Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
Who else is uncomfortable with receiving an alert whenever someone sees Josh Hamilton take a drink?
The Dallas Morning News reported Hamilton was seen drinking in a Dallas bar Monday, though there's no indication of how much he had to drink. Was he drunk? Was Ian Kinsler, who reportedly tried to persuade Hamilton to go home, able to get his teammate to go home? Did Hamilton have the same dark look in his eyes as he did when he relapsed in 2009, a look bartenders in Raleigh (his hometown) quickly recognized from pictures?
Without knowing those things, this feels like none of our business. But it's news, and that's the flip side of Hamilton taking his plight public. It allowed him to inspire millions, but also directed their eyes to his attempts to maintain. People who follow his quest for sobriety want to know when he stumbles, for reasons good and bad. Hamilton is an addict, a very public one, and sharing his successes made his failures fit for public consumption.
But it still feels as if this is more than we need to know. It relates, certainly, to his discussions with the Rangers about a contract extension. Nolan Ryan has the unenviable task of determining what to do with a once-a-generation talent, a fan favorite, who happens to be a ticking time bomb. But if one trip to a bar would scare the Rangers off, they probably wouldn't have offered him a deal anyway. Moments like these for addicts like Hamilton aren't unlikely. They're around the corner every day, and nothing this week changed that.
Here's wishing Hamilton the best. We'll find out what happens next, whether we want to know or not.
For more on Hamilton and the Rangers, please visit Baseball Nation and Lone Star Ball.
3 comments
Comments
Josh's relapse
I’m a recovering person with more than two years of sobriety. First of all, I feel that we do need to know, if for no other reason so that we can help support him through this troubled time. What I don’t like is the moralizing I’ve already seen.
Though I feel my recovery is strong, I know that relapse looms at all corners. Josh isn’t a bad person, just an alcoholic and human. I’ve seen people whose recovery seemed strong relapse and return stronger and more committed than ever.
Sometimes we just need a reminder about how bad it is out there. I wish Josh luck and have confidence he can make it. One day at a time, buddy!
"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring". ~Rogers Hornsby
by extavernmouse on Feb 3, 2012 12:58 PM EST reply actions
well said
A relapse doesn’t have to be a personal character failure, it can be just a bump along the path.
by Mark Mandingo on Feb 3, 2012 1:29 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
There's a reason addicts and alcoholics talk to one another
The rest of you just wouldn’t understand. It’s nothing against you and it’s not that there’s anything wrong with you. In fact, there’s something wrong with us and consequently we have to speak to others in recovery to be understood. Josh is both an addict and an alcoholic, like me, I’m also named Josh (no relation). One of the struggles with being both an addict and an alcoholic is that you can often times convince yourself for a single night that you’re just an addict and not an alcoholic, while this may sound crazy to everyone else, re-read the first sentence.
I think that the very public nature of Josh Hamilton’s battle is good for him, because in a way he has millions of accountability partners and/or sponsors. Like extavernmouse, I’m sick of all the moralizing. Addiction is a disease that many of us are just born with, but I don’t see this kind of moralizing every time Tony LaRussa gets a DUI or even for Adam Kennedy. They both endangered the lives of others with their actions, Hamilton only endangered his own.
Ross Detwiler will have a breakout year...Believe It!...and I'm serious this time!
by Pig.Pen on Feb 6, 2012 1:09 PM EST reply actions
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