Projo Offbeat Blog

Everyone should be more like Manny.

Stress sickens countless people every year, leading to weight gain, weight loss, hair loss, and worse -- if there is anything worse than hair loss.

But don't expect Manny Ramirez to lose any dreadlocks over a baseball game, even if a trip to the World Series hangs in the balance.

Manny is as carefree as a school kid on the first day of summer vacation. He rarely speaks to the press, but he made national news with some comments earlier this week with his team down, 3-1, and facing elimination in the American League Championship Series.

“We’re not worried...We’re just here to have fun and play the game. We’re going to play and if it doesn’t happen, we’ll come back next year and try to do it again.”

If you think about it, you'll realize Manny has the right approach. And here's a few people who would benefit from Manny's "Don't Worry Be Happy" attitude:

The two women involved in the alleged road rage incident at a North Providence Dunkin' Donuts. The police say one woman emerged from her car with a crowbar after another beeped at her in the drive-thru.

I can't see Manny playing either role in this dispute. It's easy to imagine Manny doing something at a Dunkin' Donuts -- say, driving the wrong way through the drive-thru -- that would prompt another driver to slam on the horn, but it's difficult to imagine Manny emerging from his car with a crowbar to settle the score.

It's also hard to see Manny getting impatient enough with another driver to hit his horn. Did you see the way he ran to first base on that near-home run that he turned into a single Thursday night? No worries. No hurries.

Ellen DeGeneres. In case you hadn't heard, DeGeneres melted down during her show this week and later canceled taping over a dog that she'd given to her hairdresser's kids. DeGeneres had adopted the dog, but needed to get rid of it because it couldn't get along with her cats. She gave it away, but the adoption agency snatched it back from the kids, saying DeGeneres had broken their rules by giving it away.

Would Manny have gotten stressed over such an episode in his life? It's hard to even imagine the oblivious Manny being so bothered by the quarrelling of pets that he'd consider it necessary to donate one of them to whomever is reponsible for his dreadlocks.

It is, however, conceivable that millionaire Manny would try selling a pet, with an autographed game ball, on eBay.

Red Sox fans. It's hard to imagine Manny losing sleep, screaming at his television set, or even watching these games if he weren't playing in them. We might be facing a long, cold winter without a World Series win to warm our toes, but as Manny might say, "There's always next year."

Besides, we'll still have the Patriots.

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