Global reaction was swift after Major League Baseball’s suspension of Manny Ramirez for using the female fertility drug HCG as a performance-enhancing drug.

The British banned Manny from their cricket leagues. Sweden demanded Manny should be have been given maternity leave rather than a suspension.

In New York, Yankee fans were too wrapped up in the decay of their franchise to care (but they’ll get around to it, trust me). In Los Angeles, fans were mourning the loss of their favorite player for 50 games, but couldn’t have cared less about why. Hey, it’s Hollywood. Everyone’s on drugs or had enhancement injections.

Nowhere has the reaction been so wide-ranging or entertaining as here in New England. It’s been amazing to watch it unfold, really.

The Manny haters feel vindicated. Whether they hated him because he sometimes didn’t run out ground balls or because he shoved an elderly traveling secretary to the floor, they treat his latest misdeed as further evidence that he is a despicable human being.

The Manny apologists feel let down. I’ve yet to figure out how anyone can feel let down by Manny Ramirez in matters concerning the integrity of the game. Apparently, they thought that Manny, for all his faults, had no reason to juice.

They were exceeded in their disbelief by the Manny deniers, who thought he couldn’t possibly undertake something as complicated as PED use because he’s a big ditz, Manny Being Manny and all that.They reasoned that if someone told Manny he needed to start cycling, he’d take a Huffy out of the garage and start pedaling. Har-har.

Guess they think Jose Canseco is a Mensa member.

As naive as the folks who couldn’t believe Manny was juiced are, I’d really like to sell some real estate to anyone who thinks we’re only currently in the twilight of an “era” of PED use. Some of these people actually believe that in the future, perhaps just five years from now, we’re going to look back and consider these the dark days of baseball. They think it is going to somehow magically stop, because of better testing or players having more scruples or because we’ll have a better idea of the long-term side effects and everyone will be scared off.

Yes, the peak of the steroids era has come and gone. The decline in video game-like home run totals tells us that. But we haven’t seen the last of the juicers. Not even close.

Keep in mind that Manny was caught using a drug that steroid users take when they are coming off their steroid cycle. They caught him using a drug associated with steroids, but didn’t actually catch him when he presumably had the steroids in his system.

So how did the testing miss that? A new masking agent perhaps, or did Manny just cycle his way around the testing?

The drugs will always be ahead of the tests, especially since the players’ association will never agree to more comprehensive screening such a blood tests. It will also never allow more severe penalties for violators. As long as players know they will get a second chance, many will be willing to risk getting caught the first time.

The next wave of reaction, which has already started, is that this revelation taints 2004 and 2007 for Red Sox fans. Once the Yankee fans stop feeling sorry for themselves and Joba’s mother, Red Sox fans will be hearing this. They think they’re off the hook because they’re championship teams of the ’90s, which could virtually field a starting nine from the Mitchell Report, now have company in the cheating department. They’ve been waiting for this day since 2004.

Speaking for myself, I’m willing to feel some remorse as a Red Sox fan if it is shared by fans of the Phillies, Cardinals, White Sox, Marlins, Angels, Diamondbacks, Yankees, Braves … how far back should I go? If every fan of every team will preemptively admit to every championship from here on being tainted, then I’m in, too.

I’m definitely not in with the pathetic Sox fans who still want to believe the 2004 team didn’t have PED users. They had their head in the sand if they didn’t believe it back then, and they certainly were buried in denial if they still entertained such naive ideas even up to the day before we learned about Manny. And spare me the indignant, “What will I tell my children?” screeds.

As for what this does to Manny’s Hall of Fame chances, he’ll get in eventually. A day will come when the holier-than-thou voters realize just how few Hall-worthy players either weren’t caught or weren’t strongly suspected of PED use. Too self-important not to enshrine at least one person every year, perhaps they’ll gain a little perspective and finally understand Major League Baseball is not pure, never was pure, and never will be pure.