It is unreal to see the opinions about Josh now as opposed to those that were bandied about during his superhuman run not long ago. Remember, it would take at least 26 million per year for the team that would sign him. The praise coming from the blogs was outlandish.

And now the shit people are piling on Josh is just epic. A wildly unbelievable shit show of Josh loathing has commenced.

What is being a fan about? Does it mean riding high with a guy when hes hot and shitting on him when hes not? Does it mean rooting for your team or denigrating it when you are not happy with results? Does it mean actually valuing your team's players as human beings or seeing them simply as a means to an end for your viewing pleasure?

There is a tendency in human nature, especially when someone has been held up on a pedestal, to judge them when they are down, to identify their weaknesses as that which defines them.

It is fucked up, and I don't think there is any place it is more apparent than in the way fans respond to sports. In other areas of life you control yourself. After all, you have to love your family members even though they are weak, and you wouldn't have any friends if you sold each one down the river when they did something you didn't like.

Anyways, I guess all this is to say that, while I fall into these same things at times, I value Josh as a person even when hes not producing. I'm not going to condescend and treat him like some kind of subhuman person of pathetic intelligence. I'm not going to sell him down the river because hes not giving me what I want. Its time we remember why Josh is a person of worth, and of value.

He's a guy who pulled himself out of a pit of despair that it would have been a whole hell of a lot easier to perish in.

He's a guy who is by all accounts humble, which is not something we see a lot of.

He's a guy who is kind to others, and always makes an attempt to make people feel welcome.

He's a guy who is a Christian, someone who puts God before themselves.

He's a guy who has played through a lot of pain for the good of his teammates and so that the Rangers might succeed.

He's a guy with a gift from God for playing baseball that is just astounding. The things he has done with the bat are just unreal.

He's a guy that struggles sometimes, like everyone.

I don't understand why many think they can shit on him just because he once struggled with addiction.

Think about this for a change. If you had been in the situation that Josh was in would you have been able to get out of it, would you have been able to leave behind the addictions and flourish?

Josh has done some great things and he deserves respect, a lot more than many have been willing to give him as of late.

If you were in Josh's shoes how thrilled would you be about coming out of your slump when the same fans you would be entertaining are the ones that sold you down the river when you were slumping.

I always thought that Rangers fans were more noble than those in a place like New York, but now I am beginning to question that. Perhaps the Yankee fans are so pathetic simply because they are spoiled, and we are beginning to see the same result here in Texas. The more spoiled Texas fans get the more pathetic they get. The more success their team gives them the more they want success without giving the team the kind of support they used to give.

I sense a turn in the fan base in Texas. Some might call it high expectations, but I just call it pathetic.

As for me I have every confidence in Josh that he will come out of it. Why? Because hes seen a lot worse, and hes not going to let the haters and the naysayers get the best of him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovJyv_zseUc

Your post is well-taken, but I'm not sure anyone is attacking him on the things you mentioned. Mainly, people just want to see more plate discipline - not a far-fetched request of any baseball player.

can i get some cliff notes? long read.

I'm not sure anyone on here has ever had any issues with his addiction. We know it's part of the deal relapses happen move on.
What I think everyone on here is worried about is his streaky-ness, his in ability to stop swinging wildly at pitches 4 foot off the plate. also although he has been (knock on wood) healthy this yr it's the first since he got here that he hasn't spend a month on the DL.
Hey if Hammy was asking for 10 mill a yr you wouldn't find a sole on here that wouldn't resign him tomorrow! But he is going to want a 7 yr 25 mill a yr deal and that is fine but if you want that kind of money you gota EARN IT!! and hitting below the mendoza line for 6 weeks aint gona getting it.

YAAAAAAAAAAAWN.........

Chaboi,

I think it is clear that people treat Hamilton differently because of his addiction history. People are very disrespectful towards him, and say stupid shit about him like he is not intelligent and stuff like that. Sometimes I am just made sick by the way people talk about Hamilton and his past. I think if you pay attention you will see that people do treat him differently. No one does it EXPLICITLY, but if you pay attention you will see that there is plenty of subtle stuff out there along these lines.

Force field.

“What is being a fan about? Does it mean riding high with a guy when he’s hot and shitting on him when he’s not? Does it mean rooting for your team or denigrating it when you are not happy with results? Does it mean actually valuing your team's players as human beings or seeing them simply as a means to an end for your viewing pleasure?”

Well, let’s see here…the term fan is short for fanatic…what does Webster’s dictionary have to say regarding the definition of a fanatic…ah, here it is:

“A person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal”.

Interesting. Well, that probably answers all of those questions you had there.

“There is a tendency in human nature, especially when someone has been held up on a pedestal, to judge them when they are down, to identify their weaknesses as that which defines them.”

Yes, yes, I totally agree with you! It’s just like poor Joe Paterno up there in Happy Valley. I mean at one time he was considered the epitome of all that was good in college sports and now everyone is just totally piling on him! I mean, what’s up with that? Wait, what’s that? JoePa knowingly conspired to allow a child predator to roam freely within his program for at least 15 years? Ouch.

