valpotx bat signal...Hamilton: Dallas-FW not a true baseball town

[valpo04]

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/8959488/los-angeles-angels-josh-hamilton-says-dallas-forth-worth-not-true-baseball-town


SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Former Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton said the Dallas-Fort Worth area is not a true baseball town, in an interview with the DFW CBS television station on Sunday.

"There are true baseball fans in Texas, but it's not a true baseball town," said Hamilton, who while with the Rangers was booed during the AL wild-card loss to Baltimore at the end of last season.
Hamilton, who signed a five-year, $125 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels this offseason, said that Dallas has "always been a football town."

"They're supportive," Hamilton said about the fans, "but they also got a little spoiled at the same time pretty quickly."

[Kyle321n]

He's going to love LA. Idiot...

[valpotx]

I saw that earlier.  DFW is definitely both a football and baseball area, with the Mavs third (Stars a close 4th, FC Dallas a distant fifth).  We have a TON of top HS baseball players in DFW, in addition to the football talent.  We had 3.5 million fans come through last year, and the atmosphere is ridiculous.  The reason it was not so great several years ago, was the constant underperformance of the team, which would lead to less fans for ANY team. 

Hamilton had to have one of the worst turnarounds in fandom in recent memory.  He was absolutely loved by DFW over his first 4 1/2 years.  Over the last 1-2 months of the 2012 season, he quickly saw that disappear.  I go to many Rangers games, and I believe the boos started about game 130 or so.  He just didn't look like he cared on the field, whether it was striking out, or not getting to line drives.  He always gave interviews saying that he can't help the different ailments he would get, with the most ridiculous excuses being:

1) Drank too much caffeine, which led to his eyeballs shrinking up, no liquid in them
2) His blue eyes cause him to have trouble during normal daylight.  I have blue eyes as well, and this has never been an issue for me in baseball or life in general.
3) He was striking out more because he was being challenged by God in regards to his tobacco use.

We were behind him throughout all of his difficulties, even during some of the booing.  However, what really did it for the Metroplex was when he jogged after the ball after missing a very easy pop out during the last game of the season to determine the division winner, and then flailing like a wimp at 8 pitches in 4 ABs during the wild card, and saying, 'that is just the way it goes sometimes.'  Hardly anyone wanted him to come back after the last week he had, even with all of the positives he can bring when he is in sync. 

This interview he gave is just a further indication that he is a scumbag, as he was before his recent return.  He can hide behind his 'faith in God,' as much as he wants, but it is all a ploy for the media and $$.  He consistently has 'challenges,' and passes it off as God challenging him to be a better person, rather than take full responsibility as a man.  I have zero respect for him, and would have had a hard time rooting for him if he came back to the Rangers.  I predict that just about 100% of Rangers fans will boo him each AB he has at the Ballpark, even worse than when ARod comes to town.

Good riddance, and glad he is your problem LA.

[valpotx]

Excellent example of how clueless Hamilton is, and very true regarding our feelings.  I wanted to add that we can't be a baseball town if we routinely got 800-1,000 people at my HS baseball games growing up!  Yes, we got 10,000+ at football, but 1,000 for HS baseball is amazing:

http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/8952917/josh-hamilton-get-real-reason-fans-booed-him