You may recall that they won the Series in 2009 and fans still didn’t cotton to him. They bit their tongues and disliked him less, but that was about it.
Hush now. Would you tell Virginia that Santa Claus and The Patriot Way aren’t real?
Well, actually he is. The difference, especially between A-Rod and Ortiz, is that A-Rod is an absolutely detestable worm of a man, one of the most purely unlikable human beings to play baseball in my lifetime. Even leaving steroids aside he’s an unsportsmanlike slapnad. Ortiz, on the other hand, is a likable and decent fellow.
If you’re a celebrity, personality matters.
That’s all great if you don’t mind being spoon-fed P.R. bullshit from flacks and media tards. Personality whatever. For all we know, Big Sloppy spends the off-season eating kittens down in the D.R.
A-Rod appears to be an asshole but let’s not talk about sportsmanship. Manny and Papi were juiced as fuck…they and all their brethren don’t get a pass because they’re more “likable” than Rodriguez.
Precisely. It’s perfectly acceptable to embrace unrepentant cheaters when they’re likeable and decent fellows.
Well, Manny Ramirez certainly did not get a pass, inasmuch as steroid suspensions pushed him out of baseball.
As to Ortiz, what is he getting a pass for? He’s said to have been among the players who tested positive in the 2003 dress rehearsal, true, but it was understood that would not be a suspendable offense., and indeed there is some doubt as to whether he actually tested positive or not because the list is of highly dubious accuracy. Since then, nothing. So tell me, what rules has he broken and then not been suspended for? Where is the double standard?
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Precisely. It’s perfectly acceptable to embrace unrepentant cheaters when they’re likeable and decent fellows.
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I don’t know if it’s acceptable or not, but it happens.
I’m a Yankee fan. I didn’t want A-Rod, but we got him and so I was compelled to root for him. What can you do? I didn’t want to see Clemens in pinstripes either.
But I think that the Biogenesis scandal isn’t a victory for baseball but rather a lesson instructing how easy it is to get away with doping. A-Rod may be a giant douchebag, but I’d bet my checking account there are dozens, if not hundreds, more using those testosterone lozenges and God knows what else.
I disagree, it was a huge victory for MLB because they spent a ton of time and money aggressively pursuing the Biogenesis leads to take down two of the biggest names in baseball (and also caught a lot of smaller fish in the same net.) It’s obvious that you can get around the testing with a lab behind you, but if you do, then you’re much more likely to leave a paper trail. MLB could have just used the test results to say that the game was clean, and leave it at that, but they went the extra miles to show they were serious, AND they also ended up with the support of many of the rank and file members.
And while you have convinced yourself that David Ortiz is sticking needles in his ass, then why hasn’t some NY media outlet dug up anything? Don’t you think that would be a big story? The kind that would sell a lot of newspapers or boost the ratings on a tv station?
For the big stars, making big money, it’s a huge risk to use PEDS, at least in a comprehensive, all out application. ARod lost at least $25 mil. How much did Braun lose in salary and good will? Maybe once stars in their late 30s, searching for one more big payday, see the reward greater than the risk – ala Manny Ramirez, who was searching for that extra $100 million payday at the end of his deal with the Red Sox. But the risk to Ortiz “nice guy” reputation is still pretty large as he gets closer to retirement. If his rep stays clean, he’s a cinch to get some life-time services contract as the Sox’ rep to the D.R. or some such nonsense.