An Introduction to the Man Crush

Beads of sweat trickled down my face as I searched and searched and searched. My mom called me for dinner. I told her to go to hell, of course. This was not a laughing matter, you see. This was serious. Very serious.


It was fantasy baseball draft time and it was the 16th round. And I was choosing between Josh Hamilton and Michael Cuddyer to fill my final OF slot. Now, everyone knows Hamilton has talent. I mean, he hit .292, with 19 HR and 47 RBI in just 90 games with the Reds last year. Cuddyer is a solid player, as well.

But, he just didn’t have the upside that Hamilton did, so I took Josh. Little did I know this was the start of an intense man-crush, a man-crush so intense that it threatened to overtake my man-crush for Kobe Bryant, the best basketball player on earth.

Josh Hamilton is currently hitting .336 with 5 HR and 28 RBI. Whoa. I loved Hamilton’s swing and I knew he was a top prospect from before his druggie days. But, how could I have expected this? I mean, the guy is absolutely tearing it up. How could I not develop a man-crush on him? Going 2/5 with 2 RBIs seemingly every night will do that to a fella.

Fantasy sports is one way you develop a man crush. You develop a relationship with these players. You check on them every day, you develop a bond with them. These are your players. You are free to bench them if they go 0-4 and start them if they rip one out.

I’ve also developed man crushes on players from my favorite teams. Chad Pennington, Laveranues Coles, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Patrick Ewing and John Starks come to mind. I went to war with these players, watched their every game and cheered for them.

Finally, there’s the man-crush on the player that just absolutely awes you with their skill. Kobe Bryant comes to mind instantly. The guy is just unbelievable. He can fly like Jordan, shoot the lights out of the ball, take it to the hoop and defend with passion. Plus, I think Kobe is a pretty good guy despite the crap he did to his wife. At least he came out and admitted it, though. Brett Favre and Ken Griffey, Jr. are other ones. Great guys, amazing players.

A man crush is something different than just liking a player, though. It’s indescribable. When you see this player, you just smile and laugh, because you hope he succeeds in every way possible.

With that, here’s introducing a new weekly feature: Man-Crush of the Week. Josh Hamilton leads it off. Does he overtake Kobe on my man-crush status meter? Not quite. Hamilton has a bit of an advantage because he’s on my fantasy team, but Kobe is one of the best players in history. I make it a point to watch Kobe. However, if Joshie (yes, I call him Joshie now) keeps going 2/5 with 2 RBIs every game, he may just make the move to #1.

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