In an era when pro athletes are primarily concerned with image and sponsorships, most players would rather spout tired cliches than say something original. I think it’s time the Red Sox got some of those players. All-Star blowhard and occasional pitcher Curt Schilling is well known for his prolific blog, and many of the other Sox players are famous for shooting off at the mouth. Their seeming indifference to polite, reasoned thought was part of why the country fell in love with the Johnny Damon fronted “Idiots” in the first place.

If his impressive skills as a pitcher weren’t enough evidence, Jonathan Papelbon is now a true Red Sock. Never one to mince words, Papelbon let fly with some anti-Manny Ramirez sentiments that he probably wishes he could have back.

“It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that’s exactly what was happening,” Papelbon said, according to the magazine. “Once we saw that, we weren’t afraid to get rid of him. It’s like cancer. That’s what he was. Cancer. He had to go. It [stunk], but that was the only scenario that was going to work. That was it for us.”

I have no problem with the sentiment here and think that whatever crap Manny pulled at the end of his run in Boston, it was probably even more childish and disruptive than the media reported. Papelbon’s argument is not the problem, but using “cancer” as his metaphor is. Using cancer in that context is pretty common, but when one of your teammates actually had cancer, it’s not the best way to drive your point home. I picture Jon Lester reading Papelbon’s quote and saying, “I knew cancer, I had cancer, and Manny Ramirez is no cancer.”  That was probably more likely to be said by Lloyd Bentsen, but the point is that Papelbon could have picked any other plague, crime or ABBA song and it wouldn’t have come off as badly as comparing Manny to a disease that nearly killed his teammate.

Imagine if the Red Sox did a promotion where they had a ball game followed by a movie shown on the jumbotron for the stadium (not a bad concept, actually). Now bear with me and imagine that on one of these nights the film programmer chooses to screen The Accused, starring Jodie Foster. Now imagine that the Sox get clobbered by the Royals (yes, I know this entire scenario is ridiculous). In the post game press conference Papelbon is asked how the game went and replies, “Man, we just got raped out there tonight. No two ways about it. They pulled our pants down and gave us the business and we deserved it.”

I understand that what Papelbon said was hyperbole and if he was on any other team that didn’t have a cancer survivor this wouldn’t be a story.  But he isn’t on any other team, he’s on the Red Sox, a team full of guys who don’t know when to shut up.