It’s still February, but it’s never too early to start in on a hated(?) divisional rival. On Sunday, Rays manager Joe Maddon was asked about Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine banning beer from his team’s clubhouse in the wake of last year’s September collapse and the brouhaha that the inside story caused throughout New England. His answer?
↵↵↵“We’re not the Boston Red Sox.”
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Maddon went on to say that he’s more concerned about his players making good decisions, and if they feel like having a beer after a game and they’re legal, so be it. (The Rays also allow drinking on flights to road trips, or from one leg to another, but not on the flights back to St. Petersburg.)
↵Previously, Maddon had told Boston’s WEEI that banning alcohol from a major-league clubhouse was both “knee-jerk” and “asinine,” and probably became the first MLB manager to name-drop the Volstead Act in an interview:
↵↵↵“But to say a grown-up can’t have a beer after a game? Give me a break. That is, I’m going to use the word, ‘asinine,’ because it is. Let’s bring the Volstead Act back, OK. Let’s go right back to prohibition and start legislating everything all over again. All that stuff pretty much annoys me, as you can tell.”
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But back to yesterday’s interview. Someone also asked Maddon about fried chicken in the clubhouse, and the answer was almost as good:
↵↵“Depends if that’s what they’re serving that night,‘’ Maddon said. "It kind of goes well with (beer) actually.’’
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