When you think of professional athletes, generally you imagine players in prime physical condition. However, even athletes – whose job almost always calls upon fitness – get lazy and out of shape. Below is a list of the most egregiously out of shape, fat, and/or slovenly of all time.
10. Jerome Bettis – He was still effective as a goal line back late in his career, but I’m sure the coaches wouldn’t have minded him getting a little svelter.
9. Babe Ruth – You could have called him the Sultan of Salt, too. He loved to eat and drink …read more

It’s been a long season for David Ortiz. He started off the season in a massive slump. Then his name got tangled in steroids controversies. On Wednesday, the slugger for the Boston Red Sox hit a walk off homer in the bottom of the ninth against the Chicago White Sox to add some joy to his season.
In the bottom of the second inning, Ortiz hit a solo shot to tie the game at 1-1. With the ballgame tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Ortiz twisted a homer around the Pesky Pole to give Boston a 3-2 win.
On …read more

David Ortiz, the slumping slugger for the Boston Red Sox, is trying everything to get his season back on track. The next thing he’ll try is to check his vision.
Although Ortiz says he has always had good vision, he has suffered from dry eyes lately. On Monday, he’ll head to the doc to make sure he can see the big E on the eye chart.
The Red Sox would love for Ortiz’s struggles to be vision related. Right now, he’s hitting .188 with one homer and 21 RBIs. That is a far cry from a player who hit 54 homers in …read more

Even though David Ortiz hit his first home run of the season last Wednesday, that didn’t turn around his season. In fact, Big Papi is struggling more than ever now.
The hefty designated hitter is batting .195 and has one homer, 18 RBI, 15 runs and 39 strikeouts. Last season, Ortiz was slowed by injury but wasn’t anywhere this bad. Right now, he’s one of the worst hitters in the American League.
There have been whispers of lowering Ortiz in the batting order to get him out of the three spot. Those whispers are now getting louder. The Red Sox have …read more

David Ortiz has been given a few days off to clear his mind and rediscover his groove at the plate. His in-season vacation will be over on Tuesday when the Boston Red Sox take on the Toronto Blue Jays.
In the three games without Ortiz, the Red Sox went 1-2 against the Seattle Mariners. Their lone win was a 5-3 victory on Saturday when Josh Beckett picked up his fourth win and Jonathan Papelbon picked up his tenth save.
Boston only managed 11 runs in those three games so taking Ortiz out of the lineup didn’t exactly open up the floodgates. When …read more

David Ortiz has long been a staple in the middle of the Boston Red Sox lineup. On Friday, manager Terry Francona decided to give Ortiz a day off. The manager hinted that Ortiz will be held out a few days in hopes of getting the slugger out of his slump.
The 33-year-old native of the Dominican Republic is hitting .208 with no homers and 15 RBI in 34 games this season. Perhaps his worst game came on Thursday when he was 0-for-7 at the plate.
Ortiz doesn’t have a homer in 144 at-bats — the longest stretch of his career without a …read more

Firstly, thank you to the fan who brought the “Big Papi? More like Big Poopie!” sign. You, sir, are a hero. While I am immensely disappointed in myself for not coming up with that scatological nickname — indeed, I’m disappointed that I haven’t even heard it before — I am pleased that you, fan with Big Poopie sign, brought it to my attention. It is so delightfully immature that no one could take legitimate offense to it. Even though Ortiz hit a towering home-run, I could still chuckle at the Big Poopie sign, and it made another ugly Tigers loss …read more