A Twitter feed wonders if Josh Hamilton is getting preferential treatment

Interesting timing. Caller to a local talk show today said Pitino is getting a pass on talk shows, whereas Michael Vick was thoroughly roasted. Two tales of bad morals, two different standards by talk radio, said the caller. Race wasn't mentioned, but it was strongly implied.

I have a lot of thoughts on the subject, and on the caller's point of view, but the main one is it's way too early to say Pitino is getting a pass. You can't compare a few days to many, many months.

 

Well, it appears that while what Pitino did was certainly sleazy, it wasn't illegal. On the other hand, Michael Vick bankrolled a criminal enterprise that was definitely illegal, and his money helped fund the torture and killing of countless helpless animals. Where do these fucking idiots who make such comparisons come from?

 

Since I can speak as an alcohol abuser who has been dry for 11 years, screw you goalmouth. Hamilton owed nothing to the public. He owed his apologies to his family, friends and the Rangers. According to his wife, he did just that the morning after his relapse. That Hamilton still called a news conference and addressed the issue when it was made public, showed me he's not hiding from anything. Once again, screw you goalmouth.

 

Yeah, the host of the show was caught off guard by that call. So was I.

 

Was William Rhoden the caller?

 

Also, it appears Pitino hasn't/didn't lie to the Feds. Which, in the end, was Vick's major mistake.

 

You're wrong. In this case, he does owe something to the public, and here's why. After this incident, he was out hawking his book, which tells his inspirational story. And he was taking thousands of dollars for giving motivational speeches in which he said he had been sober since Oct., 2005. When he gave those speeches and and talked up his book, he knew that was a lie. If you're going to sell your story, it had better be a true one, or that's fraud. Not coming clean to the public in this case makes Josh Hamilton nothing more than a con man. I understand he has demons, but if he's making a profit off the public because he is supposedly clean, he'd better be clean, and if he isn't, the paying public deserves to know.

 

If that's the case, then all recovering addicts should STFU and never speak about their struggles, good or bad, because death is the only thing ensures you'll never fuck up again. He doesn't owe shit to you, me or anyone. He dealt with it immediately with the people that needed to know, and he was stand-up about it when the news broke. If we find out he lied about no more relapses since then, he's got a credibility problem. If not, I'm satisfied.

 

In general, addicts can talk about their struggles all they want without owing us anything. The problem comes when Hamilton tries to make a profit off a story he knows is false.

If he wants to sell the book or hire himself out for a speech, fine. But don't tell me in that speech you've been sober since 2005 when you haven't been, and you know it. Don't you think that fact might affect someone's decision to buy a book or pay several thousand for a speaker? His story is a personal deal, but he made it other people's business when he started selling it. If what you are selling is a story that you're clean when in fact you're not, then you are committing fraud, no?

 

Pretty sure we're all overanalyzing this. How hard does it have to be for him to just get up there and talk about it in the first place? Could any of you do that? Could any of you get up there, having lived the hellacious life he has, and then talk about it?

How perfect are all of you? Where do you get off ripping Hamilton? I mean, really?

Not much gets me too riled up, and honestly this won't make me lose any sleep. It's been said plenty of times on this board, but you're no less cowardly than you say he is, saying all this stuff from behind a fake name!

I really don't like instigating stuff on here because it never really gets anywhere, but sometimes things just have to be said. And basically what I'm trying to say this this: the dude's imperfect. So are you. He didn't break a law. He owes nothing to anybody. He doesn't need millions from book sales. He's getting paid a superstar major league salary, man. He doesn't need book sales.

Move on. My goodness.

 

I think this is a good reason the backlash hasn't been there against Hamilton the way it was for Gooden or Strawberry. From what I gather, he readily admitted he did wrong and said he was forthright with his wife and the Rangers. If all of that's true, those are the only people who should be judging him.

 

I'm just sick of all of these stories of addicts who are sober, clean, or whatever. And down the road, there is an inevitable relapse.