It seems the latest Buchholz start combined with Wake going on the DL have pushed the Red Sox to desperate measures. For the second year in a row, the Sox have gone out and acquired a known performance-enhancing drug user. That, combined with his self-proclaimed addiction to porn, probably make Paul Byrd a great clubhouse guy.
Byrd was named as having purchased human growth hormone and syringes from a Florida anti-aging clinic that was under investigation. He claimed everything he took was prescribed, and I guess technically he wasn’t lying. From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Two of Byrd’s prescriptions for growth hormones were not written by a physician, according to a law enforcement source. Instead, the prescriptions were written by a Florida dentist, said the source, who asked not to be quoted by name because he was not authorized to comment. The dentist’s license was suspended in 2003 for fraud and incompetence, state records show.
Byrd discusses his porn addiction in his book, and also spoke about it during an ESPN interview:
It’s not a politically correct book. It’s not for a young audience. It’s for people in their 20s and 30s that go through similar battles, like with pornography. I’ve had a real struggle with pornography, from before I became a Christian, when pornography was the good old American way. After I became a Christian, it really began to bother me, but God didn’t really take it away. I struggle with porn one night, and somebody asks me a question about Jesus the next day in the outfield, so you feel like a hypocrite trying to share. It’s the elephant in the locker room.
He’s found religion, so we know Schilling will be a fan. I’m opposed to picking up the known cheaters, it will be interesting to see how Red Sox Nation reacts. And what better place to gauge reaction than right here? What do you say, SG Nation?
