Josh Hamilton: Why We All Need to Leave the All-Star OF Alone

Texas Rangers All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton, who is recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, reportedly had a relapse this week. 

If the report is true, Hamilton, who was suspended for more than three years in the early 2000s, is going to have a tough time for the next few weeks or months. 

And that's the only person this reported story should concern: Hamilton. And, of course, his family and close friends.

But when you see media and fans diving into this tense situation, talking about how Hamilton is a bad person or discussing how this affects his contract negotiations, you just get sick to your stomach.

I realize all professional athletes become little ants under the big microscope of the media, and everything they do is criticized until it becomes painful. And I'm sure 99 percent of athletes know this comes with the job, but at some point you have to draw a line. 

And at this point—with this situation—people are so far past the line, the line is a dot to them. 

Hamilton has been dealing with these problems ever since, well, he was old enough to deal with them. But that's for him to face, not for his millions of "fans."

Getting clean is a hard thing to do, and Hamilton, while under the spotlight, has worked extremely hard to accomplish just that. Sometimes little relapses happen. According to the report, one of these happened to Hamilton himself back in 2009, but he worked through it.

The best people can go through these things, but they shouldn't have to go through them with millions of eyes on them.

Again, I realize this scrutiny comes with the profession, but it simply shouldn't. At some point we just have to realize that some things are bigger than sports, and this should be one of those instances.

If an incident like this affects Hamilton's play on the field (which it currently is not doing), then it might be time to turn this into a story. But even then, it should be a delicate story—unlike what most of you have probably seen or read in the past 20 hours. 

But for now, there are bigger athletic fish to fry. Just let Hamilton work his way through these things on his own.