Fans giving Manny Ramirez hero's welcome are hypocrites

July 2, 8:44 AM

Manny Ramirez is set to return to the Dodgers on Friday against the
Padres at Petco Park. (AP/Reed Saxon)
It's not many times that I agree with Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke.

Plaschke is self-righteous, pompous and to him, the opposing view is always wrong (there are other words that might friends suggest I use, but they aren't too appropriate).

The world is black and white to the LA Times columnist and what he believes is white and what he disagrees with is black.

But on this one I do.

Manny Ramirez is set to return to the Dodgers on Friday against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, and-at least from those fools up in Los Angeles-he'll be receiving a hero's welcome.

Petco Park is sold out for Friday's game and I am certain it's not because of the fireworks that will be shown after.

And this is where I start to agree with Plaschke.

To put it in so many words, Plaschke is heart broken that Ramirez turned out to be a cheater.

After news broke that Ramirez was to get suspended for 50 games, Plaschlke wrote, "The Dodgers can't build their team on fakery. They can't march to a championship behind a charlatan. They can't fall for his act again."

And as the Manny Circus made its rounds throughout the minor leagues, Plaschke could barely understand why so many fans-excuse me-Dodgers fans were treating Ramirez as the second coming of Christ.

If there were any boos in any of Ramirez's minor league appearances, they were scattered. And while I expect the boos to rain down on Ramirez this weekend from the (hopefully) mostly pro-Padres crowd, those clad in Dodger Blue at Petco this weekend will be cheering the loudest.

It is this hypocrisy that peeves many around baseball-and I am sure it peeves Plaschke and any true fan of the game.

Dodgers fans were the loudest when it came to Barry Bonds and his steroids scandal in the early part of this decade.

The venom, the hatred, the ire came out whenever Bonds took the field at Dodger Stadium.

Out of the other 29 ballparks in Major League Baseball, it was Dodger Stadium that jeered the loudest when Bonds was at the plate, shagged a fly ball in the outfield, or just showed his face.

Bonds was accused of using steroids when he broke the single season home run record. And he was tied to BALCO. He allegedly perjured himself in front of a grand jury.

Bonds-though never caught by baseball-in the public's eyes was a cheater. And when he came to Los Angeles, he was the biggest cheater. Bonds couldn't get away from it.

And now, with one of the biggest names in baseball set to return from a suspension for performance enhancing drugs, that same crowd that booed Barry Bonds, that would have undoubtedly booed Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens, will cheer and live vicariously through every swing of Manny Ramirez's bat.

That's hypocrisy at its finest. It may even top many politicians-save for maybe South Carolina governor Mark Sanford.

I sort of understand where it comes from. Barry Bonds was their cheater, and for Dodgers fans, Manny Ramirez is our cheater.

But that works for only so many character defects.

Athletes can be clowns and jerks. Athletes can be vain and have huge egos. Athletes can want to trade in their championship rings for huge contracts.

But one thing that an athlete cannot be is a cheater.

It goes against the principles of sport. To cheat is to shatter the spirit of the game.

This is the reason why I was so upset after learning about Ken Caminiti and Wally Joyner's steroids use.

It meant that the only MVP the Padres ever had was a fraud and a cheat. It meant that the 1996 and 1998 division titles, and the 1998 National League pennant will forever be tainted.

I will never look back on those teams in the mid-1990s and have the same joyous memories. No, all I can think of is how many times did Caminiti use before he played. How many of those home runs he hit were because of the juice?

And it is in this vein that Ramirez-and every other steroids user-should be shamed.

He cheated. Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod-they all cheated.

And for Dodgers fans to cheer Manny Ramirez when he returns, it not only screams hypocrisy-but it also shows the true character of those fans, and it isn't a good one.