Hello Fans, (Posted: 2/4 11:30 a.m.)
History. Sometimes it repeats itself. We all recognize it, have experienced it, and will experience it again. Red Sox-Yanks in the ALCS. Near $4.00 a gallon gas prices. Brady vs. Eli tomorrow night. Yes, history has a way of repeating itself. The other night, Rangers star outfielding super slugger and free agent to be in 2012, Josh Hamilton, went out and had some drinks in what he labeled a “weak moment” during a press conference he called himself yesterday afternoon. This was history repeating itself. We’ve heard about Hamilton participating in activity (i.e. “going out”) that have what some media outlets are attempting to blow up and exaggerate by calling it a “relapse” before. He had a similar instance a couple of years ago and also apologized. He faced it and played on with his life. That’s o.k. He is just a regular guy outside of diving catches and 450 foot homers ya know.
We’ve seen this kind of sensationalism of reporting before too. Everyday. News channels. Internet home page “headline stories”. A word like “relapse” or “ugly” is often used to describe rather plain incidents to drive the viewer or reader into being drawn toward a story. In this case, it just magnifies a rather mellow situation. Hamilton was having a hard time with some issue, went out, had a few drinks, hung out with second sacker Ian Kinsler, and went back out for a few more after telling Kinsler he was done for the night. You would not necessarily encourage the same situation, but it sounds like no harm was done either legally or physically to anyone. And that story is hardly what you expect when you see “relapse”. Perhaps you thought of a huge party weekend from some movie scene or maybe a rumble, right? Anyway, you probably did not envision a guy appearing to just blow off some steam. I applaud him for being so humble, upfront and unrehearsed in addressing the media in what I call a “strong moment”. He didn’t have to. He could have sent out a message through his publicist saying he is sorry that he made a harmless mistake as far as the public is effected or even concerned. He could have said nothing too. Obviously, for a person with his trepid past there are potential larger repercussions than for most of the rest of us. However, he even informed us that he didn’t even think about any drugs and has no worries about the two drug tests he took since Monday. He really did not attempt to hide anything while owing us nothing. Refreshing.
Yes, history has a way of repeating itself. It did again yesterday. Josh Hamilton apologized for making a mistake while trying to jostle the difficulties of living up to his relatively new life’s high standards of staying completely sober, sharing the practices of his religion, and being a great family man and teammate. Without complete sobriety he can do none of those things. And by calling a press conference inclusive of a storyline that surely pales in comparison to what the media outlets practically hope for in terms of the potential outlandishness of a rich superstar, he seems to disarm those waiting for his downfall. He’s determined to NOT let history repeat itself as far as losing nearly everything he had in life, including life itself. Therefore, he surely appears to be an enabler of hope for those battling addictions and a role model for the young and impressionable by truly maintaining to live up to his own words and publicly acknowledging his imperfection even when not required to. Yes folks, he faces the cameras to collect awards AND blame. In yesterday’s press conference, Hamilton showed us that when history repeats itself, we can recognize any errors or mistakes, correct them, and be better and stronger for it in the future. The future can be what we make it to be, and unlike history, free of repetition. And nobody can accurately and negatively sensationalize your future.
Later Fans.