Fans Glorifying Manny Need to Get a Life

Just to refresh your memory, Manny Ramirez is a shamed steroid cheat. He used a female fertility drug that produced artificial testosterone, making him the latest in a pathetic line of high-profile players who have done performance-enhancers and contaminated an entire baseball era. He also is a petty quitter, having stopped running out groundballs in a hissy-fit ploy that forced the Red Sox to trade him to the Dodgers.

So why were people cheering him when he returned last weekend after a 50-game suspension? And giving him long, robust standing ovations? And proudly wearing $22 concession-stand dreadlocks and No. 99 jerseys? And waving signs that said "We Still Love You, Manny" and "It's all about the dreads, not the Meds" -- stadium greeting cards that made him feel good when he should be feeling like, well, a convicted scumbag? Why oh why would anyone with a soul, a conscience and working brain cells glorify a cheater?

Because most of these goofs were Dodgers fans who made the short drive from Los Angeles to San Diego, where they bought up 60 percent of the seats and turned Petco Park into Mannywood South. As we saw in San Francisco with the local fawning over Barry Bonds, some cities simply lack the sophistication to hold an appropriate grudge against a cheater. All they seem to care about is whether the player produces and the ballclub wins. And right now, with the Dodgers holding the best record in the major leagues and surviving just fine in their time without Ramirez, fans are checking their morals at the turnstiles and dreaming about a dreadlocked World Series in Chavez Ravine.

Not only are they forgiving Manny, they're forgetting that his sin was as heinous as those of Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and all the rest. Deservedly so, those cheaters became pariahs across America, including in the areas they call home. Ramirez? He remains a lovable lunkhead in Southern California and, frighteningly, around the country, making me wonder if an 11-year-old kid in Huntington Beach views him as a hero and decides in a few years to give steroids a try. Shame on these folks for letting Manny off the hook to satisfy their own hopes for the Dodgers, which is frivolous compared to the potential deadly consequences of steroids use.

"It was great, man. It was the best," a smiling Ramirez said of the rousing reception after his return to the lineup. I want to thank all my fans. They drove from L.A. just to watch the game and watch me, and it was unbelievable."

No, it was disgusting. Yet Dodgers manager Joe Torre, who only seven weeks before was condeming Ramirez's actions, sounded overjoyed by the giddy reception. "It just feels like the atmosphere had little bubbles in it, for me," he said. "So hopefully we can hold on to that for a while."

Fortunately, the bubbles will burst Tuesday night. That's when Manny takes his tainted act to New York, his hometown, where he'll be tormented by a crowd that knows how to taunt and bring a cheater to his knees. Somehow, you figure the number of Dodgers fans will shrink from 28,000 to 2,800. Before stepping on the field in San Diego, Ramirez said, "Showtime ... Showtime." In contrast, his arrival at Citi Field will be a horror show, the comeuppance his presence warrants. "It'll be the opposite in New York," Dodgers catcher Russell Martin said.

"There's really nothing to prepare you for New York," Torre said. "When he had his press conference the other day, I said, 'Well, you're going to have to do this one more time in New York,' and he said, 'We do?' I said, 'Yeah, you know we do.'

"A big part is the circus that's going to surround him. In the past, he's been able to block that stuff out, but he's never had anything like this. As far as fans booing or whatever they're doing, he's been able to lock himself in. This is a little different scenario for him. The fact that we're going to New York is going to magnify it. But I'm sort of happy we're going the first week to get it out of the way."

In New York, Ramirez will be peppered with questions about why he used steroids. His reluctance to address the issue so far has been as big a disgrace as the drug bust itself. With stunning arrogance, his defining quote to date on the topic was this June 9 gem: "I didn't kill nobody, I didn't rape nobody, so that's it, I'm just going to come and play the game." Actually, I might argue that he and the other superstar cheats have raped the game. When asked in San Diego about steroids, he did apologize to the fans. But he never explained why, which is important in the cleansing process. Don't these men understand that the more they disclose, the more likely they'll be forgiven in the end and maybe make the Hall of Fame? McGwire doesn't get it. Sosa and Bonds are in denial. Clemens is borderline nuts. Rodriguez is all over the map.

Manny? He just goes down goofball road. It works for him. "Well, I want to say I'm sorry to the fans, to my teammates that they're always there for me," he said. "I [apologize] for not being there for them. For not playing the game, because I'm a huge part of the Dodgers and I'm proud to wear that uniform. When I say I'm sorry, I let those fans down, that they go out there to see me."


But what about that female fertility drug? "First I want to say that God is good and good is God," he said. "I don't want to get into my medical records right now. I'm happy to be here. I missed the game. I'm ready to play."

And the pressures of verbal abuse on the road? "I'm pretty sure I can handle it. This is not my first rodeo," he said. "So I know I'm going to be fine. I know I can play this game. I am not going to fail. I'm going to enjoy it the most I can. We're humans. We learn from our mistake."

Until he specifically answers the steroids questions, which Dodgers owner Frank McCourt says won't happen, Ramirez will face media heat nationally. This could lead to a breakdown in performance and attitude, if his meltdown in Boston last July is any indication. The biggest question with Manny is always how he's feeling mentally. When the Dodgers went a slick 29-21 without him and maintained their fat lead in the National League West, it reminded Ramirez that the club can win without him. This isn't to suggest they haven't dearly missed a monster bat that produced a stunning .396 average and 17 home runs in the final two months of the 2008 regular season, followed by a remarkable postseason performance and .348 start this season. But when he was away, the likes of Andre Ethier and Juan Pierre excelled. A brooding Manny is a Manny who can distract the finest of clubs, as the Red Sox can attest.

Which explains the over-the-top, disproportionate-to-reality Manny love. The fans are serving as his enablers/life coaches, motivating him to be happy so he can entertain them with his antics. Seeing this phenomenon, management decided to reinstate the Mannywood section in left field at Dodger Stadium. I understand teams are desperate to make money any way they can amid an economic crisis, but how can the Dodgers -- one of the longstanding revered franchises in pro sports -- sell their soul to a steroids cheat? "It would be tricky if the fan support wasn't there to bring Mannywood back," said Dennis Mannion, team president and chief operating officer, in an Associated Press interview. "We've really seen overwhelming e-mails and listened to an overwhelming number of phone calls from fans asking if it's going to come back. So it made the decision to reopen the section a little easier. The way that we've looked at it is that baseball has a system in place and they've penalized Manny."

That doesn't mean the Dodgers couldn't have stuck by their principles and continued their anti-steroids stance. They should be ashamed for reopening Mannywood. Consider it the latest example of how Major League Baseball, despite commissioner Bud Selig's protests, isn't as serious about a steroids crackdown as the chiefs let on.

So when Mannywood officially reopens next week, fans can spend $99 for two seats in left field and two blue "Mannywood" t-shirts. My guess is, the place will be packed for the rest of the season.

Know what else the Dodgers should include in the package?

A vomit bag.