way, what's up the Red Sox being called "The Nation"? I thought ESPN, who often refer to the Red Sox as "The Nation" rather than say "Red Sox", was suggesting that the Red Sox are America's team or something. Before I did a huge rant, I did some research and luckily I may be a little bit wrong.

From Wikipedia:

Red Sox Nation is spread across the entire country because many New England natives re-locate to other parts of the country and many New England college students return home after developing a passion for the Red Sox. These fans can typically be found supporting their team at Red Sox games outside of Fenway Park. They keep up with the team by watching the games on satellite television, as well as through various Web sites. Members of the Nation are even known to call sports-talk radio stations in Boston long distance during the season and remain on hold, merely to be able to talk about their beloved Sox. Fans in California have created a Red Sox Nation West.

In 2005 and 2007, the Red Sox had the highest road attendance of all MLB teams. Part of this is apparently due to a large contingent of New England-based fans who fly to Red Sox away games in other ballparks. But the major reason is that the away attendance of other teams (most notably the Yankees) is skewed downward by the fact that the seating capacity of Fenway Park is only 35,000, while most stadiums hold 20,000 more people. This phenomenon among Red Sox fans has been exacerbated by Red Sox Nation references in popular culture, e.g., films such as Fever Pitch and J. Crew catalog covers during the summer of 2007. Some sports analysts attribute the culture of Red Sox nation to be bandwagoning in the wake of their recent World Series victories in 2004 and 2007.

Glad to hear that. These Red Sox supporters around the nation have New England ties so it is acceptable to call them "The Nation" if that is what they mean by that. However, the Cubs have fans like that too. Every road game sounds like a home game...that's how many Cubs fans there are. If ESPN is going to call the Red Sox "The Nation", they need to start calling the Cubs "The Nation" too.

Welcome to East Coast Sports Bias!

If you ever watch ESPN or go to Yahoo! Sports or any other media outlet, you might occasionally see a story that doesn't seem that important or a story that is getting too much coverage. Most times, a New York or Boston team is involved. An example of a story that wasn't that important is the Jason Giambi (New York Yankees) thong and mustache slumpbuster stories. As for too much coverage, ESPN's SportsCenter won't shut up about Boston Red Sox DH David Ortiz's injury. They called his move to the Disabled List as "Breaking News", they interviewed a doctor on the air, they interviewed a Boston sportwriter on the air, and now they occasionally give updates. He's hurt...we get it! Other players simply get a simple "[Insert Name here] put on 15-day DL" on the ticker on the bottom of the screen. I'm surprised the ESPN.com front page link lineup doesn't say: MLB, NBA, NFL, David Ortiz's injury, NHL, MLS......

One more thing before I go, New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain is overrated. I'm not saying he is a bad player but Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Marmol is just as great and he barely gets any attention.

Here's proof:

A google search for Joba Chamberlain had about 746,000 results.
A google search for Carlos Marmol had about 436,000 results.

That was just web pages. How about news stories:

You google Joba in news and he gets about 5,007 links.
You google Marmol in news and he gets about 2,393 links.

Stats?

Carlos Marmol--

2007: 5-1 69.1 IP 96 K 1.43 ERA 1.10 WHIP .169 BAA
2008: 1-1 37.2 IP 56 K 2.39 ERA 0.80 WHIP .135 BAA

Joba Chamberlain--

2007: 2-0 24.0 IP 34 K 0.38 ERA 0.75 WHIP .145 BAA
2008: 1-2 26.0 IP 33 K 2.42 ERA 1.23 WHIP .185 BAA

NOTE: 2008 stats are through games completed on Jun 4, 2008.

As you see, they are both very good 8th inning relief pitchers but yet Joba gets a lot more attention. Coincidence? No, it's just East Coast Sports Bias.