CSN Plans “Manny being Manny” Special for Christmas Night

From Comcast SportsNet:

COMCAST SPORTSNET PREMIERES MANNY BEING MANNY:

THE FINAL DAYS IN BOSTON ON CHRISTMAS NIGHT

Half Hour Special Recaps Ramirez’s Roller Coaster Career in Boston

BURLINGTON, MA – “Manny Being Manny” has been branded in the lexicon of Boston sports for all time, and Comcast SportsNet analyzes Manny Ramirez’s record-setting, charismatic, and sometimes controversial Red Sox career, and his departure from Boston, in a 30-minute documentary special premiering on Christmas night at 8 p.m., immediately following the Celtics-Lakers Post Game Live.

Comcast SportsNet examines the triumphs and turmoil of Manny’s time with the Sox and the key moments in his last season as a member of the Old Towne Team. The Manny Being Manny special:

• Analyzes Ramirez’s Red Sox legacy, his bond with fans who continually forgave his transgressions, his off-season preparation for the 2008 season, and his hiring of super agent Scott Boras.
• Reviews the key moments that led up to his departure: the Youkilis dugout incident; the Jack McCormick clubhouse incident; Manny’s no-swing at bat in Yankee Stadium; and his mysterious July knee injury.
• Concludes with a perspective of Manny’s time in Boston, which featured two World Series titles, a World Series MVP, four trips to the postseason, and the most prosperous run for the Red Sox in a century.

Manny Being Manny features candid comments from noted Boston sports writers and personalities, including Dan Shaughnessy (Boston Globe), Steve Buckley (Boston Herald), Sean McAdam (Boston Herald), Gerry Callahan (WEEI), and Rob Bradford (WEEI.com):

McAdam on Manny’s legacy…

“In addition to all the craziness and the antics and the anecdotes that took place in those seven and a half seasons, I think his legacy ultimately is the great numbers that he put up, and that he will be remembered as the Red Sox’s greatest right-handed hitter anyway.”

Buckley on what Manny Being Manny means…

“That whole Manny being Manny thing actually had some teeth to it in a sense that when Manny did something, most players would simply say that’s Manny being Manny.”

Bradford on the hiring of Scott Boras…

“What you have to remember is why players go with Scott Boras. There are two reasons – No 1 obviously is he gets the money, but the other thing is he takes the bullet.”

Callahan on Manny vs. Youkilis…

“I don’t care what Youkilis said, (Manny) is a grown man – he smacks another teammate and people defend him. That was the day that I decided he could do anything.”

Shaughnessy on the McCormick incident

“The Sox, I thought, were embarrassingly not active in that thing. They didn’t publicly sanction him. They didn’t suspend him, which they should have done. It was one more moment of enabling and letting this guy do whatever he wants to do.”

Shaughnessy on the Yankee Stadium at bat…

“In retrospect, now, it looks like part of the plan to get out of here. It’s taken on a more sinister look to me. I do think he was up there having a day off and just sticking it to them.”

Manny Being Manny premiers on Christmas night immediately after Celtics Post Game Live at 8 p.m. and will rerun exclusively on Comcast SportsNet throughout the off season and Spring Training. The schedule includes telecasts on:

December

Thu, 12/25 8 & 10:30 p.m.
Fri, 12/ 26 9 p.m.
Tue, 12/30 7:30 p.m.
Wed, 12/ 31 7 p.m.

January

Thu, 1/1 8 & 10:30 p.m.
Fri, 1/2 5:30 p.m.
Sun, 1/4 9 p.m.

Hopefully I’ll be getting a chance to see this before it airs, but at this point it seems to me too early for a retrospective of this sort on Ramirez. The emotions are still raw, his exit overshadows all the wonderful things he did at the plate in his time here.

Having Callahan and Shaughnessy on the program ensures that there will be plenty of bile and that this will be no puff piece on the talents of Ramirez. The quote from McAdam above is what I believe the perspective on Manny will be 10 years from now, and is the correct one.