Johnny Damon signs with Yankees

[Jack of Arcades]

I really don't understand the uproar.

[sublime]

[ QUOTE ]
I really don't understand the uproar.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Myrtle]

[ QUOTE ]
"So now your Boston Red Sox have no center fielder, no shortstop, and no first baseman, to go along with no Theo Epstein and no clue," he wrote. "The Red Sox found themselves looking at the 2006 season with huge holes at the top of their batting order and in the middle of their outfield."

[/ QUOTE ]

....This short paragraph sums the whole thing up, even though it was written by the self-serving jackass Shaughnessy.

There is no "Curse of the Bambino".......It has ALWAYS been the "Curse of the Ownerino's".

From the dour, mean-spirited, let-em-eat-cake, racist and classist stewardship of Tom & Jean Yawkey, carried on in fine traditon by the Laurel & Hardy of baseball Haywood Sullivan & Budddy Larue; & then the arrogant, anti-social duo of John Harrington & Dan Duquette.

It didn't take long after John Henry et al bought the team for both subtle and profound things to change....Ask anyone who goes to Fenway on a regular basis to compare and contrast a night at the park now vs. 10 years ago.

It has been transformed and it finally appeared as if we had ownership that "Got It".

They did things, big & little, that really mattered to the fans....cleaned the park up, got rid of the bad ushers & help, improved the concessions significantly, created a wonderful carnival-like gathering aread by closing down Yawkey Way during the games, Green Monster seats, right field roof seats......etc. etc.

All of this led a fan to believe.....Holy Geezez, finally an ownership that REALLY cares about US....the fans.

However........what message has that ownership, directed by Lucchino sent to the Red Sox players since the 2004 World Series?

Actions speak louder than words.........

Now, for those cynics out there (and I am one of them)...One could easily make the case that all that ownership has been doing is to provide amenities that should have been there all along so that they might further increase their profits. So what? At least they DID it, so even if they truly don't care, and it's all about the $$, the fans have gotten a better bang-for-their-buck!

However, for all their apparent enlightenment and customer-centric improvements, their policies towards their own players sure seems to be a different story.

At this moment, Red Sox ownership is taking a PR beating....Lets look past the PR aspects of it amd examine whether or not the beating is justified.

I'm a baseball guy....Played it, taught it, coached it for the last 40+ years. In the end, all I care about is what happens on the field & in the club house.

What has been happening since 2004 disturbs me on a number of levels.

Danger, Will Robinson....Danger.

[andyfox]

I don't either. The Yankees had a better lead-off hitter last year. RJ and Mussina are a year older than they were and they were already old last year. Except for Posada, everyone on the Yankees had a big year last year; one or two are bound to have a down year this year. What are the odds of Aaron Small wins his first ten decisions? The Yankees won with Bernie and Bubba in center last year, the Red Sox should be able to do at least that well.

They've picked up a stud in Josh Beckett, and if Mota gets his groove back he can be a very effective reliever. A healthy Loretta is a very good leadoff hitter. Schilling figures to be a factor too.

And there's plenty of time before the season starts.

[LearnedfromTV]

Simmons nails it:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...simmons/051223

The whole article is spot-on.

One paragraph:

"Fans can be incredibly unrealistic and naive. We expect athletes to maintain an unyielding loyalty to their current cities, even if they have been playing there for only 3-4 years. We expect them to understand the "importance" of something like the Sox-Yanks rivalry, to think exactly like us, to say to themselves, "Wait, I can't switch sides to the Yankees, that's our archrival!" We expect them to feel hatred for the teams that WE don't like, ignoring the fact that rivalries thrive solely because of the fan bases, because we're the ones keeping them alive. And we expect them to turn down Godfather offers out of loyalty to their fans, only we'll turn on them the moment they start struggling."

Beckett has revealed that he's very injury prone, especially because he's too young to have his injuries. He's talented, but a risk.

[bwana devil]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/

[kenberman]

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Beckett has revealed that he's very injury prone, especially because he's too young to have his injuries. He's talented, but a risk.

[/ QUOTE ]

haven't you been banned yet?

[bwana devil]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I really don't understand the uproar.

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[/ QUOTE ]

because we as fans try and establish team loyalty and it makes it hard when we find out the players have none.

baseball isnt structured like it used to be when yaz and rice played their whole career for the red sox. w/ free agents coming and going it's difficult for fans to even get behind the team when the entire line up changes every few years.

then when the red sox finally do win the series one of the core players responsible for the win goes and plays for the most most rivaled team. it's all emotion.

and the red sox will boo him this year and in a few years they'll forget all about

same thing w/ clemens. fans hated him for years and then he returned to fenway this year to pitch and he got a standing ovation. pissed me off. he spent great years w/ the team and then turned his back on the sox and then said he wants to go in the hall as a yankee.

bwana

[sublime]

well the fact that the typical fan and the media hate the red sox owners and the front office philosophy's make me feel great. i love everything they have done (or haven't) this offseason [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]