Posted on 08/21/2009 6:19:37 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Big league Hall of Famer Jim Rice opened the World Series for Little Leaguers with a fiery speech that even the grumpiest of grumpy old men could appreciate. The message: Don't look up to today's players because they're all bums.
Rice explained that the All-Star chumps you see today, can't compare to genuine American heroes of Jim Rice's day. They didn't have the rock and roll and the drugs back then, so their old timey brand of baseball was pure and good. Unlike the kind you see from that hippie Derek Jeter.
Guys that I played against and with, these guys you're talking about cannot compare ... We didn't have the baggy uniforms. We didn't have the dreadlocks," Rice said. "It was a clean game, and now they're setting a bad example for the young guys." [...]
Flexing the muscles in his right arm, Rice said, "That's all the steroids you need. ... It's called God-given talent."
So remember kidssay your prayers and eat your vitamins and you too can wait 15 years to get into the Hall of Fame on a sympathy vote. Then you can badmouth the existing generation of baseball players all you like.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2009-08-21-llws-rice_N.htm
I don’t know, I’m wishing Magglio Ordonez would grow his back.
What? And disrespect "Dashielle"?
Me too! I’m a baseball loving, grumpy old Jim Rice fan.
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Steroids or no, the average contemporary athelete could run circles around players of decades ago. Methinks old-timers are jealous. Plus, they forget about all the booze and whores Mickey and Babe consumed.
Talent and skill are other matters altogether. I won’t take anything away from DiMaggio, Rose, or Williams when their records are eclipsed. But just look at the footage. There are guys in the league with wrists bigger than Jim Rice’s legs. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but you get the point.
Many players were bums; God Bless the good men.
I always liked the Dodgers when I knew the names of everyone on the roster. That was 20 years ago.
yitbos
I think Rice is talking mostly about Manny and he’s damned right. Unlike the writer and his sympathy vote crap. Dolt!
I was listening to an ESPN affiliate in L.A. and they mentioned that Derek Jeter may’ be the only one who doesn’t take drugs but who knows.
Then someone in Seattle chimed in: Ichiro Suzuki who should be the first man to hit 200 plus in 9 seasons. Now that’s God-given talent.
The agents ruined the sport.
They ruin every sport.
Most are lawyers.
Kindof like Congress and the President.
Bigtime dittos to that! They've removed the loyalty of players to their fans.
Bring back the boozers and speed freaks! Greenies all around boys! And I want my Matlock!
Up until ~1987, I could have told you the names of everyone on the Royals' roster.
Now it's just a bunch of imports from Latin America and the Caribbean who have no attachment to the hometown.
There's gotta be a way to clone George Brett, Frank White, and even Steve Balboni.
Magglio Ordonez should go back to Venezuela if he’s so damn fond of Hugo Chavez. The nerve of that guy. It’s easy for a multi-millionaire ball player who can escape back to the states to campaign for a tyrannt that the rest of his countrymen have to live with. Hey Magglio, do you spread your filthy, free-market, American dollars around your home country? Didn’t think so. Guess Communism is okay for everyone but you, eh?
You must know something I don’t.
How can you give someone a straight line like that? LOL!
Rice was out of line when he mentioned Jeter. Derek has a huge amount of respect around the league for playing hard and playing the right way, and he’s earned a lot of respect from old-timers as well. And, Jeter isn’t going to wait 14 years to be inducted into the Hall of Fame like Rice.
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