Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games due to violating MLB's drug policy.  Damn it Manny! Why did you have to be so stupid?  Now everyone that had to listen to Red Sox fans gloat and cheer over the past five years of Sox success has ammunition to knock us down.  We always knew you were dumb and detached from reality but this dumb?  Couldn't your millions upon millions have purchased someone to think for you? 

I have to admit that Manny getting caught adds a small asterisk next to the 2004 and 2007 World Series championships but if I had to do it all over again, I'd do it in a heartbeat.  There's a 97 year old man that I know that watches every single Red Sox game as if it were a religion.  I wanted them to win in 2004 so that he could see a championship he'd remember.  So if I had to do it again, there's no doubt in my mind I would go right along with it even if I knew he was juicing.  Those not from Boston or Chicago cannot understand the idea of living your entire life without seeing a championship and how that fact weaves its way into the collective psyche of the team's fan base.  Losing was a rite of passage for Red Sox fans.  New Red Sox fans won't understand it; outsiders can't understand it because it transcended the individual and became the cultural norm for all of New England for over eight decades.  It's unfortunate that someone like Manny could take Red Sox Nation to the promised land and then let us down in such a colossal manner.

That said, I don't think the suspension of Manny adds an asterisk to the 2004/2007 Red Sox championships that's as big as say Barry Bond's asterisk.  Manny wasn't the only person on that team.  Manny didn't save us in 2003 and he didn't save us in 2004.  We lost in 2003 to Aaron "bleeping" Boone and Manny didn't steal that base in the 2004 ALCS.  But Manny's production was a reason why we won it all in 2004 and 2007.  Manny was also subject to numerous drug tests during the championship runs and passed them all so that has to count for something and lessen the asterisk.  Sad thing is that with all the steroid issues baseball has had, anyone that gets caught ends up casting a shadow of doubt over his entire career and over the teams' achievements that he played for.

Manny, what were you thinking?  How can I now put you on par with Griffey as having the sweetest swing in baseball?  Is Griffey the last old school good guy in the league?  Dumb, inexcusable and unfortunate.  I think we need a 2009 championship now just to put the world back on it's proper rotation.