i'd just like to state that i love sammy sosa unconditionally.

he shouldn't have used the corked bat, but i don't think he's used one for more than a few at-bats ever.

i think any though of this tarnishing his reputation is pretty ridiculous. this will go down as a silly footnote, and a mistake made when he was in a post-injury slump.

he's probably broken a few bats in his day, and none have been corked.

i had two conversations at work today, with separate people (one a red sox fan, the other i don't actually know), who both dislike sammy, essentially, because he plays to the crowd. and i'm thinking, is there any player, in any sport, so loved by the fans? (probably not.) and then i think, is there any player that loves his fans as much as he loves them? (definitely not.) and then i think, is there anything wrong with this? (actually, everything's right.) shouldn't all fans love their players, and all players love their fans right back? (yes.) isn't that what pro sports should be about? (yup.)

in the second conversation, my very erudite friend also stated that writers will try to use this incident to keep sammy out of the hall, because they don't like latin americans in the hall of fame. examples: tony olivo...think about how long it took for tony perez, or orlando cepeda...