Ay, Papi

I wanted to write about David Ortiz's Great Steroid Adventure, but didn't before now for time constraint-related reasons that no one need give a crap about. But Papi said most of what I wanted to say, as excerpted in this Joy of Sox post:

These past few weeks have been terrible for me. People want to [mess] up your reputation ... People always want you to be a good guy, but at the end of the day nobody gives an [expletive] about you.

You know why? Because when this [expletive] came out, this news [the leaking of the positive drug test], no one –– I'm talking about no one in general –– stood up and said, "Let's wait to see what David Ortiz has to say. He's a guy who has been tested 18 times, and why would you believe any of this [expletive]" or "He's a guy who has been playing the game clean and let's wait to hear what he has to say." No. It was, "I'm not surprised he got caught. He did this, or he did that." David Ortiz has never been involved in any kind of trouble. So why do I have to be the bad guy? Why can't anyone stand up for David Ortiz? ...

All these [media members] I've been dealing with through the years, guys who have come to me and tell me, "You've made the difference in this clubhouse because you might be the only superstar here who makes our life easy. When we want to talk to you we can talk to you. You're a nice guy and you do nice things." All that [expletive] went in the garbage when this [expletive] came out. That hurt, bro. ...

It's something that before you come out with things like that, you should sit down and think about, hey, what if somebody did this to my kids or to a friend of mine or to myself or someone else that I know? It's not going to be a good feeling. People talking [bad] about me, I've heard it before. Even I come out and say it, [it's] "He better come out and say that he did it. He better come out." Come on, people. Why don't you say this guy, you know, he is different around here as a player. So let's wait to see what he has to say.

Like I always say, I come in one day, I'll go out another. When I get to be gone, I won't give a flying [expletive] about nobody, period. Nobody going to give a flying [expletive] about me. But I see where all the media and player situation here come from. That said, I thought it was different. It ain't, though. ...

I know that I've been tested 18 times. Nobody talk about that. Have you heard anybody talking about that? Nobody talk about that. But the bottom line is all people care about is selling bad news. Bad news is what makes the money, but sometimes you've got to sit down and think about things before you make that as a truth.

I came out and said what I said. If you want to judge me, it's on you. If you believe me, it's on you, too. It's confusing [stuff], but that's how it is.

I've seen nothing but attacks on Ortiz since the test result was announced. There seemed to be two stances: He did it, and I don't know if he did it but you can't be blamed for thinking he did. The attacks seem to be based on his not admitting guilt or providing more details or knowing every ingredient of every supplement he took at a time when whatever got him to test positive seems likely to have been legal in baseball, or at least not outlawed, if that somehow isn't the same thing.

I think it's fair to say there's no chance Papi will ever see this post, which is a shame. I wish he could know that one person out there trusts him. I admire how he's handled the whole thing, and I only disagree with one thing he said. He seems to feel that because he is unique as a player and as a Red Sox, he should be given the benefit of the doubt.

I think everyone should be given the benefit of the doubt. I mean, I'm not stupid or a liar; there's no denying that I trust Papi because I'm a Sox fan. But I'm not talking about trust, I'm talking about the benefit of the doubt.

I think fans and writers are so pissed off at having been fooled for all those years, they've swung back the other way. Why? Isn't that even more stupid? Barry Bonds was on something, Mark McGwire was on something, Alex Rodriguez was on something ... so Ortiz was too? He needs to just admit it so we can move on? Why? Because they're all baseball players? Now, anytime a player is reported to have tested positive, it's a done deal? No way a report is erroneous, a test is wrong, a player took something that wasn't expressly banned but had an ingredient that landed him on the list? That's fucking nuts. Let's sign all these people up to rejuvenate the newspaper industry, because that's exactly the evenhanded kind of treatment with which I'm looking to infuse my worldview. All Arabs are terrorists, all Ethiopians run fast, and me and the rest of the Tribe will be with you as soon as we finish counting our money. Are these people totally insane? Just because they don't want to give someone the benefit of the doubt, only to be proven wrong again, and feel foolish ... so the answer is to decide anyone suspected is guilty? Out of their frickin' minds. And we haven't even gotten to the complexity of PEDs and PED detection, especially the scientific aspects of it. Yet here are all these writers and radio hosts and radio callers and bloggers weighing in like they have the first clue, like Lady Sarah of the Death Panels.

I don't have the first clue either. It's why I don't leap to conclusions.