Sox Offenders

Here we are, Red Sox Nation, completely wrapped up in a tight AL East race. We’ve flipped the calendar to August and trail the dreaded Yankees by a half game. We have back-to-back series with the Rays and the Yankees this week. So what are we talking about? David Ortiz and steroids, what else!

When the news came out that Ortiz was one of the names on the infamous 2003 list of MLB players who tested positive for steroids, everything changed. Now both of the Boston Bash Brothers, the Weapons of Mass Destruction, were tainted. Sure, we knew Manny tested positive this year…but he must have started that shit after he left the Sox, right? Not so. It doesn’t take much to connect the dots between 2003 and 2009 and figure he was using straight through. But even so…he’s not one of us anymore! We could still lump him in with A-Rod and the rest of the cheaters.

Big Papi’s name coming out casts a shadow on the game that may never go away. Ortiz was one of the few “good guys” left. It wasn’t just his prolific clutch hitting and timely home runs that captured our hearts. It was the man behind the bat, the smiling face that said “this is a game, this is fun, and I do this for the fans.” Now what? Now we scramble to make sense out of this. From what I hear on Professor Gates radio WEEI, the Nation is falling in to three camps on Ortiz-Gate.

The Homers: This is, to no surprise, where most of Red Sox Nation seems to be setting up their tents. Suddenly, testing positive wasn’t a big deal anymore. Everyone was doing steroids; it was part of the game. We have to look forward, besides, how many of the pitchers Papi faced were on the juice? It was a level playing field.

To me, the homers are the biggest hypocrites out there. More than happy to shit on anyone who might be cheating and cast their profanity-ridden aspersions on them. But once the name on the uni says Red Sox, all sins are forgiven. Sorry folks, you can’t have it both ways.

The Haters: These people refuse to alter their moral compass. A cheater is a cheater, there is no middle ground. Ortiz is guilty and 2004 and 2007 are now tarnished championships. His Red Sox home run record needs the same asterisk as Bonds’ career record. There doesn’t seem to be too many people in this camp…not in Boston anyway.

While I applaud this group’s righteousness, I can’t quite seem to jump in with them. Honestly, if the name revealed was Varitek or Schilling or pretty much anyone else, I’d be calling them out with the same vitriol reserved for Yankees. But this is Big Papi, who stood on his steel-reinforced soapbox and proclaimed a year suspension for cheaters. I just can’t hate him…yet.

The Hopefuls: When the finger pointed in Ortiz’s direction, he claimed he was “blindsided” by the news. He stood up and said he would get to the bottom of it and report back to his fans. The Hopefuls wait patiently for that report. They want an explanation: it was an over-the-counter protein shake he bought in the Dominican, it was a tainted GNC product, it was…something, anything, innocent.

Obviously, this is where I sit. I can’t comprehend the game I love includes nobody trustworthy, nobody capable of playing fair. I can’t fathom watching every game through the cynical, steroid-tinted glasses that I’ll be forced to if Papi can’t clear his name. It just doesn’t make any sense.

So I wait with the rest of the Hopefuls.

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