Chuck HPapi's Failed Drug Test Hurts, But Should We Be Surprised?
July 31st 2009 13:54
Arggghhh… Stop it people, and stop it right now please. This is not a ‘good guy/bad guy’ story in the slightest. When A-Rod’s name was thrown out to the public for testing positive in the 2003 survey testing, were you all sympathetic and willing to wait for his explanation? No, it was..”that fraud A-Rod, I knew it… I just knew it, that goddamn cheater…. I bleepin hate A-Rod, A-Rod SUCKS man… he sucks… Yeah, Yankees suck dude!” Now, because it’s the personable big dog of Boston, Big Papi, people are acting like the guy working the take-out window at Mickey D’s spit on his 9 piece McNugget and slipped an illegal Performance Enhancer in his strawberry shake because he didn’t like Otiz or something. Big Papi wouldn’t do this, no way would he cheat. Wrong.
I’ve been the biggest supporter of this guy. I have written on the fact that, yes, it’s possible for guys at his age to flat out just get old quick, especially these days where the sport is supposed to be cleaned up for the most part and you don’t have 40 year old chemically enhanced robots belting 500 foot dingers on the regular. When I heard that Ortiz had trained with one of the biggest steroid pushing trainers in the Dominican Republic, I still said, “well, that doesn’t mean Ortiz took ‘em.” However, it all makes sense now. In 2003 this guy went from an OK ball player with some decent pop in his bat in Mineesota (when healthy) to an absolute animal who never got hurt. The numbers he put up in Boston were mind boggling from 2003 to 2007. He has said---as recently as when A-Rod got caught---that he can’t be 100% sure some of the ‘shakes’ he had consumed in the Domincan Republic in years past would be considered legal under this testing program now. Could that have all been a ‘let me break that info to the masses now so that if it ever comes out that I’m on that 2003 list, it will lessen the backlash on me.’ Could that be what comes out over the next couple of days? Well, it turns out I tested positive for X and X was contained in a protein shake that I had said in the past I wasn’t sure what was in it, but I took it because my trainer told me it was OK?
I will say this, I don’t think Ortiz is going to run from this or try to cover anything up moving forward. I think he will take a similar road to Andy Pettitte and admit his mistake and bring all pertinent information to the table when addressing the team and the public. I will also say this, all of these players took this test in ’03 based on anonymity. This was a survey test to decide if baseball would institute testing for PED’s in the future. Everyone was supposed to just be characterized as a number and tested. Names were never supposed to be released. The fact that these names got leaked to the public from that survey is despicable behavior in my opinion. I’m not making any excuses for Oritz, A-Rod or anyone else who was on that list, but it’s complete BS that their names were leaked, and somebody should pay for those actions. Pathetic behavior.
Some people are now saying the Red Sox World Series Titles are now tainted? That’s some more BS. Totally ridiculous. Some people are throwing out the number that 85% of the players were on PED’s during the ‘90’s and into the 2000’s. I won’t go that high, but I’ll say about 65-70% is a good number. It was the ‘steroid era’ and every team that won titles in that era had chemically enhanced ballplayers on their team. It was an equal playing field. None of the titles for any of those teams are tainted. It was the ‘steroid era.’ Grab your cleanest needle or your tastiest strawberry shake with a roofie from Mickey D’s or GNC and juice up! Truthfully and in all seriousness, it’s a shame it came to this. For a baseball purist and someone who has loved the game and played the game since I was a little kid, it’s a shame. It really is, but we have to move on. This Ortiz failed drug test in '03 really shouldn't have caught anyone off guard or surprised anybody. We just didn't want to believe it because it was Big Papi. Shame on us.
Chuck Hanf
Two Cents From Beantown
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Comment by CMG
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by CofA
Sad Part is I DON'T really CARE........Just put this era down as the steroid era and go on. From here on out anyone on the juice should be banned for life.........Not for Juicing but for STUPIDITY.......Get the blood test
rolloing and let's get out of the steroid era NOW............ BTW........My guess on who the HOF on steroids is...... Ricky H. Once again Jose starts more controversy.
Comment by JimmyCasey
Comment by Chuck H
Two Cents From Beantown
TCFB
To me it taints the players themelves and it taints the record books.. Absolutely. The reason I'm saying it doesn't taint the world series victories is because during the '90's and '00's the majority of teams had some of their big guns on PED's. It's equal.. Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, Diamondbacks (hello Luis Gonzalez) amongst all the other WS winners in these times.
CofA,
He's the first guy that came to mind when I heard Canseco's comments too(Rickey), but I don't come out accusing guys.That's what I have you for!! haha
Comment by Donavan (The Sports Connection)
The Sports Connection
Donavan
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