ryno4ever
May 15th 2009, 10:46 pm
... in an article in the Suntimes (http://www.suntimes.com/sports/telander/1575381,CST-SPT-rick15.article), columnist Rick Telander calls Ryan Theriot out as being "suspect" for roids because of his recent hot bat.
Sorry, Ryan Theriot, you're a suspect. Forget Manny Ramirez and Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Mark McGwire and all the other hulking, accused performance-enhancing drug users.
You, sir, all 5-11, 175 pounds of you, are doing devious things.
To wit, Theriot -- no disrespect, but if he's 5-11, I'm 6-12 -- hit two home runs Wednesday night at Wrigley Field against the Padres, giving him five times more home runs in 33 games this year than he hit all last season.
Brrinnnng! Eee -- ah! Eee-ah! Zzzt! Zzzzt!
That rings the steroid/HGH/ whatever-designer-drug-is-in bell, doesn't it?
Well, yes, ''The Riot'' hit only one dinger in 2008 and only five so far this year.
Theriot responds:
"It's more what the game has come to," Theriot said in response to Telander's Friday column and a headline which read "Small hitter, big problem: When even Theriot raises suspicions, baseball's earned cynicism."
"The headline could have been written differently," Theriot said. "When you read something like that, it associates you with something you don't want to be associated with."
I'm proud of myself throughout my life and my reputation on and off the field," Theriot said. "I've lived my life the right way from day one, and hopefully that overcomes a headline like that. Others make mistakes and you get dragged into it."
"I guess everybody is entitled to their own opinion," Theriot said. "It's unfortunate that it's come to this. I guess you can write whatever you want to write and it's up to the readers to formulate their own opinion."
And Reed Johnson backs Theriot in his blog:
We recognize as players the era we play in, and that any time you have a good year and hit a couple home runs, people will talk about performance enhancing drugs or things of that nature. That's something we're prepared for. If you happen to go on a tear or hit five or six home runs in a week, people are going to assume it's a steroid issue. I think we've got to be happy as an organization and happy as players who are part of the Players Association that we've taken steps to try to clean the game up. Most of the issues that have been talked about -- besides Manny Ramirez -- have happened in the past. That's something we can be proud of as a group. We've done our job to clean things up, and if you use and you're caught, you're going to be suspended.
Theriot's thing is hamburgers. He eats a lot of Drumsticks. Have you seen those ice cream things? I've seen him eat French toast. I just follow him around and try to eat whatever he eats. He'll occasionally take his shirt off and go in the weight room but he just works beach muscles. It's not functional stuff that would help you on the baseball field. He goes in there and does bi's and tri's and chest, and then checks out his spray tan in the mirror. Maybe we'll start getting on Theriot a little more. He gives me a high five the next day when he sees something in the paper I said about him. Font gets upset. Theriot's off to a great start, and not on the juice.
-- Reed
and it even got Lou a little fired up:
Cubs manager Lou Piniella was upset by what the headline and column implied.
"Isn't that crazy?" Piniella said. "When the wind is blowing out at Wrigley and you can show some bat speed and get the ball up in the pull field, you're going to get rewarded.
"The biggest problem with the steroid thing is not the fact that people took steroids, it's that the people who haven't get tainted along with everybody else," Piniella said. "This is why truthfully, when they named Alex [Rodriguez] it's unfair. They should've named all 103 [players who tested positive]. Look, if I were clean, I'd want to let people know I was clean so if I hit a few home runs, people don't look at me and say, 'Is this guy Popeye or what?'"
After reading the article over a couple of times, it is not really about Ryan being suspect of being on the juice, but more of what the game has come to and that there will be that cloud of doubt hanging over each and every one of those guys' heads, but I really hate that Telander goes out there and throws names out there because those that don't read the entire article are just going to read "Theriot" and "steroids" in the same headline, and that is unfair to Ryan.
