When I first heard that David Ortiz’s name had come up on the anonymous 2003 testing list, I was not surprised. I mean, he was a power hitter. Steroids give you power. Do the math! (I like math). It made sense. When the BoSox won their first world series in 86 years, it was largely in gratitude towards Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. But then Manny tested positive for female fertility drugs (he would later cry that the media wasn’t considering his feelings). Soon, it wasn’t too far of a leap to be suspicious of Ortiz, if not already. But then Ortiz came out this preseason and condemned the use of steroids, saying,

“I would suggest everybody get tested, not random, everybody. You go team by team. You test everybody three, four times a year and that’s about it. Ban ‘em for the whole year. I know that if I test positive by using any kind of substance, I know that I’m going to disrespect my family, the game, the fans and everybody, and I don’t want to be facing that situation.”

People applauded him. Yay Papi!! Finally, someone said what we were all thinking (smiley face). Oh, what? David Ortiz's name is now on the 2003 banned substance list? Wwwhhaatt?? So now he was labeled as baseball’s biggest hypocrite. I, myself, couldn’t disagree with Big Papi’s preseason rant. As far as he knew, no one was going to find out about any banned substances. He had now given up the stuff (what ever that stuff was), and was clean. His slumping numbers clearly showed it. And so why not condemn the juice? Forget about the past! Testing was now too strict, and the consequences were too severe. So why not condemn anybody and everybody for being dumb enough to still use.

But on July 30, 2009, David Ortiz got his hand caught in the cookie jar. He inevitably condemned himself and became the new victim of the “steroid” test leaking. But of course, Ortiz said he never took steroids. Yet again, he was a hypocrite now, and no one cared. Besides, too many people had heard too many lies and seen too many fingers being wagged. No one was going to believe a baseball player.

It turns out this anonymous testing for substances in 2003 is not the most accurate, let alone anonymous test out there. After David Ortiz's name got leaked, information was revealed that just because a player's name was on that list, it did not mean that he took any banned substances. In fact, the testing methods used in the survey were behind normal procedure, and lacked quality. Let alone the fact that certain kind of legal nutritional substances could trigger a positive test.

So now we don't know what Ortiz tested positive for. Was it steroids? Was it female fertility drugs? Or maybe it was Flintstones chewables. Ortiz said he was careless in 2003 and took many supplements that he did not have enough knowledge about. Well great. Now I don't know what to believe. It seems plausible that a supplement taking Ortiz could test positive for this misleading test. But what is more important is that we fans have no clue anymore. We may know about ARod, Bonds, and McGuire, but many names still loom ahead. Has Derek Jeter shot up? What about others, like Evan Longoria (sorry Eva, maybe I'll find something to write about you one day... one day). Or dare I mention Pujols? The only thing that has seemed to keep fans sane is the idea that somewhere, somehow, there was a list of 104 players who tested positive for steroids in 2003. But now it may be less than 104 players, many of them didn't even test for steroids (in fact, it could just be a substance that wasn't banned or some GNC prduct), and a lot of the testing was kinda shabby in the first place. In a sport where we barely trust our players, we now barely trust our media. I guess we just don't know anything, anymore. Play ball.