“Josh has done some great things and he deserves respect, a lot more than many have been willing to give him as of late.”

You should really Google “josh Hamilton drunk” sometime and peruse the photographs of Josh getting hammered and taking body shots off of various women in Surprise Arizona a few years back. Also, I seem to recall some incident at Sherlock’s from earlier this year where he got smashed and porked some skank in the bathroom?

“He's a guy who is kind to others, and always makes an attempt to make people feel welcome”.

Apparently, this is certainly true. Especially the body shot lady, the lady he’s dry humping in one of the other photos from Surprise and especially the lady he plowed in the bathroom at Sherlock’s. I think they’d all agree that Josh was quite adept at making them feel “welcome”…

“He's a guy who is a Christian, someone who puts God before themselves.”

Too bad he can’t seem to take his Christian marriage vows seriously enough to put his wife and kids before random ho-bags. I hope he knocks that crap off before his kids get too much older and develop a better understanding of their father’s behavior…

The point is, yes, after people have been publicly “held up on a pedestal”, we do have a tendency to hammer them more for their mistakes than we otherwise might. That’s just human nature, as there is a bit of a sense of betrayal there; in that this person who was supposed to be so great and such a wonderful role model for how you should live, etc., etc.…And when it turns out that your own moral fiber is actually substantially stronger than he who was “held up on said pedestal”…then, yeah, it kind of pisses you off and you lose some respect for the one who was “held up on a pedestal”.

Lots of shitting.....a shit show if you will.

As far as actual baseball is concerned, I really don’t give two shits what JH does in hi free time – just don’t like that he has this image perpetuated of being this wonderfully great Christian dude, when that reputation has not been earned…

And Joe C. and Chaboi have it right above. We are critical because it is somewhere beyond asinine for someone of his talent level to hack away at balls two foot off the plate and in the dirt…

I think people deduce that Josh is--to use ElvisMVP's words--outside the bell curve of intelligence due to listening to him speak. At least that's how it is on my end.

Agree with Caleb, Joe C., and chaboi above, that the criticism is not about his intelligence, addition issues, or image. I think most of us criticize him because of the prolonged lack of plate discipline he has shown the past 2 months. You would think a professional baseball player, especially one with his talent and skills, would be able to make adjustments. He seems to have shown very little in the way of adjusting, consistently swinging...rather, flailing...at pitches nowhere near the strike zone.

See Ball, Hit Ball, Run

I'll say it explicitly; Josh is not the brightest crayon in the box.

Have you ever listened to a non-scripted interview with him? He can't structure his thoughts and usually gives answers to questions that weren't asked. Being intelligent and being an athlete are not mutually dependent but it certainly helps.

And I feel that if you asked Hamilton he would very likely tell you that his coke addiction has detracted from his mental facilities.

Josh is a lightning rod, a man of extremes. Almost everything about him is either great or terrible. There's rarely an in-between. That's just how it is.

Joe, sometimes those that love you the most can be the ones to hurt you the most. In some circles they call it an "intervention". What you aren't hearing from most of us is the anguish in our hearts created by watching someone who has more talent in his left pinky than all of us put together, fail to make what appears to be any effort to change his approach.

I will say, however, that I think the whole "tossing the bat" thing has caused his focus to turn in another direction. Maybe he should forego the spray glue and revert back to the way he has handled a bat for all of his life previously? Maybe it is a situation where the cure is killing the patient? The people in the stands know he can lose the bat, they are forewarned about this. I say it is time for him to stop the glue, get back to his old ways, and see if he starts rocking the house again.

Wow, Joe, that was quite the lengthy post devoted to Josh and his struggles and I commend you for your spirit, enthusiasm and genuine concern for our mercurial slugger.
But as others have pointed out, don't read something into our criticisms that simply isn't there.
Josh Hamilton may be the most talented baseball player on the planet and as such, can perform miraculous things. He made hitting four homers in the same game seem as easy as falling out of bed for the rest of us.
He's shown he can put this Texas Rangers team on his back and carry them to the finish line of the regular season and into the playoffs.
Which is precisely why it is maddening to the point of screaming at the television when he swings at pitches his bat couldn't reach even if he were in the other batter's box. Or failing to realize that, since pitchers stopping throwing strikes to him weeks ago, he would help the team enormously by taking a walk every now and then and allowing Adrian Beltre a shot. Or perhaps using his above-average speed to steal a base.
Only those with simple minds would dare dump on Josh because of his struggles with addiction. Or his IQ level or his image. It isn't about any of those things.
It's simply a matter of wanting him to revert to the player he was the first two months of the season. That player would probably be hitting .380 now and have close to 40 HRs and well over 100 RBI.
If that player showed up again, he would make opposing pitchers quiver.

@Adam
+1

So who exactly needs the reality check - the OP, Josh Hamilton or Ranger fans?

First, the primary reason a lot of us fear extending Josh is Vladdy G and the Aging Curve.

Second, I think a big part of it is Ranger fans mentally detatching themselves fro Josh (who is leaving) without even knowing it.

Didn't CJ seem like a bigger doucher around this time last season?

