By Amelia Rayno

“His grandmother must have died again”.

President Bush ripped on Manny yesterday in his absence at the White House. It was one of the many witty/ somewhat uncomfortable comments offered by the President while addressing “Red Sock Nation” (We’ve lost our other sock, I guess).

This morning, sports radio proceeded to attack the subject from the viewpoint that it was Manny’s right to choose not to go, and that just because we think he should have gone, doesn’t mean we can speculate as to his “duty”. Maybe Manny doesn’t agree with some of the things that Bush is doing. Maybe Manny doesn’t support some faction of our government. Maybe he wanted to stay home and chat on MySpace. The point is, they claimed, it was his right as an American citizen to choose whether or not he wanted to attend, and that we could not criticize him, no matter the reason.

Well I have a problem with that. A couple, actually.

1) First, as a fan, it is my job to critique athletes. How else can I be involved, really, other than to speculate? In fact, the entire life span of a fan consists of nothing more than a series of critiques, over-analysis, and speculation. Beckett’s going to win 20 again this year. Speculation. Schilling should shut up about how he feels about the Sox rehab plan for him or retire if he knows he can’t pitch. Critique. Buchholz could have an incredible season this year but only if he ignores all of the massive hype surrounding his rookie season, sustains the ability to mix in his secondary pitches effectively, continues to work hard and doesn’t relax too much after his initial success and maintains consistency better than he has been able to in the past. Over-analysis. See what I mean? It’s what we do. If it wasn’t for our obsessive involvement and concern, there wouldn’t be any tickets sold and these guys would all be out of a job. So, no, I won’t apologize for that.

2) If you want to talk about rights, if it’s Manny’s right to decline the noble invitation, then it’s my freedom of speech right to gripe about what a self-pretentious brat he is to do so. They go hand in hand. If we’re going to label this Manny Exercising His American Rights, then we can label my rebuttal Sportsmeels Exercising Her Right To Say ‘You Bum’.

3) Lastly…as improbable as the idea of Manny submitting a profound political statement, and without regard to what his actual political stance is, that this issue was much less about patriotism, and more about respect. Did he have the right not to go? Sure. Was he required to go? Of course not. But there are a lot of things that are not explicitly required of Major League players and sports icons that we, as the public, nevertheless expect. Case in point, at the start of a ball game, they play the national anthem. At that point, everyone stops and they take off their hat. Now, many of these guys were not American-born. Do they all agree with the way America is being run right now? Maybe not…in fact I’d say, most likely at least some of them disagree strongly. But they take off their hat anyway, and we expect them to. Not because we don’t acknowledge their individual position, but because it’s not about a personal political statement. It’s about respect. They are playing in this country, this is the standing tradition, and so they take off their hat.

Similarly, the Sox were extended an invitation to attend the White House yesterday, something that is considered quite an honor in this country, and something that has become somewhat of a tradition since 2001. Regardless of whether Manny disagreed with Bush’s policies or if he just really wanted the day off, he should have attended—it was disrespectful not to. And as a fan full of critique, speculation and over-analysis, I believe it is my right to say that.