I don’t know how many of you have known someone who has gone thru Alcoholics Anonymous, Narc-Anon, Sex Addicts Tell-All, etc. but on a couple of occasions I’ve had to sit thru a person from my distant past awkwardly attempt to take accountability for thieving from the swear jar, beating off on the cat, stealing weed to buy heroin, taping over “Quincy, M.E.” to record themselves lip-synching to Taylor Dayne songs, etc.
On each of these occasions, I’ve had to explain the incident in question never happened. Or perhaps they have me mixed up with someone else (for instance, I never recorded any episodes of “Quincy”). But either way, I could certainly empathize with members of the Tampa Rays organization, who not only found themselves knocked out of the 2011 postseason yesterday, but had to endure serial over-sharer Josh Hamilton boring the shit out of them with talk of past transgressions. From MLB.com’s Jane Lee (link stolen from Yahoo Sports’ David Brown) :
“I was thinking about it in the outfield last night,” the reigning AL MVP said. “With all of the stress and everything of that game yesterday, you know, thinking about and actually made some amends with trainers and with staff from the other side, from the Rays’ side, because I don’t think I ever had, as far as what I did and when I was here and my time. And they put a lot of time and effort into me, so just made an apology, a few yesterday.”
Hamilton knows his repentant ways won’t erase what’s been done, or bring back what could have been. He wouldn’t change a thing about his past, given the faith and hope he fostered along the way. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t think about it.
“And thinking about it for the fans’ aspect of it yesterday,” he said, “they were all expecting to see me with the Rays in Tropicana, in the outfield. But it doesn’t work out that way all the time.”
Assuming Hamilton had stayed clean and productive during the early portion of his career, how many people actually think he’d still be a member of the Rays? If he’s actually a nice enough person to apologize to persons he once treated poorly, good for him. But one of these years it would be interesting to see just how much of the baseball season can elapse without Hamilton nailing himself to the cross. For a man whose recent demons have included but not been limited to jello shots, chewing tobacco, avoiding champagne celebrations, sliding headfirst and killing fans, it’s a nothing short of a miracle he can concentrate on baseball.