Slow day at the Suntimes office, I guess, because of the rain out... but please, I'd rather read about anything BUT steriods anymore. We know the game has forever been changed because of the "steriod era"...there isn't anything in that article I didn't already know or have heard before...but I really don't agree with putting Ryan's name in there.
Sorry, Ryan Theriot, you're a suspect. Forget Manny Ramirez and Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi and Mark McGwire and all the other hulking, accused performance-enhancing drug users.
You, sir, all 5-11, 175 pounds of you, are doing devious things.
To wit, Theriot -- no disrespect, but if he's 5-11, I'm 6-12 -- hit two home runs Wednesday night at Wrigley Field against the Padres, giving him five times more home runs in 33 games this year than he hit all last season.
Brrinnnng! Eee -- ah! Eee-ah! Zzzt! Zzzzt!
That rings the steroid/HGH/ whatever-designer-drug-is-in bell, doesn't it?
Well, yes, ''The Riot'' hit only one dinger in 2008 and only five so far this year.
Theriot responds:
"It's more what the game has come to," Theriot said in response to Telander's Friday column and a headline which read "Small hitter, big problem: When even Theriot raises suspicions, baseball's earned cynicism."
"The headline could have been written differently," Theriot said. "When you read something like that, it associates you with something you don't want to be associated with."
I'm proud of myself throughout my life and my reputation on and off the field," Theriot said. "I've lived my life the right way from day one, and hopefully that overcomes a headline like that. Others make mistakes and you get dragged into it."
"I guess everybody is entitled to their own opinion," Theriot said. "It's unfortunate that it's come to this. I guess you can write whatever you want to write and it's up to the readers to formulate their own opinion."
And Reed Johnson backs Theriot in his blog:
We recognize as players the era we play in, and that any time you have a good year and hit a couple home runs, people will talk about performance enhancing drugs or things of that nature. That's something we're prepared for. If you happen to go on a tear or hit five or six home runs in a week, people are going to assume it's a steroid issue. I think we've got to be happy as an organization and happy as players who are part of the Players Association that we've taken steps to try to clean the game up. Most of the issues that have been talked about -- besides Manny Ramirez -- have happened in the past. That's something we can be proud of as a group. We've done our job to clean things up, and if you use and you're caught, you're going to be suspended.
Theriot's thing is hamburgers. He eats a lot of Drumsticks. Have you seen those ice cream things? I've seen him eat French toast. I just follow him around and try to eat whatever he eats. He'll occasionally take his shirt off and go in the weight room but he just works beach muscles. It's not functional stuff that would help you on the baseball field. He goes in there and does bi's and tri's and chest, and then checks out his spray tan in the mirror. Maybe we'll start getting on Theriot a little more. He gives me a high five the next day when he sees something in the paper I said about him. Font gets upset. Theriot's off to a great start, and not on the juice.
-- Reed
and it even got Lou a little fired up:
Cubs manager Lou Piniella was upset by what the headline and column implied.
"Isn't that crazy?" Piniella said. "When the wind is blowing out at Wrigley and you can show some bat speed and get the ball up in the pull field, you're going to get rewarded.
"The biggest problem with the steroid thing is not the fact that people took steroids, it's that the people who haven't get tainted along with everybody else," Piniella said. "This is why truthfully, when they named Alex [Rodriguez] it's unfair. They should've named all 103 [players who tested positive]. Look, if I were clean, I'd want to let people know I was clean so if I hit a few home runs, people don't look at me and say, 'Is this guy Popeye or what?'"
After reading the article over a couple of times, it is not really about Ryan being suspect of being on the juice, but more of what the game has come to and that there will be that cloud of doubt hanging over each and every one of those guys' heads, but I really hate that Telander goes out there and throws names out there because those that don't read the entire article are just going to read "Theriot" and "steroids" in the same headline, and that is unfair to Ryan.
Slow day at the Suntimes office, I guess, because of the rain out... but please, I'd rather read about anything BUT steriods anymore. We know the game has forever been changed because of the "steriod era"...there isn't anything in that article I didn't already know or have heard before...but I really don't agree with putting Ryan's name in there.