Don't worry, Plaschke; we Giants fans will happily take up the booing slack.

Ah, Plaschke. Nine paragraphs, nine sentences. I'm sure he puts a whole graf together somewhere, but I'm not RTFA.

Line-drive home run over the left-field fence.

Standing ovation.

I give up.

Music.

To.

My.

Ears.

I think the disconnect comes from the fact that sportswriters really care about the personalities, what the players do off the field. The fans really don't care that much, especially when it comes to their home-town team. It has nothing to do with PEDs in particular - a player could be a serial killer, and if he helped the team win, he'd get cheers.

Nobody is buying Plaschke's nonsense. Just look at this:

Surely they would boo him because the driver was the Dodgers' roving strength coach, Mike Winkler.

This made Ramirez perhaps the only drug offender in baseball history whose employers gave him his own chauffeur during the suspension.

Or surely they would boo him because he was accompanied into the clubhouse by Rico Perdomo, a relative who was in the gym with Ramirez this winter.

Again, this made Ramirez perhaps the only drug offender in baseball history allowed to bring previous workout buddies into the clubhouse and dugout with him during his suspension.

What? No, this simply makes no sense. ManRam's punishment is he doesn't get paid for 50 games. The Dodgers' punishment is that ManRam doesn't play for them for 50 games. That's a huge punishment!

What would make him happy? House arrest? I think the ideal situation for this writer would be that every day, ManRam shows up at the ballpark, and a security guard says "Sorry man, can't let you in," and then he hangs his head and stands outside the ballpark trying to get someone to let him in, and no one does. And this same thing happens for 50 straight games because really, should the player know how long his suspension is going to last, allowing him to plan a vacation or something? No!

If ManRam was sentenced to two weeks in the pillory, Plaschke would be saying "For 35 out of 50 games during his so-called 'suspension', Ramirez suffered no public embarrassment or physical anguish at all!"

This is among the most emo sports columns I've ever read. Plaschke pretty much is writing: "I tired to make people get upset about Manny. But nobody cared what I said. Nobody understood my noble cause. :( "

This article makes me kinda feel sorry for the guy. But then I disagree with his cause completely and know I'd be right there cheering Manny if only I was at the game.

Plaschke is also taking Clomid. But that's because he hopes to start ovulating and have Manny's children out of wedlock.

[7] Are you suggesting that he secretly admires Ramirez even though he writes articles ripping on him?

It's just a show. Secretly, Plaschke would hand wash Manny's towels in freezing cold water.

What happened to Plaschke not gracing this story with his presence?

Shut the #### up, Plaschke.

Shut the #### up, Plaschke.

This should really be someone's BTF handle.

Surely, somebody will hold him accountable for a 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s drug policy?

Excuse me, but isn't the fact that he WAS suspended for 50 major league games accountability enough?

I'm of the opinion that the majority of fans don't care. He got caught, he will have done the time, and when he comes back it will be as it was before. The only people who really care are a small minority of fans and a lot of writers who still believe in professional-baseball-player-as-role-model-for-youth, which if it was ever true stopped being true the minute that most players started getting paid - and started acting - like movie stars instead of regular guys.

-- MWE

EDIT: And yes, I know this is a Plaschke article.

Line-drive home run over the left-field fence.

Standing ovation.

I give up.

Gee, Bill. I wonder why. How 'bout them Trojans?

I'm of the opinion that the majority of fans don't care.

Having the best record in baseball, and an 8 game lead in their division, might have something to do with the level of complacency and acceptance. If the team had tanked upon Manny's departure, they might be a bit resentful.

Then again, they might also be just that much anxious for his return.

But on the whole, you've got to think that a large part of it is just that it really fun right now to be a Dodger fan.

I'm of the opinion that the majority of fans don't care

when it's their guy. When it's not their guy, your hear boos and taunting chants such as "You do steroids", like the Red Sox fans gave to Alex Rodriguez in his first game at their park this year.

It's no different than the lowest, must unthinking level of partisan politics. My team can do no wrong; your team sucks.

It's no different than the lowest, must unthinking level of partisan politics. My team can do no wrong; your team sucks.

That merely serves to drive home the point that most fans simply don't care about steroids. It's not a special thing, just another thing.

Mike Lupica's wisdom on the pending departure of Don Fehr:

More than anything, the true and lasting legacy for Donald Fehr, outgoing head of the Major League Baseball Players Association, is this:

He was more interested in protecting the rights of the guilty when it came to drugs in baseball than he was in protecting the rights of the innocent.

That doesn't make him a great union leader, it makes him negligent.

It's no different than the lowest, must unthinking level of partisan politics. My team can do no wrong; your team sucks.

Exactly.

It has nothing to do with steroids. Steroids is just an excuse to boo players on other people's teams if they did them.

That doesn't make him a great union leader, it makes him negligent.

So we can't count on you showing up during the pre-game this year, Mike?

I was here to find a Dodgers fan brave enough to boo him.

Surely it would happen, right?

Manny Ramirez with the Dodgers:

80 G, 23 HR, 73 RBI, .380/.490/.710

Yeah, they're gonna boo...

You'd think this idiocy would have ended when San Diego fans cheered Barry Bonds' 755th.

But for these poor, poor baseball writers, so fully converted to their belated, self-serving indignation, a quote from "Citizen Kane" says it all:

"You're the greatest fool I've ever known, Kane. If it was anybody else, I'd say what's going to happen to you would be a lesson to you. Only you're going to need more than one lesson. And you're going to get more than one lesson."

JP finally dipped before a .800 OPS for the season. He can't leave the lineup fast enough.

when it's their guy. When it's not their guy, your hear boos and taunting chants such as "You do steroids", like the Red Sox fans gave to Alex Rodriguez in his first game at their park this year.

It's no different than the lowest, must unthinking level of partisan politics. My team can do no wrong; your team sucks.

This may be true for some fans whose devotion allows the level of cognitive gymnastics required for true partisan hypocrisy. Speaking as a Red Sox fan, I just like to boo Yankees. I would chant things at ARod because it's part of the fun of the game. And when David Ortiz is found with HGH-laden eyedrops, it'll be my turn in the barrel.

Sometimes sport really is just entertainment.