What am I missing on Josh Hamilton?

[ogarza]

Yes, but beer is staring you in the face everywhere like the store and fridge. You are either hanging with the wrong crowd or you have to go searching for crack. Unless of course he was drug raped and forced to do it. We also watch our parents and many others drink a beer and have no problems with it. Do you see that with crack?

I drink beer bout 4 days a week maybe im an addict, im not arguing that, but pain killers are at stores and in people's homes as well...it is a choice people make to start, as to how they become addicted i have no idea...if its out of thier control i wouldnt understand that either, since ive never been affecting...it was truly an unfortunate story that Hamilton chose that road, i wouldnt say sad cause he made that decision, but for him to come back from it is a nice lil story...just as if Len Bias would have survived his overdose, but decided to keep doing it and 6 years later he overcame it and became the ALLSTAR he was always scouted to be...that would have been a nice story...would it make him a HERO, well that depends to each his own...not to me nor is Hamilton a HERO to me...but you cant tell someone who his or her HERO is they decide that all on their own...ur HERO is basically your opinion of someone u admire...Mine are my parents for going through so much to give me a better life...but like i said to each his own...

[GrandPa]

The legality of an addiction is largely immaterial and irrelevant.

Hell, this chat forum is strictly above-board legal and Lord knows I am addicted to it. Probably decreases my functionality and productivity as much as any illegal vice I have.

[harold_bush]

Actually if he is talking about underage drinking and/or drinking and driving it is a very good analogy with a ton of relevance. How many of us in this thread have driven after having to much to drink? I would guess the very large majority. We don't set out to do that at the beginning of the night.

and if you go out, drink and drive, and kill someone...............but you get out of jail and stop drinking, and then go on to hit 28 HRs in the HR derby, you still aren't a hero. You still killed somebody!

[kim61299]

I agree - see my above post. But arguing against alcohol not being addictive because it is legal is completely invalid. Which was my point.

[wayne1218]

I drink beer bout 4 days a week maybe im an addict, im not arguing that, but pain killers are at stores and in people's homes as well...it is a choice people make to start, as to how they become addicted i have no idea...if its out of thier control i wouldnt understand that either, since ive never been affecting...it was truly an unfortunate story that Hamilton chose that road, i wouldnt say sad cause he made that decision, but for him to come back from it is a nice lil story...just as if Len Bias would have survived his overdose, but decided to keep doing it and 6 years later he overcame it and became the ALLSTAR he was always scouted to be...that would have been a nice story...would it make him a HERO, well that depends to each his own...not to me nor is Hamilton a HERO to me...but you cant tell someone who his or her HERO is they decide that all on their own...ur HERO is basically your opinion of someone u admire...Mine are my parents for going through so much to give me a better life...but like i said to each his own...

I understand but everyone growing up knew of somebody who was an alcoholic right? Well, for every alcoholic you knew, i bet you knew 20 others that could drink at any time without addiction or abuse. That's my point. With alcohol it is easy to see a false sense of i can do it 'cuz you see many who can. You can't say that about crack and 99.9% of people who 1st tried it know that going in and they STILL do it. P rescription drugs are done alot of times by people who were on them at one time or another or by someone who has done big drugs before. That is no excuse but once again, it is in most homes and drug stores. You don't need to search hard for it. When you choose to do crack for the 1st time, you are putting a gun to your head imo and there is no "Maybe i won't get addicted" like with beer. Josh is a great story, i really believe that but all he did was fix his own fuck up imo. It was GREAT that he could but hey, he isn't a hero to many, just the ones who made the same "mistakes" he did.

[wayne1218]

I agree - see my above post. But arguing against alcohol not being addictive because it is legal is completely invalid. Which was my point.

It is addictive. I'm talking about the initial thought of trying it at any age. It is very different than crack and if you don't know that going in, than you (The person who tries it) win the stupidity of the year award.

[kim61299]

Like I said before I don't have first hand knowledge of crack or meth. But I do with alcohol, pain killers, and weed. First time I tried any of those I had no thoughts in my mind that I could/would get addicted to them. (thankfully I never did) But I can see why people would feel the same way with other drugs. Like I said before there isn't a person on this thread that thought "Hey I am going to go have a Budweiser and try and get myself addicted to alcohol." We all made that decision and we more then likely all made that decision when a beer WAS illegal for us to drink.

[harold_bush]

Actually if he is talking about underage drinking and/or drinking and driving it is a very good analogy with a ton of relevance. How many of us in this thread have driven after having to much to drink? I would guess the very large majority. We don't set out to do that at the beginning of the night.

It is also still a horrible analogy b/c crack is so far removed from alcohol they don't compare. The vast majority of people that drink (underage or not) don't get addicted. I would argue that the majority of people that take crack do get addicted, b/c it is infinitely more addictive, and everyone knows how addictive it is.

[kim61299]

Well put Wayne. I understand your argument about the difference of a more addictive drug. I hadn't thought about it from that perspective, and it makes sense. (although I don't know anyone addicted to crack - so my knowledge would be strictly based to what I have read/heard about it)

[BigMike]

Please read post #76 in this thread...it is no different from alcoholism...someone who drinks with his buddies for the first time in high school or college...some become recreational drinkers and others alcoholics the outcome is unknown....

Are you serious???? You are comparing drinking a beer to shooting/snorting coke/crack/herion????? Wow what an ignorant statement.

[kim61299]

My only thought with the alcohol was:

Nobody goes out to drink and thinks "I want to become an alcoholic."

Just like I would guess that nobody tries crack thinking "I hope I get addicted to this stuff."

I agree it is a bad decision to try crack in the first place, and you should know better, and it is WAY more addicting then alcohol. But I can see how people could try it thinking they could "overcome" the addiction.

Heck we all love to gamble on this site. We probably all know a bunch of Gambling addicts that have ruined their lives or their families lives with gambling. I am sure when they placed their first wager they weren't thinking "I hope to get addicted and lose my house to foreclosure." Unfortunately these things happen. To me it isn't far fetched for someone to try crack and think "I won't get addicted."

[BigMike]

OJ hasn't killed anyone lately guess we can call him a "Hero"

[kim61299]

OJ hasn't killed anyone lately guess we can call him a "Hero"

Absolutely Hilarious!

[insidethe8thpol]

I wonder how much of a 'hero' ESPN would portray Hamilton if he was batting 220 with 2 Hr's and 18 rbi's??

[kim61299]

On the same note as OJ - what about Pete Rose??? He had a gambling addiction and has apparently kicked that habit. Make him a Hero!