Bleacher Bits: No bad time to quit chewing tobacco

Texas Rangers outfielder Josh Hamilton is no stranger to the topic of substance addiction.

But this week, Rangers CEO Nolan Ryan made a statement regarding one of Hamilton's addictions that is stranger still.

ESPN.com reported that on a Dallas radio show, Ryan said the timing of Hamilton's decision to quit smokeless tobacco this summer "couldn't have been worse."

I never knew there was a more convenient window of time to try to avoid any of the cancers related to the use of smokeless tobacco products.

On the radio program, Ryan said, "You would've liked to have thought that if he was doing that, that he would've done it in the off-season or waited until this off-season to do it ... so the drastic effect that it had on him and the year that he was having up to that point in time when he did quit, you'd have liked that he would've taken a different approach to that."

Hamilton's battles with alcohol and drug addition have been well-documented, and during this season he also dealt with ocular keratitis — blurred vision and balance issues that were attributed to a drying of the cornea from excessive caffeine.

While Hamilton's production dropped off statistically from the torrid pace he was on at the beginning of the season, he still managed to bat .285 with 43 home runs and 128 RBI.

Addiction sucks, plain and simple. I know of what I speak because I too, am an addict.

I quit drinking alcohol at 33, when I decided it had become a problem. I've never gone back. Sometimes an addict will replace one addiction with another. My current one is Diet Dr. Pepper. While consuming too much of it will never get me arrested for DUI, I'm not about to say it's healthy from the caffeine standpoint.

A person never chooses to become an addict, it's just something that is triggered by some faulty wiring in the brain. MedicalNewsToday.com reports that there is a psychological/physical component of addiction where the person is unable to control the aspects of the addiction without help because of the mental or physical conditions involved.

So while an addict cannot choose whether or not to be addicted to something, they DO have the ability to decide when to try not to be.

And that time is whenever they feel it is right.

There are games in life, and there is the game of life — and the latter is far more important. I applaud anyone in any walk of life or profession with the courage to tackle their addiction head-on.

CONTACT Craig Purcell at 824-1036 or cpurcell@tcnpress.com.