Do you remember the joy of Red Sox Nation when they were able to come back from 3-0 to the Yankees and then break the curse of Babe Ruth? Well, that’s all tainted now. Both Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz are reportedly on the list of 104 ball players who tested positive for PEDs in 2003.
With Manny, there’s not too much shock here when you consider that he served a suspension this season for violating the MLB drug policy, but with Big Papi, this is a huge story.
After all, it was Big Papi himself who came out and said that players who use PEDs should be given a season-long suspension. I wonder how he feels about that now. Ortiz has been revered by New Englanders for being the lovable basher who was completely against steroids and their ilk. Now, it will be interesting to see the reaction he gets now that he’s been exposed as not only a PED user, but a world-class hypocrite as well.
Now, with the two Red Sox titles murky, five of the six championships that the city of Boston has won in recent years have some taint on them. The Patriots, after all, did win three Super Bowls during their SpyGate era and haven’t won since that news came out. The only true title Bostonians have left is the Celtics title of 2008, so here’s hoping Kevin Garnett winds up shamed somehow to sweep away all the joy that the annoying Boston fans have accrued over the decade.
And, by the way, if you want to see the way to come and just say you used legal-at-the-time PEDs, well just look at this story about Bronson Arroyo. It’s very sad that I actually respect a guy for coming out and saying this stuff, but at a time like this, honesty goes a long way.
Also, a while back I took the stance that the journalist that exposed Sammy Sosa was probably just in it for a book deal, a la Selena Roberts with A-Rod. Now, I’ve changed my stance; the people who should be on the hot seat, or than the those on the list of 104, should be the people holding it back from the public and Major League Baseball. What good is it to have big names leaked every few months? By allowing these names to trickle out as opposed to straight up handing out the list, this is only drawing more negative light to the sport and its players. It’s fairly obvious by now that the list is out there and was never anonymous or destroyed, so let’s just get this over with.