David Ortiz

i don’t have much of any real insight to say on the shooting of David Ortiz, but I feel it ought not go without mention here.

How about more insight on just who he is as some might not have any idea that he is a former baseball player shot and in surgery for his wound.

For everybody in New England, this came like a body blow. My mother was inconsolable this morning, and I wasn't in very good shape myself. It is impossible to put into words what he means to the people of this area -- he is far more than a baseball player, he may be the most universally beloved New Englander since JFK. There's nobody who doesn't love Papi.

As to why -- well, he's one of us. "This is our fuc*ing city!" in the wake of the Marathon bombing didn't just speak to Bostonians, it was something that spoke to everyone whose roots are in New England. The Red Sox are a central part of what it means to be from New England -- and Ortiz gave us a moment of catharsis that was felt from Caribou to Hartford, not just with his deeds on the field, but by what he represented on that day. He -- this flamboyant Dominican man with a gigantic heart -- *is* New England. And there isn't one of us up here who isn't praying for him.