It's Bothering Me That Everyone Has Been Killing Manny Ramirez For Taking Steroids

Manny Ramirez retired from baseball last Friday, April 8th.  It's taken me until this morning to find anything that anyone has said (in print or otherwise) that doesn't pretty much say this:  "Manny Ramirez is a cheater.  He always has been and he should never, ever have a chance of sniffing the Hall of Fame."

Now that is not an actual quote from anyone, but it seems to be the prevailing school of thought among experts and sportswriters everywhere.  Colin Cowherd, Freddie Coleman (when subbing in for Cowherd), Dan Patrick, Doug Gottlieb, Jayson Stark, and Buster Olney are a few that have said that there is "no way" Manny should be considered for the Hall of Fame.  Yahoo's Jeff Passan, ESPN's Tim Kurkjian and SI's duo of Jon Heyman and Tom Verducci all seem to agree, though their stances aren't as strong against Manny and the Hall.

If you're curious, here are the only semi-positive things I've seen written about Manny Ramirez.

ESPN's Buster Olney even said the other day that he would vote for Mark McGwire, but wouldn't not be voting for Manny Ramirez.  Hey, I'm no ESPN baseball expert, but that sounds a tad bit double-standard-ish, if you ask me.

Jerry Sloan Has Resigned As Coach Of The Utah Jazz. I Sure Hope Deron Williams Is Happy Now.

Yesterday afternoon, after 23 seasons with the Utah Jazz, Jerry Sloan resigned his post as head coach.  The announcement shocked and surprised pretty much everyone.  No one saw this coming, to say the least.

This morning, everyone seems to have an opinion.  No doubt both ends of the spectrum will be covered, from "Jerry Sloan is an old fuddy duddy who isn't cool enough to coach modern athletes" to "Deron Williams is your typical prima donna athlete and ultimate coach-killer", and every shade in between.

My opinion lies somewhere in the middle of those two extremes.  One fact that I don't buy is that Deron Williams had nothing to do with Sloan's decision to resign, as D-Will himself has declared.  When asked if he had a role in forcing Jerry Sloan out as coach, Williams responded "No sir."

But c'mon, are we really supposed to believe him when he says that?  Gimmie a break.

While I am not ignorant enough to deny that the present-day NBA is a place where, as Adrian Wojnarowski puts it, "talent trumps everything, where the best players always beat the best coaches", can I ask how far is too far though?  I'm not saying that players should have no say, or should just shut up and play, or have to play on teams that are run as dictatorships or anything close to that.

I'm just wondering that if the current trend continues in the NBA of talent trumping coaching, why will we need coaches at all in ten years?  Why not just let the players coach themselves?  I mean, that's pretty much what we have going on in Miami this season, is it not?