Larry Brown Sports

Are Evelyn Lozada and Carl Crawford dating? That’s the rumor.

Hip Hollywood reported this week that sources and eyewitnesses told them the reality TV star and ex-wife of Chad Johnson is dating the Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder. They also say Lozada was in New York last month at the same time as the Dodgers.

Bossip countered the report, saying Lozada was in New York at that time for personal and business purposes. They also say Lozada is single, not dating anyone, and isn’t even friends with Crawford.

So, whom do you believe?

In December, Lozada made a public appearance with Johnson. The two are no longer on good terms, so we know she’s done with him. But Lozada has dated former NBA player Antoine Walker in addition to Johnson, a former NFL player. It’s only natural that she would move on to an MLB player.

Let’s just hope Crawford is not involved with her. Things have not ended well when it came to Lozada’s last two relationships.

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Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford put his own personal spin on Jackie Robinson Day during a game against the San Diego Padres on Monday. As you can see from the photo above, he wore mismatched Jackie Robinson commemorative cleats.

Crawford wanted to show off both the blue and white Jordan PEs that he, Jimmy Rollins and CC Sabathia received with the No. 42 on the back to acknowledge the 66th anniversary of Robinson breaking down baseball’s color barrier. After seeing that Rollins had changed cleats before one of his at-bats on Monday, Crawford decided he would have a little fun with his new kicks. This did not please Major League Baseball.

According to ESPNLosAngeles.com, Crawford’s agent received a call from the league office telling him not to wear either the blue or the white special edition Nike Jordan PEs in a game again.

“I was like, ‘OK, he had a little fun with it, so let me have fun with it,’” Crawford explained. “The league doesn’t want us to have any fun, I guess.”

That’s exactly right. The league doesn’t want players to have any fun with their uniforms, just as the NFL didn’t want Lance Briggs paying tribute with this patriotic gear or Earl Bennett rocking his lucky orange cleats. Like it or not, that’s the way it goes in the world of professional sports. Crawford probably knew there was a risk going in and just didn’t care.

Carl Crawford needs to stop complaining about his time with the Boston Red Sox. At the end of the day, he was a horrible fit with the team. Injuries made life more difficult than it had to be, but Crawford plays for the Los Angeles Dodgers now. Until he succeeds with his new team, blaming the Boston media for his struggles on the east coast is pointless.

However, Crawford continues to talk about how unbearable life on Yawkey Way was for him. On Thursday morning, he told CBSSports.com’s Danny Knobler that he was a bad fit with the Red Sox from day one.

“I think that’s the truth,” Crawford said. “It just wasn’t the right place for me at the end of my day. I didn’t do my homework. Maybe they didn’t, either. At the end of the day, it just wasn’t the place for me.”

Crawford took the blame for his poor on-field performance while with the Red Sox, but he once again essentially scolded the media for being a bunch of meanies. A few weeks ago, the former Tampa Bay Ray described the environment in boston as “toxic.”

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Carl Crawford turned out to be one of the worst Boston Red Sox signings in team history, and there are a number of reasons why. For starters, it seemed like he was never healthy after signing a whopping seven-year, $142 million contract with the team. Whether or not he could have played through more pain than he did is a matter of personal opinion, but it seems fairly obvious that Crawford was incapable of handling the pressures that went along with playing in Boston.

On Wednesday, Crawford essentially admitted that when speaking with Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times.

“I knew with the struggles I was having, it would never get better for me,” Crawford said of his nearly two awful seasons in Boston. “I just didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. It puts you in kind of a depression stage. You just don’t see a way out.”

The Los Angeles Dodgers absorbed more than $100 million of Crawford’s contract to bring him to the west coast, a place where he said he feels “a lot better” about himself. Despite having yet to play a game for the Dodgers, Crawford said he now feels like the player he once was with the Tampa Bay Rays. But here was the part of his interview with Hernandez that I got the biggest kick out of:

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From the moment he was pouring sweat uncontrollably when the Boston Red Sox announced him as their newest signing in 2010, you had to wonder if Carl Crawford could handle the pressures of playing in Boston. Looking back on his year-and-a-half with the team, one would come to the conclusion that he could not.

Crawford’s inability to stay healthy was a big part of the reason for his struggles. He needed Tommy John surgery and did not get it until the day after he was traded to the Dodgers. Why did he wait? He was tired of being ripped to shreds by the fans.

“Nobody said I should keep playing, that was just me,” Crawford told the Los Angeles media according to the Boston Globe. “I didn’t want anyone to say ‘I’m not sitting on y’all money.’ That was the biggest thing, people on the radio shows saying he makes 20 million. I’m a hard worker and I wanted to show that. I wasn’t performing well. I know Boston is a blue collar town so I just wanted to have the same attitude that I was working hard to be on the field. At the end of the day, I should have listened to the doctor and helped myself out.”

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It didn’t take long for Carl Crawford’s first season with Boston to get ugly. After inking a massive contract that highlighted a huge offseason for the Red Sox last year, Crawford brought virtually nothing to the table. It was no secret that he lost confidence as the season went on, but it may come as a surprise to some people to hear that Crawford did not feel that Terry Francona had his back.

“I didn’t feel like I had the manager’s confidence,” Crawford told Rob Bradford of WEEI during a recent interview. “I don’t know about the organization, but I don’t try and look past the manager, so I feel like I didn’t have the manager’s confidence, therefore I started to think something was wrong with me, and it just snowballed after that. It had a trickle-down effect, and it just got worse and worse as the days went by.”

Francona has always been known as a player’s manager. By dropping Crawford down in the lineup for most of the season, he was probably trying to take pressure off of him and allow him to get back on track. Apparently Carl did not see it that way. Considering Red Sox owner John Henry basically admitted he didn’t want to sign Crawford, it’s interesting to hear the outfielder talk about his former manager that way.

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If there is any member of the Red Sox who should be happy about the beer-drinking debacle that became the scapegoat for Boston’s September collapse, it’s Carl Crawford. The news that John Lackey, Josh Beckett, and Jon Lester were outed for drinking and goofing off in the clubhouse during games overshadowed the fact that Crawford had a season to forget. After signing a seven-year, $142 million contract, the left fielder hit .255 with only 11 homers and 56 RBI. In the weeks following the collapse, Red Sox owner John Henry admitted he was opposed to signing Crawford last offseason.

In a perfect world, Crawford would brush off those comments and use them as motivation. That could still happen, but Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe pointed out that C.C. was disappointed with what Henry said.

“I can’t do nothing about what he said … just go out and play,” Crawford explained. “It was unfortunate he feels that way. It’s nothing for me to say to him. I wasn’t happy about it. I was a little surprised to hear the comments but you know it’s unfortunate he feels that way. Wish those words hadn’t came out.”

In a text message to Cafardo, Henry tried to clarify what he meant back in October.

“Again, this wasn’t about Carl,” Henry wrote. “At the time I was opposed due to too many lefties in the lineup and particularly in the outfield. Also, our two best prospects were left-handed hitters. My answer was an honest, off-the-cuff response on a radio station to a false assertion that ownership signed him for offseason PR purposes. This was a baseball decision I ultimately backed.”

The Red Sox don’t need any additional drama heading into the 2012 season. In fact, they need quite the opposite and they’re hoping Bobby Valentine can right the ship. If Crawford finally settles in and uses Henry’s comments as motivation, he could give Boston’s offense a huge boost this year. If the lack of support from the team’s owner translates into more nerve issues for the $142 million man, a signing that looked bad last year could look atrocious in 2012.