Sports On Earth

Laser Show

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Nov 7, 2008
5,094
drleather2001 said:
If he only had a modicum of self-awareness.

It's such a shame, because he was so fortunate to have the great career he did, but he can't quite seem to appreciate it for anything more than an excuse to party for twenty years.

It's like it all passed him by.
 
I love the last paragraph. Just... wow:
 
"I knew how to get the best out of people," Damon said. "But times have changed today." Many teams now frown on their high-priced players hanging together after a game. "When I was playing," he said, "I always took the young guys out after a game to have a good time. I felt the kids had a good time hanging out with me, shooting pool, having dinner, whatever. I saw nothing wrong with that. I was just teaching them to have a good time. I taught young kids how to drink like a major leaguer. If they got pounded on a few beers, I told them they needed to practice more in the offseason. But some organizations don't want their players out partying for hours after a game. They worry they might get in trouble. But hey, I'm not a robot, I'm gonna enjoy being a player."
He went silent for a moment, as if a new thought had crossed his brow. Finally, he said, "I guess teams worried that my partying was a bad influence with young players."
 

Dehere

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Apr 25, 2010
3,143
They're at least partly owned by Gannett. I don't think MLB has a piece but I could be wrong. I know they've been taking on water for a while.

Much as I love Joe Posnanski's work I kinda think he left the people there in a lurch when he bailed so quickly.
 

Average Reds

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Sep 24, 2007
35,330
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drleather2001 said:
This article on Johnny Damon confirms what we all suspected: 
 
Johnny Damon really is an idiot.  That was no act.
 
He strikes me as being a hopelessly immature narcissist.  He has an incredibly high opinion of himself and just assumes that this goes for everyone he's ever come in contact with.  (Except for Curt and Shonda Schilling, apparently.)  The fact that he is apparently devoid of an common sense doesn't help matters.
 
He seems like a lost little boy who will never escape his youth.
 

JimBoSox9

will you be my friend?
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Nov 1, 2005
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JimD said:
Hopefully Mike Tanier lands somewhere good.
 
$5 says Bill Simmons is all over him.  It's a double win, as it would also let Bill Barnwell do less football and fully embrace his emerging role as the go-to guy for all of Simmons' third-rate column ideas the Sports Guy doesn't have time to write himself anymore.
 

MyDaughterLovesTomGordon

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Jun 26, 2006
14,181
Wow. As an aside, I've never been on Awful Announcing before, but the site is using 59 different behavior trackers. Most I've ever seen on one site, actually. 
 

Dehere

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Apr 25, 2010
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JimD said:
Hopefully Mike Tanier lands somewhere good.
Apparently he tweeted that he's staying on and that's a head-scratcher to me. He could find another gig pretty easily. Why go down with the ship?
 

Silverdude2167

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Oct 9, 2006
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Amstredam
This is a fun/interesting read.
 
http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/90206418/nfl-ball-boy-lessons-larry-fitzgerald-john-elway-philip-rivers#!bFBU4e
 
Zak DeOssie talks about his time as a ball boy with the Pats in it.
 
 
Giants long snapper Zak DeOssie, ball boy New England Patriots 2000-2001: "Larry Izzo was a special teams player, and he recognized I was Steve DeOssie's son when I walked in the door. He took me under his wing, and all of the linebackers then sort of adopted me as their ball boy. I took care of them. They let me get a pair of shoes. It was an incredible experience.
"Coach Belichick asked me during camp if I like Bon Jovi. I told him I did, even though I really didn't know much about him. He said, 'Great, we're going to the Tweeter Center tonight to see him.' I said, 'Are you kidding? What about bed check?' He said, 'Don't worry about it.' I went to the concert with coach Belichick, his wife at the time, his right hand man Berj Najarian and his wife. I'm standing next to Coach Belichick and we're jamming out to Bon Jovi. I'm a junior in high school. To have him include me in that was pretty cool. Those memories will stay with me for a long time.
"Then when the Patriots went to the Super Bowl, Coach Belichick let me come to the game and be a ball boy on the sidelines. No responsibilities. Just stay out of the way. And I was there on the field to watch Adam Vinatieri kick the game winner against the Rams... Fast forward five years, I'm playing against the Patriots and Larry Izzo in the Super Bowl my rookie year. I'm lining up for a punt snap and half of the punt return team is calling me ball boy and yelling at me to go get them a Gatorade after I botch the snap."
 

JimD

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Nov 29, 2001
8,681
Dehere said:
Apparently he tweeted that he's staying on and that's a head-scratcher to me. He could find another gig pretty easily. Why go down with the ship?
 
Tanier left SOE on Friday and is now writing at Bleacher Report.