Posted on 04/22/2005 12:31:25 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Athletes say they don't look back, ever.
Athletes lie.
Thus, it is safe to theorize the demons doing wind sprints in Nomar Garciaparra's head right now. Starting with, "Man, I'm glad I got married, otherwise the last 18 months would completely suck."
The pain from a torn groin could have left Nomar Garciaparra seeing dollar signs now out of his reach.Thursday, Garciaparra got the cheery news that he'll miss at least the next two months with a groin muscle tear. This, after starting the season hitting .157. After watching the Boston Red Sox get their World Series rings. After watching the Sox win the World Series. After being shipped out of Boston because of a case of advanced misery caused by the Sox's run at Alex Rodriguez.
I mean, it wasn't that long ago that he was considered among the top three shortstops on the planet. Now, he not only looks up at Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, but Miguel Tejada, Jose Reyes, Jimmy Rollins, Rafael Furcal, David Eckstein, Clint Barmes, Cesar Izturis, Edgar Renteria, Juan Uribe, Carlos Guillen, Michael Young, Julio Lugo, Angel Berroa, Alex Cora, Orlando Cabrera, Marco Scutaro, Royce Clayton, Omar Vizquel ... even Khalil Greene, who is currently just as inactive as Garciaparra.
The latest bit of bad news, dreadful as it was for the Artist Formerly Known As No-mahhhh, has been par for the course for Garciaparra. From learning that his employers really wanted A-Rod and were willing to pay three times his own spectacular salary, then going on the disabled list for two months with Achilles tendinitis (which hurts as much as it sounds), to getting shipped to the Cubs, to going back on the DL with a strain to the same nasty groin muscle, to starting the new season in batters-box vapor lock, to this ... well, completely sucks really doesn't cover it, now, does it?
Not to mention the fact that The Next Big Contract may never happen for him now. In Boston, he would not only have his ring, but all the idolatry and "we couldn't have done it without him" currently being enjoyed by every Sox player down to and including Bronson Arroyo. And in our crass materialistic world, idolatry leads to bigger, better, longer contracts – perhaps as much as half an A-Rod, maybe even three-quarters of a Jeter.
Not now, though. Today, Garciaparra is a thrice-injured shortstop two years removed from his last big season. He'll never see another offer like the four-year, $60 million deal he turned his nose up at when he was with the Sox. He is making $8 million and roughage from the Cubs this year; his next deal is likely to be half that, if not less.
And endorsements? Gone, too. As far as the shortstop trade goes, Tejada is essentially commercially invisible as the best in the game (A-Rod having been moved to third and all), and he's still at the top of his game.
In other words, Garciaparra's fall has been both precipitous and comprehensive.
Of course, this run of buzzard's luck has been attributed to the Curse of the Bambino, in that Garciaparra unwittingly packed it when he cleaned out his locker last July 31.
This is the kind of reference that inspires people to look at the Flat Earth Society with new admiration, but this is still quite a run of seven-deuce for the man.
And the question must surely follow, in our wacky determinist world, just what did Nomar Garciaparra do to deserve this?
Do you really get this many points off for moping about your team's interest in a higher-profile player at your position? Have the Red Sox suddenly done a deal with God that allows them to win the Series and punish its waywards with such swiftness and persistence?
And if they have, and if it's really binding, shouldn't the rest of us be incredibly frightened?
I mean, Theo Epstein is smart and young and moderately engaging and all that, and Fenway Park is a nice place to watch a game. Still, that kind of influence-peddling would make Tom DeLay cringe.
But pardon the digression. We just want to say, on the off-chance that the Red Sox actually do possess this new throw weight, that they could probably let Nomar Garciaparra off the hook now. Fourteen months of almost unremitting baseball misery is plenty for anyone.
And even if this is someone else's work rather than that of the Sox, or even nobody at all, Garciaparra says "uncle." He's paid whatever dues he owed to whomever he owed them, with loan-shark interest. Whoever you are up there, down there, or out there, you can let him up now. He'll learn whatever lesson required of him, commit it to memory, and recite it on request.
At least in a couple of days, anyway. Right now, he probably needs a little time to grouse about his present, and then look back and wonder what might have happened if only ... if only ... if only.
Ray Ratto is a columnist with the San Francisco Chronicle and a regular contributor to ESPN.com
man, poor nomah. It sucked when they traded him.
I hate to see this happen to anyone. Nomar was fun to watch.I doubt whether we will ever see the Nomar of old again. A pity.
I cringed when I saw that happen the other night....
We need him out there.
Old story:
Joe Pepitone was on the trainer's table before a game one day when Yogi Berra walked by and asked, "how's it goin'. Joe?"
"Well, Yogi, I got a groin pull."
Yogi says "oh, yeah?...where's it hurt?"
Greed and a bad attitude do not get you far. He was a poison in the Red Sox clubhouse and when traded, the Sox went on a roll.
We forget that Manny had more reason to sulk, but did not. He was offered up for nothing in return, but he showed up each day and played hard. Ended up as WS MVP.
On WEEI (Boston), some time back, a caller said that Nomar's nickname in the minors was "glass" because he "broke easily". Might have some truth behind it.
But what's the fun of being married while you've got a severe groin injury?
Nomar was one of several "noticeably lighter" players this season. Maybe he should have taken a drying-out vacation like Bonds and Gagne.
Ouch!
Uhh, daily rehab workouts?
>>Nomar was one of several "noticeably lighter" players this season
He looked a little TOO muscular on that sports illustrated cover...hmm...Bob Ryan, in today's Boston Glob:
Look, I'm hardly the first person to raise the question. When he was with the Red Sox, who was bold enough to link our fair shortstop, a noted workout guy, with the dreaded S-word? But he did go from, like, standard athlete issue normal to ultra-buffed in one winter, and he has been -- there is no other way to say it -- systematically breaking down for the past six years, so you can't help wondering just what he's been putting into his body other than Wheaties and sirloin steaks. If we're going to assume that Mark McGwire's physical breakdown was because of a reliance on steroids, then it would be quite logical to adopt the same line of thinking about Nomar. It's a legitimate question.
The curse of Nomar?
http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay22.html
"Do they still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around
When the snow melts away, do the Cubbies still play
in their ivy-covered burial grounds?
When I was a boy they were my pride and joy
But now they only bring fatigue
To the land of the brave, the home of the free
And the doormat of the National League.
You know, anything will happen that can
But the last time the Cubs won a NL Pennant
Was the year we dropped the bomb on Japan..."
--Steve Goodman, "Dying Cub Fan's Last Request"
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