Simmons: Ortiz is done

[jaybird2001wi]

The great majority of all of Bill Simmons' columns revolve around the NBA and random pop culture. But his David Ortiz column is intriguing in many ways: Simmons is a BoSox fan and may have surrendered to the idea that maybe Ortiz is done, mentions Ortiz's connections to questioned sluggers and the fact that maybe he may not be in a slump but rather at the end of his line.

But Simmons does raise quite a few questions in relation to David Ortiz. Maybe he did lie about his age and the reason it has never really come to the surface is that he does not frequent his Dominican Republic hometown due to his wife living in Northern Wisconsin.

The majority of Latin American ballplayers were exposed when they made attempts to gain work visas after the 9/11 incident where Homeland Security made it much harder for these players to receive work visas due to security. Following the beefed up security after 9/11, pretty much a ton of Latin players were exposed. Makes me wonder if Ortiz never quite faced it as much as his fellow Latin ballplayers because he does live in the States pretty much year round.

Also, he mentions his DR friends that have long been suggested as using PEDs. Maybe there is some truth to it, maybe there isn't.

But really, ever since Manny Ramirez was suspended, Simmons has been feeling extremely ashamed to be a Sox fan. Now he is under the impression his 2004 Sox were a bunch of cheaters, which he has stated before in previous columns.

[DocLuna7]

IIRC, Ortiz became an American citizen in the last year or two. I would think that he would have had to provide his birth information with an even tougher degree of scrutiny than if he were merely applying for a visa. Interesting article though.

[UeckerAddict]

I think die-hard Packer fan Ortiz is just bummed about the Brett Favre situation.

[PlayerHader]

Actually he stated a couple years ago that the Patriots were now his team. Simply feeding his base? I hope so.

[BrewCrewForever]

I skimmed this column. Probably going to the read the whole thing today. Simmons is one of my favorite columnist on the web, I hope with the NBA season just about done he writes more baseball columns. He has been pounding the NBA columns down our throats for awhile now.

[JimH5]

I highly recommend Bill's weekly podcast with his friend Jack-O as they discuss all things Red Sox & Yankees. It's really good, as both guys are well spoken, funny, and loyal to their teams. He does 3-5 shows per week, but the Jack-O ones are the best.

 

As for Papi. . .I'm not convinced that he's done just yet. Either that, or there's something more going on.

[Gobias Industries]

Seconded JimH5. I really like Jack-O. And Bill has come a long way on his podcasts since last year.

[BrewCrewForever]

Yeah the BS Report podcasts are awesome. And I third the Jack-O ones, he just calls him up at work and they talk baseball for like 30 to 40 minutes. I love it. One of my favorite BS Reports was when Bill had Michael Schur on from FJM.com, The Office and Parks and Recreation fame. It was informative and funny.