There is apparently much Real Housewives of Orange County footage in the can of new cast member Katie Hamilton, but Josh Hamilton's wife has reportedly not appeared at shoots for the Bravo reality show currently in production for about two weeks–or about as long as the public has known about the Angels slugger's looming suspension for substance abuse.
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Will Josh Hamilton and Wife Katie Get Really Real on Real Housewives of Orange County?
RumorFix gets the scoop that Katie Hamilton is now contemplating pulling out of the show altogether.
Meanwhile, Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan reports that Mrs. Hamilton was at the center of Mr. Hamilton's relapse–just two months after their 10th wedding anniversary:
Multiple sources with knowledge of the situation told Yahoo Sports that Hamilton has told people his latest spiral began around Super Bowl weekend after a fight with his wife. Because he cannot carry cash or credit cards, Hamilton wrote himself a check to cash. He wound up at a strip club and used cocaine. Before his next test, Hamilton admitted to using drugs, which prompted the meeting with MLB in New York that the Los Angeles Times first reported, sending Hamilton's case into the public view.
To be clear, Passan is not trading in the same celebrity marriage gossip as RumorFix. He brought up the Super Bowl incident as part of a larger point about Major League Baseball's duty when it comes to drug addicts like Hamilton.
This is not about the Los Angeles Angels, not about Major League Baseball's drug program, not about anybody but Hamilton and his disease.
And yet, what this has become about is whether the Angels should fulfill the three seasons and $89.7 million left on the former superstar's contract or be able to void it on grounds that Hamilton violated his drug treatment program under MLB's agreement with the Major League Baseball Players Association.
The union is fighting for an arbitrator to decide Hamilton's fate rather than baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, who could end up saving Angels owner Arte Moreno tens of millions of dollars if he goes all Steve Howe on the Halo outfielder.
Passan adds this fascinating twist: Moreno “was one of the most vociferous owners opposing Manfred's candidacy” for commissioner.
As the barbarians sharpen their back-stabbing knives, the Yahoo sportsman offers a simple plea when it comes to a long troubled soul: “Don't punish addicts. Help them.”
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.