David Ortiz hates it when you bring up that he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 (a fact confirmed by the union). The latest target of his ire: MLB Network hosts who declared he has received a "free pass" for his transgression.
"What pisses me off is the whole thing about, why does my name got to be mentioned in that? What did I have to do with that? I saw on MLB the guys talking about it, and then they brought my name up, and one of the guys said that I got a free pass on that. And to be honest with you, in this country, nobody gets a "free pass."
Who can forget the night Ortiz threw Red Sox manager Terry Francona's post-game press conference off key when he barged in to cry over an RBI he felt he should have gotten. Francona looked like he'd just been punched in the stomach. Just shut up, will ya, Big Papi, Joe Torre said. "Official scorers should never give any benefit of the doubt to the home team." Torre, MLB executive vice-president for baseball operations, changed a scoring in Ortiz's favor earlier in the year in a game against the Texas Rangers.
David Ortiz announced his retirement from the Boston Red Sox prior to the 2016 season. He has been part of three World Championship teams and has reached his personal goal of 500 home runs. This will be his 20th season in major league baseball.
Ortiz in particular was one of the Boston sports stars who lifted the city's spirits the most in the wake of the 2013 Marathon Day bombings by declaring in an unforgettably emotional speech following the Boston manhunt, "This is our [expletive] city."
The Gold Watch
Apparently, the tradition of giving gold watches originated back to the 1940s and The Pepsi Co. The concept of “you gave us your time, now we are giving you ours,” made sense when people stayed with a company for three or four decades and the price of gold was about $34 an ounce. Today, the average length of job tenure is roughly five years and the price of gold hovers near $1,600 an ounce, a pricey change that would either put more companies out of business or see more watches end up in a pawn shop.
The Boston Red Sox blamed last year's poor television ratings on popular announcer Don Orsillo, and fired him. A sacrificial lamb is a metaphorical reference to a person or animal sacrificed (killed or discounted in some way) for the common good. Even the great David Ortiz won't be able to mask that 162 game snoozefest.
The Kobe Bryant sexual assault case began in July 2003 when the news media reported that the sheriff's office in Eagle, Colorado had arrested professional basketball player Kobe Bryant in connection with an investigation of a sexual assault complaint filed by a 19-year-old hotel employee. Bryant had checked into The Lodge and Spa at Cordillera, a hotel in Edwards, Colorado, on June 30 in advance of having surgery near there on July 2 under Dr. Richard Steadman. The woman accused Bryant of raping her in his hotel room on July 1, the night before the surgery. Bryant admitted to an adulterous sexual encounter with his accuser, but denied the assault allegation. The case was dropped after Bryant's accuser refused to testify in the case. A separate civil suit was later filed against Bryant by the woman. This was settled out of court and included Bryant's publicly apologizing to his accuser, though admitting no guilt on his part.
Kobe Bryant says Colorado sexual assault case was “turning point” in career. "Was I afraid of going to jail"? Yes. It was twenty-five to life, man. I was terrified. The one thing that really helped me during that process — I’m Catholic, I grew up Catholic, my kids are Catholic — was talking to a priest. It was actually kind of funny: He looks at me and says, ‘Did you do it?’ And I say, ‘Of course not.’ Then he asks, ‘Do you have a good lawyer?’ And I’m like, ‘Uh, yeah, he’s phenomenal.’ So then he just said, ‘Let it go. Move on. God’s not going to give you anything you can’t handle, and it’s in his hands now.
How polarizing is Kobe? On basketball-reference, there is a fan index that measures a player's popularity. Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Lebron James, Hakeem Olajuwon, John Stockton, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Patrick Ewing, Chris Paul and Charles Barkley are all in the top 20. Kobe Bryant is Number 348, trailing Cuttino Mobley of the Houston Rockerts who averaged 13.4 points per game for his 11 year career. Bryant is third alltime in regular season scoring with over 33, 000 points as well as third place in playoff scoring with 5,640.
Kobe Bryant's final game against the Boston Celtics was on Sunday night. Bryant shot 11 for 28 from the field and four for 11 from three point range. He contributed one assist. His Los Angeles Lakers fell to 16 wins, 60 losses for the season.
The roller coaster ride is nearly at an end. The basketball world has been forced to watch Kobe Bryant accumulate records that will be nearly impossible to break. Kobe has taken the most shot attempts in NBA history, and has missed over 14, 000 shots. He will finish with an average of 25 points per game, 4.77 assists per game and one MVP after 20 years.
I think God shut the TV off, too.
Paul Murphy
Follow me on Twitter at @_prmurphy
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