Damon's offseason regimen: drink beer

[yeszir]

http://story.theinsiders.com/a.z?s=228&p=2&c=248411

m sure that many baseball fans can relate to this unique training regimen, but it's not exactly the same as Nomar Garciaparra spending hours at the gym every day, is it? Then again, Nomar has spent part of the spring with his foot in a boot.

 

Johnny Damon may have been injured at the start of spring training, but unlike Nomar he'll at least be in the opening day lineup. Personally, I'm rooting for Damon to have a big season. In fact, I hope he has one of the best seasons ever, if only so that we might be able to call beer a "performance-enhancing drug" sometime in the future.

 

Think about it.

 

If Damon does well, then maybe more of us can get away with drinking beer when we really should be exercising. "Hey, it worked for Johnny Damon," we can say with a smile while reaching for that extra beer.

 

By now, you're all familiar with Johnny Damon's caveman look. Apparently, his neighbors are too. Here's Johnny explaining how he stayed in shape this off-season: "I live on a street where there's a 25 mph sign and the cops get you if you go anything over," Damon said. "I'd wait on the side of the street at night and when cars started coming, I'd race them to my house, so I know I can go at least 25. I think I scared the cars and they'd speed up a little more because they'd see a caveman running after them."

 

I'm guessing that Damon wasn't drinking beer while doing this, but you never know. When was the last time you raced against cars in the middle of the night? Alcohol, of course, has played a major role in the history of baseball.

 

Lately, I've been reading "The Summer of '49," David Halberstam's excellent account of the 1949 pennant race between the Red Sox and the Yankees, and I think I might have a hangover just from reading about all the drinking that was taking place back then.

 

For example, there was Red Sox ace Ellis Kinder who used to stay up all night drinking before the days he pitched as a way of "getting loose." Halberstam writes, "Normally, [Kinder] might have a few beers at night. But the night before a game he needed to stay out all night, drink hard, and find a woman."

 

Need, of course, is a relative term, but Kinder insisted that when he skipped this ritual he would get so nervous thinking about the game that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep. He won 23 games that year, so maybe he was onto something.

 

Meanwhile, here's the advice Yankee second baseman Jerry Coleman was given by his minor league manager: "During the season, drink two beers a day after a game, whether you like it or not. You need the fluid -- it'll keep you from losing weight, and it'll help you relax."

 

Now, that's what I call some sound nutritional advice. With today's emphasis on year-round exercise and all the talk about steroids, I wonder whether the great art of getting loaded and playing baseball the next day may be falling by the wayside.

 

Once David Wells retires, will there be anyone left to carry on the tradition? As for Johnny Damon, I don't really know if he parties too much. Then again, he hasn't exactly done the best job of defending himself.

 

Here's Damon on rumors that his partying got out of control last year: "Never one time last year was I incapacitated where I was so drunk that I didn't know what was going on."

 

Well, that's comforting. All I can say is: Thank goodness some of the players still talk to the media.

 

Johnny, it's time to win an MVP. Let's show those fitness freaks in the game what a real man can do. Johnny, let's win one for the beer drinkers

 

I thought it was a pretty amusing story.

[Gosawks]

This is funny. I really dont know why this is the Sox forum.johnny Damon has been gone for a good 3 seasons now.

[Jacoby_Ellsbury]

Check the date.

[Gosawks]

LOL.. I press the wrong thing and it lead me to this thread. Sorry bout that.

[SoxSport]

When was the last time Damon played CF? That's what he was signed for. The Sox were never going to pay him $13 mil to play LF. But in NY, the batboy gets that kind of money--almost.

[jacksonianmarch]

aside from the fact that he's one of the better LFers in the game right now. So, I'll take it. He has more than earned his money

[Dipre]

aside from the fact that he's one of the better LFers in the game right now. So' date=' I'll take it. He has more than earned his money[/quote']

 

Wow.

[Dojji]

I kind of agree with Jacko. He's not the dynamic CF he was paid to be, but Matsui's inability to play the field made room for him and let him still be a good piece for NYY.

 

Jacko's overselling it of course, but Damon is still a net asset for NYY.

[Dipre]

I kind of agree with Jacko. He's not the dynamic CF he was paid to be, but Matsui's inability to play the field made room for him and let him still be a good piece for NYY.

 

Jacko's overselling it of course, but Damon is still a net asset for NYY.

 

Then you don't agree with him.Grow a pair.

 

He's a nice complimentary piece, not "one of the best LFers in the game".

 

And don't even try justifying numbers, the man's OPS is under .800 on the road, this year is a product of Coors East

[SoxSport]

Kinder, by the way, always pitched better with a hangover. A great starting pitcher, and later one of the first great closers. He never forgave Joe McCarthy for taking him out of a game in Yankee stadium that decided the Pennant. Think it was '49. He was a great competitor. His number should be retired.

 

In contrast to Kinder, McCarthy did not manage well with a hangover--which was most of the time.

[Gosawks]

Im sorry that I ever bumped this.

[RWTP24]

aside from the fact that he's one of the better LFers in the game right now. So' date=' I'll take it. He has more than earned his money[/quote']

 

You have to be kidding me??? He is a good hitter, that is it! My mom could throw a ball to home harder then he can. He needs about three cut off men just to reach the infield.

[WhiskeyBreath]

You have to be kidding me??? He is a good hitter' date=' that is it! My mom could throw a ball to home harder then he can. He needs about three cut off men just to reach the infield.[/quote']

 

So, your mom is good at throwing balls around?

[RWTP24]

So' date=' your mom is good at throwing balls around?[/quote']

 

Don't be stupid!

[yeszir]

I'm gonna lock this. Please don't resurrect threads from over 5 and a half years ago