Oddballs Being Oddballs

The names of Stephen Ireland and Manny Ramirez have barely been out of the sports headlines - albeit at different sides of the Atlantic - over the past few months. Ireland is the vastly talented young midfield player with Manchester City and once with the Republic of Ireland, until he inexplicably retired from international competition without an explanation at the age of 20. Ramirez is the Hall of Fame bound slugger who brought the World Series back to Boston after a gap of 86 years in 2004 (and again for good measure in 2007), but whose eccentric and selfish behaviour led to a high profile trade to Los Angeles in July - where he did nothing but get hit after hit after hit and lead the Dodgers into baseball's playoffs.

Both of these players have been guilty of brattish behaviour in the past and present, and both are gifted sportsmen. At the same time, there is a case to be made that both have been misunderstood (to an extent) by both fans and media alike. They have been at times erratic, playful, vexing, and self-serving in their behaviour. But above all, both are enigmatic characters, capable of wonderful play one minute, then shocking carelessless the next, but unlike other sportsmen, they have betrayed a hint of something odd going on inside their heads. In short, both march to the beat of their own drums. And both have killed off their grandmothers to get out of different engagements. Lets compare and contrast for a moment, as it appears that madness in sportsmen has very particular traits.

Killed a Grandparent?

Stephen Ireland is most famous for pulling out of an Ireland squad in the aftermath of a game in Slovakia (but ahead of a crucial game in the Czech Republic), citing the death of his grandmother, when his girlfriend had, apparently, suffered a miscarraige.

"I realise now that it was a massive mistake on my part to tell the FAI and Manchester City that my grandmothers had died and I deeply regret it."

What has muddied the waters since this is that Ireland has yet to make himself available for selection at international level again. This issue has been, understandably, picked up with by the Irish media, especially in light of Ireland's starring performances for Manchester City this season. To date, the player has not addressed the issue directly.

Manny Ramirez was infamous in Boston for calling in sick whenever the mood took him. This became especially apparent this summer, when Ramirez held himself out of the Red Sox lineup despite the club physio having reported no physical issues with the Dominican. These issues had bubbled under throughout Manny's tenure in Boston, but breaking point had been just about avoided each time, despite industry rumours hinting at Boston's desire to trade him. Amongst Red Sox faithful, and the media at large, the whole routine was just dismissed as 'Manny being Manny'. This euphemism was routinely trotted out to explain away Ramirez's eccentricities.

To return to the main point, probably the most famous example of this widespread knowledge of Ramirez's loafing occcured only last February, when the World Series champion Red Sox made the traditional trip to be received at the White House. Ramirez did not attend. Possibly referring to an incident the previous year where Manny claimed to be tending to his sick mother but was actually spotted at a vintage car auction, or possibly referring to the litany of excuses Manny had come up with in his time, President Bush made the remark that: "I guess his Grandmother died again." When the President of the United States is making jokes like this at your expense, well, the secret is well and truly out.

Issues with your hair?

Stephen Ireland is still only 22 years old. He has been noticably balding for as long as he has been in the public eye - around three years. There is no shame in that, and it is something which happens to many young men like Ireland, and ultimately, will happen to all of us (I mean, just look what happened to Britney). However, Ireland seems to be more sensitive about this than most. So much so, in fact, that last year he showed up with what looked suspiciously like a weave atop his head. Yes, Ireland joined Borislav Mikhailov amongst the ranks of footballers wearing wigs. Unfortunately, Ireland, being something of an extrovert, chose to get a none too subtle rug, as these pictures surely demonstrate.

This quickly became the talk of football fans across the country, and all around the internet. Obviously, his team-mates took notice too. A rumour did the rounds that Ireland had been subjected to banter/bullying (depends on one's outlook) in the dressing room with the Ireland team, a major reason in his international exile. Team-mate Stephen Hunt denied these rumours, while keeping his tongue firmly in his cheek: "There wasn't even that. There was no banter about his hair, nothing was said about his hair. It's grown four inches in a year. He knows that himself."

Ireland showed up for the new season with his head clean shaven. In an inverse Samson move, his form has been the best of his life, and despite the influx of foreign stars at Manchester City, Ireland has been arguably their best and most important player.

Over the past couple of years Ramirez has boasted an unkempt tangle of dreadlocks atop his head. In Boston, this was, as usual, dismissed as Manny-being-Manny. It was just something he did, and best not to challenge him on it. Especially when you're paying the guy $20 million a year, it was best not to exacerbate the often tense situation anymore than necessary. However, once Manny was traded to Los Angeles, it became an issue. Why? The manager of the Dodgers is one Joe Torre, an old school and genial type who demands that his players comport themselves professionally, in every respect - including 'sensible' personal grooming. Crucially, Torre has the history to back up such demands, having won four World Series in five years with the New York Yankees.

