It's one thing for Hamilton to have to piss in a cup 3x/week and be subject to the media 24/7, but for his sake he better hope that it continues for a long time to come. I fear once he leaves baseball you may see Josh Hamilton spiral downward.....family or not. With his history of heroin use, coke and booze, his brain remembers how they made the world a more tolerable place in the face of adversity. Unfortunately, he's just proven that he's not strong enough to face everyday challenges and not use booze or drugs as a crutch. So for now, I hope the media continues to dog him.
Hamilton NEEDS to find something, anything to keep him occupied during the off season. Thats when all his addictions come back to haunt him.
I was reading in this morning's Dallas Morning News that yesterday the Texas Rangers hired Shayne Kelley to be a major league staff assistant who will act as Josh Hamilton's accountability partner. Kelley has a background in baseball strength and conditioning and worked previously with the University of Alabama baseball team and with the Kansas City Royals organization. He's also been an assistant baseball coach at Jacksonville State and Samford, both in Alabama.
Perfect. Sounds like a smart move and it will help Hamilton out tremoundously as long as he takes this seriously. I like the hiring and the idea.
I like it too. From what I understand, they had a lot of people who stepped up and said they would like to do it.
It was said when this first happened but I only heard it today and it makes sense. People in Dallas know Josh Hamilton, who he is and what he looks like. Bartenders most likely know what this guy looked like b/c most of them show Rangers games on TV. It's talked about A LOT what he's been through. Why serve him? And why wouldn't a patron say something when it was happening? If you were in a bar and Josh Hamilton sat next to you and ordered a bunch of booze would you say something or just sit there?
Knowing that Hamilton would probably say something along the line of "What don't you understand about minding your own freaking business?", I might pass on doing my part if he had multiple drinks down the hatch.
Talk about a stacked deck, eh? I'd go along with Smeagle's point of it being a 'shame' that anyone has to go thru this but I personally don't find it 'sad'. There's plenty out there who've weathered as bad & worse & have righted the ship. Hopefully he'll be able to. The reality is that tough decisions need to be made at this stage & trying to make it thru life in 1 piece & sober may not ultimately include a career in sports. Living life with a family as someone not making the huge bucks isn't the worst way to go.
^^^ this. the establishment reserves the right to refuse service. as a patron/fan i would try to say something, not so much that he could hurt the team, not that that doesn't matter, but just as a person who knows what he's going through and knows that at times you're going to be weak and all it may take is a simple reminder of the consequences.
This story isn't over yet. This morning, on a local TV show, I heard that someone took some pictures of Hamilton at the bar where he had his relapse, a place called Sherlock's, and is shopping them around to the local TV stations for $40,000+. Stay tuned.
Where I as John Q. Fan would not say anything, you have the necessary ammo to discuss this on the grounds of commonality. Frankly, someone who cannot relate really needs to stay clear. I've been around the harping family of the alcoholic and it is far to counterproductive.
On the plus side, relapse's happen from time to time with most addicts so this isnt anything really out of the ordinary. Sometimes it leads to full blow regression, sometimes it reinforces why the person quit. Lets hope with Josh its the latter
