Et tu, Bronson?
Bronson Arroyo admits he's probably on the 2003 list too. He says some interesting things. But it's not enough to eliminate the sadness over Papi. ... Gerry, Steve, Mazz, Dan and Bert are all in rough agreement: Papi and the WS wins are tarnished. But I'm more with Dan: I'll keep the trophies. ... My advice to Sox fans during these dark days: Buck up! This is war. OK, so performance-enhancement drugs are the rough moral equivalent of enhanced interrogation techniques. OK, so we firebombed and nuked a few too many cities during WWII. But did those mistakes really discredit the overall moral authority of our general cause? No! …

The only thing I dread is the inevitable phone call from Marty Silverstein. … But forget Yankees fans. I'm more worried about the return of the poignant-pain and tragic-losers types. ... No sighting yet of someone semi-seriously dusting off the Curse of the Bambino phrase. ... Now back to the war: "OK. I've just got to say it — this fucking team bores me."

Update -- Jimmy (via Adam, who has more reactions):

As far as I’m concerned, the only thing that upsets me about this whole situation is the tidal wave of insane reactions and irrational sanctimony that is is sure to drown us all over the next few days.

Update II -- Curt Schilling on whether the Sox’ accomplishments in ‘04 or ‘07 should be judged differently:

This makes me laugh. I have already seen the bandwagon fans start the *04 and *07 threads and remarks, people with teams who are far deeper into this than most other teams — as if this makes it all OK. Every team going back 10-15 years needs an * if you want to consider giving it to anyone.

Via Tyler Kepner, who seems to agree:

Perhaps it means that if an asterisk sticks to one group of champions, it could also apply to all. And if every great team of an era has an asterisk, what is the point of the asterisk, anyway?

  ¶ 5:04 AM