Thus began another saga in the life of Manny Ramirez. Torre demanded he cut his ridiculous dreads. Manny responded by trimming his mane very slightly, describing the cut as “One inch, half-an-inch ...It’s still long. If I come back next year, it will be shorter.” Torre, for his part, was philosophical, knowing that with Manny, what seems like a rational request is not always treated as such:

"He took a little bit off ... In the initial meeting I had with him when I said, 'How important is your hair?' He said, 'You want me to cut it?' I said, 'Well, I'd like you to clean it up a little bit.' I think he was within the rules of cleaning it up a little bit ...Like Billy Crystal said in 'Analyze That,' 'It's a process.'"

The whole incident stretched out over a number of weeks and received far more press coverage than it had any right to. For his part, there was no Samson factor with Ramirez. He responded by producing a scintillating two months of hitting, leading the Dodgers to the playoffs, and leading himself to a huge pay-day in the offseason.

Odd Behaviour on the Field of Play?

There are a lot of eccentrics who happen to be professional sportsmen. And there are also a lot of professional sportsmen who happen to be eccentrics. The media is more intrusive than ever and we know much more than we'd really like to know about high profile figures in the world of sport. Not many of them carry legitimately eccentric behaviour onto the field of play though. Our two heroes, Ireland and Ramirez, have legitimate claim to have done that.

In a game against Sunderland last year, Ireland scored the winning goal, and celebrated in a new and novel way. He dropped his shorts to reveal a pair of skintight Superman pants underneath. For his part, in a game in 2005 Ramirez disappeared into the Green Monster (left field wall and scoreboard) in Boston's Fenway Park - between pitches. He emerged just in time for the next pitch, but almost left his position unoccupied for the start of play. His excuse? ''I [urinated] in a cup." The Boston Globe tried to explain the situation:

It's hard to know when Manny is kidding. We do know there is no bathroom inside the left-field wall. It's a dark, hot, smelly hovel, occupied by a couple of scoreboard operators -- traditionally guys being punished by the grounds crew chief. There was speculation that Manny was going into the wall to cool off in front of an electric fan, but the pee break seems more likely.

In a game in Baltimore earlier this year, Ramirez made a running catch in left field, continued running towards the wall, jumped up to high-five a Red Sox fan in the front row, before turning and throwing the ball back to first. Amazingly, he still managed to complete a double play. Of course, this endeared him to fans and bloggers alike, but continued the process of alienation from management in Boston.

Do You Even Care?

Shortly after the bruhaha about Stephen Ireland's Grandmother had subsided, it was discovered that the player had a personal page on the Bebo social networking site. This page was a rather grisly discovery for fans of Irish football, as it featured far too many photos of Ireland posing in various states of undress with his girlfriend, as well as some disturbing quotes. Under the pseudonym 'Daddy Dick', Ireland claimed that 'football is shit' and asked 'why did I get stuck doin it?' A rather startling declaration to make, given that at this point in his career Ireland was far from an established player, yet still thought to be earning in the region of €20,000 per week. Not bad work for something you may or may not even enjoy.

Manny Ramirez makes a lot more than that. A lot more than that. After the 2000 season he signed a $160 million eight year contract to play for the Red Sox. However, he caused most of the population of New England to spontaneously combust during the 2007 playoffs. In the aftermath of a defeat to Cleveland in the best-of-seven series which left Boston down by three games to one and facing elimination, Manny claimed (in his first post-season interview) that:

"If it doesn't happen, who cares?...It's not the end of the world."

Summing Up:

There are other similarities between these two oddballs: both have a history with cars. Ireland, in an ill-advised move, drives a Range Rover with pink trimmings, which, once the pictures leaked onto the internet, did nothing to improve his image. Manny, as already mentioned, has a thing for cars. On a number of occasions he has tried to auction them on eBay. He also tried to auction a barbecue grill on eBay, but it was revealed that the grill was not actually his and that he was doing it as a favour for a neighbour to drive up the price.

Both Ramirez and Ireland have a 'questionable' sense of fashion in general, it might be said, but there's nothing much unusual about that.

For all their brattish behaviour, it must be remarked that Ramirez and Ireland are genuinely cut apart from the average pampered sportstar with their endless and unreasonable demands. While they have demonstrated that they will make such demands and be generally inconsiderate, they are also what can be described as genuine eccentrics. While it is a clichéd term, it is not a stretch to also claim that both are, to an extent, misunderstood, Manny the playful Man-child and Ireland being the sensitive Superchav.

I don't believe that either are malicious mercenaries. And of course, lets not forget that both men occupy very different positions in their respective sports - Manny is a Hall of Fame bound superstar, one of the biggest names and best paid players in the entire sport. Ireland is an up-and-comer, a player with huge potential but relatively unknown, save for his litany of gaffes and odd behaviour. If nothing else, these guys give us something to talk about and seem to contradict the image of the modern sportsman as a soulless and personality free drone. That said, I would have huge reservations should they ever actually meet in person.