Finally, is OP Joe the same Joe who threw a fit around Feb 2011 over the MY trade demand? Something along the lines of "this shitty team is a steaming pile of shit that fails to see the HUMAN side of the game and treats is players not like people but like shit because of this shitty piece of shit GM JD."

There are a lot of common elements here.

He ( JH) is making $12 million this season. That can assuage a lot of hurt feelings on his end. But if the Rangers don't make the post season, then my season ticket option expires worthless. I think I am entitled to file a few criticisms his way when he is not performing. In the final analysis, would any of these guys be what they are and make the money they do if not for fans like those that post on this site?

LOL, I don't even...

Rangers fans have no right to be spoiled. This team has won NOTHING, so that contention is, well....

shit.

If the Rangers traded Josh Hamilton prior to 7/31, what could they receive in return ?

Scooby writes, "I think a big part of it is Ranger fans mentally detatching themselves from Josh (who is leaving) without even knowing it."

I agree 100%. And I anticipate the fan base pulling back on Elvis and Nellie by the middle of next season. If one or both don't get traded off before then.

Some of it I understand, but the boatloads of hatred and vitriol make me a little sick. I pretty much agree with the original poster. It's classless.

We talk about selfish athletes. We've got just a big an issue with selfish fans.

Hey Joe, is your last name Morgan? Because thats how I'm going to attack that post.

There is a tendency in human nature, especially when someone has been held up on a pedestal, to judge them when they are down, to identify their weaknesses as that which defines them.

His ability to play baseball does define him as a baseball player. Sorry.

Anyways, I guess all this is to say that, while I fall into these same things at times, I value Josh as a person even when hes not producing.

And the other 99.99% DON'T watch the Rangers to see nice personalities, but rather to see them win.

He's a guy who pulled himself out of a pit of despair that it would have been a whole hell of a lot easier to perish in.

I don't care, I just want him to hit a baseball. That has not been happening lately.

He's a guy who is by all accounts humble, which is not something we see a lot of.

Which is nice, but not as nice as hitting baseballs.

He's a guy who is kind to others, and always makes an attempt to make people feel welcome.

That has nothing to do with hitting baseballs, which, as I mentioned above, is priority #1.

He's a guy who is a Christian, someone who puts God before themselves.

I don't care what he thinks. I don't care how old he thinks the Earth is, how humans came to be, or why Chinese people came to a different conclusion. I don't care when he thinks T-Rex lived in America or how he got there. I don't care if he thinks that ancient Egyptians ommitted the death of thousands including their king from history because they were embarrased. I don't even care if he thinks that the Romans had a giant census that required people to travel to the former home of an ancient ancestor.

What I do care about is whether or not he can hit the damn ball. And there have been too many nights like tonight that this has not been happening.

He's a guy that struggles sometimes, like everyone

And he has been struggling to much lately.

I don't understand why many think they can shit on him just because he once struggled with addiction.

I see plenty of people shitting on him because he can't hit a baseball right now. Not many people shitting on him because he did drugs.

Think about this for a change. If you had been in the situation that Josh was in would you have been able to get out of it, would you have been able to leave behind the addictions and flourish?

Would I have been able to beat addiction? Maybe. Would I have been able to beat addiction and not hit major league pitching? Equally likely.

Josh has done some great things and he deserves respect, a lot more than many have been willing to give him as of late.

So praising him when he does good and bashing him when he does bad is not the right thing to do? And you seem to make it pretty evident that you think that we should, instead, praise him when he does good and ignore when he does bad. Okay buddy.

I always thought that Rangers fans were more noble than those in a place like New York, but now I am beginning to question that. Perhaps the Yankee fans are so pathetic simply because they are spoiled, and we are beginning to see the same result here in Texas. The more spoiled Texas fans get the more pathetic they get. The more success their team gives them the more they want success without giving the team the kind of support they used to give.

Because if we were REALLY supportive, we wouldn't give a crap if the players did well or not. Like Joe.

Joe, I'm sorry, but I think you are out of touch. We are not the ones that are treating Hamilton differently because of his addiction problems. We are judging him just like we would judge ANY Rangers player that underperformed as bad as he has for as long as he has (see: Michael Young). YOU are the one treating Josh Hamilton differently for his past addiction and his faith. You are irrationally ignoring everything wrong with his game right now, and you are DEMANDING that other people just ignore it too. Why aren't you on here defeding Scott Feldman from the haters? Or Roy Oswalt? Or Michael Young? Or Yoshi Tateyama? We bash all of those guys too, but you don't go out of your way to make outrageous claims and giant posts about why people hate them.

Caleb,

You have done a good job pointing out the faults of others here. Being a sinner doesn't make a person not Christian, it makes them Christian.

Christ said it himself "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." I know all about the incidents you have mentioned (although you have added plenty of your own fiction), but in general I see that Josh has entrusted himself to Christ, and he has progressed a great deal from a place of total despair.

Based on the hypocrisy you have exhibited here my advice to you is to worry about your own sins and not Josh's. I will pray for your conversion. Additionally, if you want to respond that is great but I will not say anything further to you as I see that dialogue with you would be a fool's errand.

"Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity--greedy, dishonest, adulterous--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income." But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.' I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."