When I first read this story about Manny Ramirez’s battle with claustrophobia, I was terribly confused, on several counts. First of all, who knew that the Dodgers slugger was claustrophobic? Secondly, how can a person be afraid of claustros if they don’t even know what the heck a claustro is?
After consulting a dictionary, the fact that Manny Ramirez’s MRI exam on his strained right calf in Arizona wasn’t completed as he couldn’t stay inside the MRI tube long enough due to his crippling fear of closed-in spaces made a little bit more sense, but still, he’s a grown man, what gives?
With the Dodgers quickly fading in the NL West race behind the surprising San Diego Padres, the team needs Manny, despite all his foibles, back ASAP. So what’s the story? What’s Manny’s deal with MRIs? Via the Los Angeles-based incarnation of ESPN:
Dodgers trainer Stan Conte says Ramirez has experienced the same difficulty with MRI exams in the past. Conte wasn’t sure when the exam would take place. He did say an open MRI, which is commonly used for patients with claustrophobia because it uses a tube that is less confining, is an option for Ramirez. But Conte said the resolution quality of the results from open MRI exams wasn’t as good as that of traditional MRI exam results.
The fact that Ramirez is still a week away from a trip to the minor leagues for rehab, this is probably much ado about nothing, so why have the test in the first place?
“I just wanted to give him some peace of mind that nothing [bad] was going on and also to give us peace of mind that it was the same,” Conte said. “It’s such a not-critical test that … I’m not going to get too worked up about it at all.”
With all due respect, Mr. Conte, but the concept of “peace of mind” and Manny Ramirez are like two positively-charged protons.
What? Jeez, people, that means those two concepts repel each other. Didn’t any of you watch Mr. Wizard’s World when you were kids?
Anyhoo, I find it hard to believe that Manny Ramirez does actually in fact have an issue with claustrophobia. I mean, if he did, how in the heck did he handle climbing inside the Green Monster all those times without having a complete and total meltdown? Oh wait, maybe he did. Huh.
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Manny Ramirez delays MRI exam [ESPN Los Angeles]
