Talk:Shane Monahan

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I don't know if anyone who added information, especially about Monahan's allegations of steroid abuse, is monitoring this page, but I think I do have some insight into maybe why he said this.

At some point between ages 18 and 21, Shane had a personality change. He had been kind of a sweet, all-American Southern boy (he was raised mostly in Georgia), but he became more emotionally unstable the more successful he was at Clemson. Many of us who knew him (including teammates I will not name) opined that there was a great deal of pressure on him from his family to be an all-star. Whether or not there was such pressure from his family, he certainly put it on himself. When he wasn't living up to and beyond his high expectations, Shane didn't take it too well. During a game against Florida State at Clemson in 1995, Shane was benched for mooning the FSU team from the dugout. My opinion was that singular act is what dropped him out of the first round of the draft, and I was surprised that he went as high as the second round considering what a head-case he had become (my personal opinion was that he would go in the 3rd round).

I find the steroid use interesting, though, because he was adamant in college that steroids were detrimental to a player's performance, that the added bulk was a hindrance, not an asset, in baseball. I do know, when he was in Spring Training with Seattle, it was widely publicized that the team was encouraged to drink Creatine shakes before and after practice and work-outs. Creatine is a far cry from steroids, however, it has performance-enhancing effects.

Shane had so much potential, and it was really the mental side that proved his undoing. If someone gave you a choice in 1995 of Garciaparra, Varitek, or Monahan, you would have been a fool to take the rambling wrecks. His fall from grace was hard to watch, because I sincerely loved Shane, I will always feel he was a great guy who was misunderstood by most of the people in his life. He was a lot more sensitive and vulnerable than he ever let on, and the atmosphere in which he lived and worked - athletics - turned that weakness into mental instability. This announcement of his should have come as no surprise - he was known for telling tall tales at Clemson; he told embellishments even when he knew his listeners knew the facts. He also started show-boating late in his collegiate career. That is why I consider him to be mentally unstable and not just a jerk. It was like watching a little brother's screws coming loose. Kelelain (talk) 21:37, 10 June 2012 (UTC)