Results tagged ‘ Josh Beckett ’
World according to Josh Beckett: “I spend my off days the way I want to spend them”
After Josh Beckett got smacked around by the Indians last night he faced the press.
To nobody’s surprise, the press asked him about the golf-between-starts-despite-maybe-having-a-bad-back thing. Beckett defensively told the press to mind its own business when it comes to his free time:
“I spend my off days the way I want to spend them,” he said. “My off day is my off day. We get 18 off days a year. I think we deserve a little bit of time to ourselves.”
18 days off a year, huh?
Seems to me the Red Sox stopped playing in early September last year and have yet to start back up. Seems to me has had nearly 9 months a vacation time.
More to the point, what kind of world does this assclown live?
Mr. Beckett, you get paid great sums of money to play baseball. In fact, to be more specific, you get paid great sums of money to play baseball well.
Now, obviously, since your contract is guaranteed fans just have to bite the bullet and watch you cash your checks one way or the other, even if you pitch like you did last night.
But what fans, and your employers, don’t have to tolerate is your recreational activities getting in the way of the “playing baseball” part of the equation.
We can’t say for certain that his playing golf injured (or merely aggravated) his back issues.
But then again we can’t say that a player will get hurt riding his motorcycle (hey there Jeff Kent) or playing a game of pick-up basketball (how ya doin’ Aaron “F***in’” Boone?) yet teams never get vilified for insisting that their players do neither for fear of injury.
If people want to question your common sense, or maybe more accurately your commitment to your team & your craft because of boneheaded moves like this then you probably have only yourself to blame.
(I am definitely curious to hear what Red Sox fans have to say about this)
Curt Schilling gets pwn3d by Josh Beckett
Lol, from Craig Calcaterra @ Hardball Talk comes this follow-up to today’s “Curt Schilling “Red Sox are growing tired of Valentine already” headlines:
Curt Schilling said that the Red Sox players hate Bobby Valentine. Josh Beckett then turned around with this:
Josh Beckett on WEEI responding to Curt Schilling’s comments on Bobby V:
“I haven’t seen him around this year. Is he one of our pitchers?”
No, Josh. He’s not. He’s just that sad old guy who keeps hanging around his old high school, telling everyone about how it used to be. Go ahead, ask him: he’ll tell you how he scored four touchdowns in a single game that one time.
Sounds about right, except as big a mouth as Schilling has (and it’s quite friggin large) he doesn’t tend to make shit up. He is just more than willing to offer up his opinion on things going on around him (and others), regardless of whether or not you want to hear them.
There is quite a distinct difference between those two things.
Look, at face value I don’t doubt much of anything Schilling said.
There are eight guys on that roster who played with him (Bucholz, Papi, Youk, Pedroia, Jacoby, Lester, Dice K and Beckett).
While it’s probably safe to say Beckett isn’t his “source”, it is quite plausible that Schilling has talked to people about this (there are things that make it possible to communicate without being around the guys Josh, you know, like phones).
Add to that little factoid the stark reality that it’s been a controversial spring for Valentine.
One of his first mantras as Sox manager was banning alcohol from the clubhouse after reports surfaced last season of pitchers eating fried chicken and drinking in the clubhouse while the team went through an epic meltdown in September, losing 20 of 27 games and getting eliminated from playoff contention on the season’s final day.
Early in spring training, he ripped Derek Jeter’s famous flip play against the A’s in the 2001 playoffs (he later apologized), and credited retiring catcher Jason Varitek for punching out Alex Rodriguez in a 2004 fight.
Just last week, he raised a stink after a game against the Yankees ended in a tie bla bla bla, and it it isn’t hard to envision his “Bobby Me!” act could start to wear thin on some people.
It is conceivable that Schilling is hitting the nail on the head with this one, but the only that is for certain is this:
Gonna be one damn interesting year in Bean Town.
