Thereโs no doubt that โRoberto Alomarโ and โAIDSโ will be among the most googled phrases on the internet today, as these outlandish and crazy rumors start flying now that the N.Y. Post has outed a story of an ex-lover who has made allegations galore about the former Oriole All Star and potential future Hall of Famer, Roberto Alomar. Among them, the $15 million suit by his ex-girlfriend Ilya Dall alleges that Alomar had AIDS and had unprotected sex with her after being raped by two Mexican men. (Like I said, itโs a racy one!)
There are links everywhere and no doubt this will be a bloggersโ paradise today on the world wide web. While you are reading about Alomar on the New York Post, be sure to click on the insert piece about Darryl Strawberryโs sex life, circa 1986 and a preview of his upcoming book, โStraw: Finding My Way.โ
Hereโs a sample paragraph: Strawberry writes the goal on the road was to โtear up your best bars and nightclubs and take your finest women . . . The only hard part for us was choosing which hottie to take back to your hotel room. Lots of times you . . . picked two or three.โ
Itโs been a nice start to the baseball season, huh?
Letโs not forget that the two biggest stories of today involve two players โ Miguel Tejada and Roberto Alomar โ who the Baltimore Orioles and Oriolesโ fans contributed millions of local dollars to their vast personal wealth. Itโs another dark chapter of the Oriolesโ dark recent history. And this is on the backside of the ARod saga, which no doubt will reach a crescendo at Camden Yards on Opening Day when 25,000 New York Yankees fans invade the stadium to see Baltimorean Mark Teixeiraโs first game as a pinstriper.
Sick isnโt it? But back to Alomar and Tejadaโฆ
Alomar was the most skilled player Iโve ever seen play the game, probably the most raw talent of this generation because of his five-tool abilities. I was a big fan of Roberto Alomar. And he was a champion in Toronto and a class act there. Here in Baltimore his reputation was sullied by the spitting incident involving John Hirshbeck, when owner Peter Angelos came to Alomarโs defense and was an outspoken supporter of his second baseman. It was the contribution of Alomarโs spitting fine to Davey Johnsonโs wifeโs charity that wound up creating friction between King Peter and then-manager Johnson in 1997. Angelos used it publicly as a justification for firing Johnson. (Or, ahem, was it a โforcedโ resignation?)
Tejada, who is expected to plead guilty today in federal court in Washington, D.C. to perjury and potentially could go to prison, was the next most-talented player the Orioles have had in this generation, another five-tool superstar with MVP-like numbers consistently. He signed the richest deal in franchise history in 2003. He also made a bunch of bizarre, childish mistakes during all of the steroid investigations with stories about vitamins and B-12 shots and his โno speakie Englishโ testamonies didnโt hold up. He was โ just like Alomar โ a wonderful player to watch play baseball. They were both a โreasonโ to go the ballpark. They were great, great, iconic baseball players who both get a Hall of Fame โyesโ from me if the ballot ever came my way, if weโre only counting what happened between the lines.
But two of the teamโs most productive players since the opening of Camden Yards have now been publicly indicted since the sun came up this morning, and Rafael Palmeiro and David Segui and Jason Grimsley and Albert Belle and Sidney Ponson arenโt even among the indicted.
Where have you gone Cal Ripken? And Brooks Robinson?
Like I said, this is what Orioles baseball has come to in 2009. Stories of the character of โheros of Birdlandโ coming out pretty filthy years later, after theyโve taken more than $100 million of local money out of town.
Not a low blow. Just a factโฆ
And reporting on these stories with facts like these above give the Orioles โjustificationโ to ban the free speech of the local media and eliminate access from legitimate media.
Just think about itโฆ
Baseball season is around the corner and weโre going to continue to write and speak the truth and the facts.