SARASOTA, Fla. -- The feel of the black Colt .45 is foreign. It's been placed in my hands by its owner and is fully loaded and ready to be fired inside the Take Aim shooting range, where the smell of gunpowder is acute and a poster on the wall reads: "Ladies Shoot For Free!" I'm staring down the barrel at a poster of Osama bin Laden. Luke Scott is the owner of the .45, and he senses my nervousness.
MLB Baltimore Orioles Jerseys This is the first time I've held a gun. He tries to put me at ease and is smiling and calm while expertly breaking down shooting mechanics.The reason I'm even here at this shooting range in late February during baseball's spring training, holding this gun, is that Scott is the left fielder for the Baltimore Orioles, and I'm trying to understand him better. Scott is one of baseball's most complex characters. His questions about President Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship put him in headlines during an otherwise-quiet offseason. He speaks bluntly and with heavy opinions. He's fluent in Spanish and loves Latin culture, but in the clubhouse, he'll make potentially inflammatory comments to a Latino player who is his best friend -- throwing plantain chips at him to keep him in line. He wears religion on his sleeve.
Given all that, the simple assumption is that Scott is a right-wing nut, a borderline racist and a loudmouth redneck ballplayer who should keep his mouth shut.Most topics were about Scott's love of guns and hunting. But then the discussion turns to politics, and blogger David Brown asks him about President Obama.Scott went on to say that Obama was not born in America and referenced socialism, Cuba and Russia.Scott is certainly not alone in those views, and he received a lot of support for expressing his opinion. But negative reaction cascaded, too, with some bloggers saying that evidence Obama was born in Hawaii is overwhelming and t
hat Scott must be a racist or a moron, or both.
Cheap MLB Jerseys From China The political comments were no secret to those who have shared a clubhouse with Scott. But when third baseman Mark Reynolds was traded this past winter to Baltimore from Arizona,
Ugg Sale, he wondered what Scott would be like and why a player would say such things. Then he says he got to know Scott, and he appreciates his honesty. Knowing Luke Scott is the key to understanding Luke Scott, I'll hear again and again. "He doesn't hide it," Reynolds says. "He doesn't talk behind people's backs about anything. A lot of people have those opinions and don't say anything. Did I think he needed to go to the winter meetings and say all those things? Probably not. But he'll give you his opinion.
The Orioles' 32-year-old outfielder isn't afraid t
building
Linear Mode
