Wilson Speaks On Hamilton Comments

Texas Rangers fans say a lot of things about former Rangers pitcher and current Angels pitcher C.J. Wilson. Most aren't positive, and rightfully so. Wilson did a lot of things to rub folks the wrong way before departing to the Rangers' arch rival via free agency following the 2011 season.

Now, all of that hatred has shifted to Wilson's former, now current teammate Josh Hamilton, who followed Wilson's path from Texas to Anaheim this past winter. Hamilton has received a lot of venom from the Metroplex after making a comment recently saying Dallas-Fort Worth isn't a "true baseball town" despite drawing 3.4 million fans in 2012.

I don't think Anaheim is any kind of sports town, but that's beside the point. Hamilton said DFW is a football town, which is most definitely true, and in a recent interview with Grantland, Wilson gave his own thoughts about Hamilton's comments.

There are so many different ways to slice that. I’ve been editorialized [against] plenty, so I can relate to the reaction that he got.

If you really look behind the quotes, what he said was: Texas is a football state. Everybody loves football in Texas. That’s never going to change. The Cowboys are always the biggest show in town. Always.

Now, [the Rangers] draw a lot of fans — at least, they have the last couple of years, but that’s because the team has been so good. When I was a rookie, when I first came up, we were not drawing 3 million fans a year. It wasn’t like the Cubs.

More people get turned on to baseball because the team’s winning. The quote might be a little bit weird, but if you step back and take a look it, it’s like, well, yeah, every city whose teams wins, more people go to the games.

There's a lot of truth to Wilson's comments. And he actually deserves a little credit for not sounding like a bitter valley girl like he does in many of his interviews. Yes, Texas is a football state, and always will be. That will never change.

But 3.4 million fans can speak to the fact that DFW is a baseball town, as well.

If you like Wilson's take on random things (sometimes I do), take a glance at the Grantland interview where you can read about Wilson's thoughts on the upcoming Star Wars films, the 2012 presidential election and, of course, racing.

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