Washington Post had a article on Washington Nationals pitcher Scott Olson. It seemed harmless, they were doing a profile on one of their players. Until you start reading the article and Olson talks about his habit of smoking cigarettes.
His vice, for this particular moment, lent only one benefit: Just weeks into his first spring training with the Washington Nationals, Olsen already had discovered his own private smoking nook, tucked just outside the right field corner at Space Coast Stadium. His teammates, less than an hour from their 1 p.m. exhibition game on Tuesday, clustered in the clubhouse. But Olsen sat outside in an unattended golf cart, legs up on the glass windshield, puffing away and telling the story of old bad habits.
A major league baseball player is like a kid in high school looking for the perfect smoking spot. At my high school kids would either go into the bathroom or walk across the street off of school property to light up. Or when we would go to lunch, they would light up then. But a major leagueer has to sneak away for a smoke break?
Olson's pension for chain smoking once got him in trouble with the umpires.
Olson's pension for chain smoking once got him in trouble with the umpires.
"But the situation was, [umpire] Joe West was behind the plate, and he's kind of a stickler for certain things and likes rules. We get eight warmup pitches per inning, so I threw five, and he said, 'One more.' So I threw more, and he didn't like that and I said something to him, he said something to me, and as I get off the field, Girardi walks over.
"He didn't even yell. He looked at me, crossed his arms, and asked, 'What happened?' I said, 'That guy over there, he didn't give me my eight pitches, and I'm [freaking] pissed.' I understand he's the umpire, don't piss him off, blah blah blah, but I'm like, I get eight pitches whether I'm a rookie or a 20-year guy. It's a rule. And I told him that. He said, 'Okay, just don't show up the umpire.' It's not a big deal. People see it on TV, they see Girardi grabbing my jersey, and they think, '[Expletive], he [messed] up again. Yeah, but not like you think I [messed] up."
Dude didn't even take all of his warmup pitches just for he could light up between innings. I love his excuse for when he will quite.
He tried to quit on his 25th birthday, in January, but that didn't work. Now he's thinking he'll give up the habit only when his girlfriend gets pregnant.
"I just have to get motivated," Olsen said.
You have to love a professional athlete who smokes. These are the people who are suppose to keep their bodies in perfect shape. Not Olson, he likes to pollute his lungs with smoke.
Hell if the President of the United States can smoke, why can't Olson? I guess it's better than planting your face in a bong, like Michael Phelps.
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