Thursday, May 15, 2008

Ceai Complet - May 15, 2008

You've all seen the video by now (it's here, if you spent yesterday on another planet), but we still celebrate Manny Ramirez this morning, because he's a singularly exquisite embodiment of the Gheorgian way of life. There's not one other player in all of professional sports who would think for a moment to high-five a fan in the middle of a play. He's goofy as all get out, and surpassingly good at what he does. We're half-way there.

(h/t to The Gowanus Rotisserie Baseball Gazette for the screen caps.)

11 comments:

Mark said...

That was pretty fantastic. Even better was the shot where Manny had his teammates check out the replay in the dugout camera afterwards. Great guy, that Manny.

Dennis said...

Well, sorry to go against the grain here sir, but it was very cool right up until he brought all his boys over to the camera station in the dugout to show them on replay what he did. As if to say, "Hey guys, look at me. See how cool I am? Did you see that - look, I made a catch and then jumped and gave a high five to some guy in the stands. Did you see it, did you see it?? I'm so great. Look, there's my greatness right there on the screen. Look. Look!"

He thinks a little too highly of himself for my liking...

Dennis said...

That's funny...Mark sneaked his comment in there before I could finish mine. I guess this says something about how we see the world...

Mark said...

I didn't take it as Manny thinking to hihgly of himself. Just that his teammates would really get a kick out of it, which they did. Its that type of attitude that helps keep his teammates lose during the seemingly never ending baseball season.

Dennis said...

That's one way to interpret it.

mayhugh said...

I have to second Mark here. It was funny and deserved a second showing. Baseball is not my favorite sport by any stretch, but I've always imagined it would be great to be in the dugout during a meaningless May/June game and witness all the jacking around. This is a fine illustration of how I imagine the players' mentality should be this time of year.

Geoff said...

Its sad how black and dead inside Dennis is...

rob said...

mark is right. there is no other acceptable interpretation.

Dennis said...

Let's not confuse the high five with the dugout antics...the high five was absolutely brilliant, both athletically and in terms of comedy/entertainment. But, when you have to go into a big show and tell to make sure everyone knows about it, the originality and poignancy is sucked right out of the moment. A true Gheorghean would have let the act speak for itself on the podium of its own merit. And then, in his next at bat, hit a line drive right to that same fan with whom he just high-fived.

Instead, it becomes like when I tell one of my terrible jokes to my wife and then say, "See honey, when the Priest pees on the bar, it's funny because the Rabbi has no idea he just......I mean how funny is that?! Seriously, call your Mom and tell her how funny I am."

Whitney said...

I can see Dennis's point. It starts to lean a mite bit towards the contrived upon further review. Which goes against Rob's assessment of the guy.

rob said...

he looked positively giddy as he interacted with his teammates. i think he was as flabbergasted with his own absurdity as were his teammates and the fans. my internal voice hears him talking like chris farley, "awwwesommmme". i think he's completely guileless and unlikely to be self-promoting.