It's About Making a Point

Although this doesn't relate to New York sports, as a sports fan in general, one should be outraged by the way the Boston Red Sox have handled Manny Ramirez's past antics. Only a week after Shawn Chacon's scuffle with Astros' General Manager Ed Wade ultimately led to his release, Manny Ramirez has done essentially the same act. The difference: it looks like he won't even be disciplined. 

When the traveling secretary for the Red Sox told Ramirez that it may not be possible to obtain the 16 tickets that Manny had requested for an upcoming game, Manny reportedly yelled, "Just do your job" and shoved him to the ground. Why is this any worse than Chacon shoving Wade to the ground? Because a traveling secretary is playing the part of the General Manager and a future-hall-of-famer is playing the part of Shawn Chacon. 

Red Sox manager Terry Francona claims that the organization has already taken care of the situation and that he is happy with the way it was handled. Of course he is. He wasn't the one shoved to the floor and he still has his slugger and best hitter in the lineup. 

The Red Sox need to ignore the jobs that these two have within the organization and simply acknowledge them as two people. If you shoved a co-worker to the ground at work, you wouldn't get out without any scratches. The Red Sox should suspend Ramirez indefinitely without pay. They should allow him to return when he has proven that he has cleaned up his attitude; when he no longer is taking swings at Kevin Youkilis in the dugout, when he says he will always run a groundball out. It's not nearly as severe as a punishment as what happened to Chacon, who was released. Granted, as Jay Mariotti said, "The biggest mistake Shawn Chacon made was having a 5.15 ERA." It's about making a point.

- D. Spell