A bit of asymmetry between plans and reality
Bill:
The Red Sox are determined to be the champions of low scoring, one run winning games, but the motherfucking other teams refuse to cooperate.
Mike:
What totally evil sonzabitches!
Bill:
Seriously. Don't they know how we weakened our offense for the sake of defense? Don't they know we stockpiled so much pitching depth that we could trade Arroyo away? Don't they know Theo Epstein is to baseball what Alan Turing was to computers?
Bill:
Can I get a woot-woot for smallball!
Mike:
Unless something changes soonah rathah than latah, this is going to be one fuck of a long ass season.
Bill:
Yeah, I can't hardly wait for our -9 run differential to go up against the +46 of the Yankees.
Mike:
Hey, win or lose I'll be glad when Monday's over … At least then DirtDogs will quit with the Damon countdown shit and the Napoleonic writs on how Red Sox fans should act.
Bill:
No kidding. DirtDogs chiding us with "Don't be a Hater" and "Show Johnny What We're Made Of" is like getting angah management tips from Bobby Knight.
I'd boo the crap out of Damon if I were there. BDD can blow it out their nether regions--maybe I should write something up on how to be something more than a cheap tabloid mock-up of a website and send it to them.
Also, I watched the game last night on the ESPN2 feed, with Hershiser, who's normally pretty good. Last night, however, he must have said "grind it out" about 30 times. Anyone else notice this? Horrible, horrible, painfully bad game to watch last night.
Posted by: Redsauce | 2006.04.28 at 09:09 AM
Ogie will be there, and I'll be damned if I ever allow the BDD to think for me. Getting a tad bit preachy eh.....
Posted by: Ogie Oglethorpe | 2006.04.28 at 09:13 AM
Thanks for echoing my thoughts on the BDD. Loved the Bobby Knight comp. Tell me who to love? What's with Tito's lineups? Come back soon Coco!
Posted by: David B | 2006.04.28 at 09:34 AM
I don't have too much beef with Damon. Ferraris and idiot comments aside. It's clear that the powers that be didn't want him and he went with the best offer that was available to him. On the other hand, there is one rule for Red Sox players that has been around since Christ was a corporal and that is you do not play for the Yankees. He knew sigining with them was signing with the devil and a sin unforgivable to the fans of '04. He will be lambasted Monday and every time he goes to Fenway for the rest of his career. Hopefully he has enough class left to refrain from crying about it to the New York Post.
Posted by: Pond | 2006.04.28 at 09:40 AM
I agree, Boston Dirt Dogs is acting like an evil dictator of the nation. Johnny Damon went out in poor fashion and doesn't deserve to be applauded. I will be there and will not be cheering him not because he went to the yankees but he flat out said last year "I don't care about the money, it's not something that is important to me" and "I will never go to the yankees". and what reason did he give for leaving? I love the yankees and I had to follow the money? Its just so hypocritical. He's turned into an ego maniac. Then he continued for months after to bad mouth the red sox and try to recruit on Manny and speaks negatively us of in the press? He's not the same person he was when he played for us.
Posted by: Kara | 2006.04.28 at 09:47 AM
As I always say, even traitor members of The 25 will have my everlasting gratitude. AFTER they retire. Until then, Damon is a Skankee and I'll treat him as such.
Posted by: Bob | 2006.04.28 at 09:54 AM
What defense? Last night we looked like the Bad News Bears at times, it was excrutiating. I have faith the offense will come around. Right? Right?? Right???
When Johnny shuts up then so will I. Until then, I will lustily boo.
Posted by: Natalie | 2006.04.28 at 10:02 AM
I completely agree that the BDD does not speak for me, or for that matter, to me.
As for Johnny? As my Sicilian Godfather used to say, "That was then, this is now...he is dead to me."
Posted by: GaryGeiger | 2006.04.28 at 10:10 AM
I loved the words in the first panel in this strip. Damn it, other teams! Didn't you hear we're supposed to win any game in which we score more than one run?
Posted by: Devine | 2006.04.28 at 10:22 AM
Natalie-loved the bad news bears comparison! It was an excruciating game to watch....
and I would nevah, evah cheer Johnny "Sell out" Damon!
Posted by: Jennay | 2006.04.28 at 10:35 AM
BDD is just awful. It's the EEI clone of the net. It adds nothing to the debate, constantly tears players down, is semi-racist, and now it wants to tell me about how to show class? The Globe needs to can that site.
Posted by: americantrotter | 2006.04.28 at 10:45 AM
Oh yeah, I'll boo every day he comes to Fenway until he retires. Only then will he deserve any love from me.
Posted by: americantrotter | 2006.04.28 at 10:46 AM
Despite the character's ball busting of BDD today, for me personally, I'm more leaning toward BDD's suggestion.
But I also don't find myself slighted in the least by Damon's actions. But, of course, I never ever believed a word Damon said, so all the "I'll never play with the Yankees..." stuff just went in one ear and out the other for me.
Of course, your mileage may vary.
And, as I've said before, Red Sox Nation is a big tent and whether you boo, cheer, or remain indifferent to Damon, you're still a Red Sox fan.
Posted by: h.b. | 2006.04.28 at 11:04 AM
That's rich, BDD telling people to act with class.
Traitor or not, Damon's a yankee. Isn't that enough to get anyone booed?
Posted by: Ryan with a Capital "R" | 2006.04.28 at 11:22 AM
That's what is great about your work, h.b., it is certainly opinionated, but never (to me) judgemental
Posted by: GaryGeiger | 2006.04.28 at 11:24 AM
GaryGeiger, too right about Johnny Demon..your Sicilian grandfather must have know my black-hearted Irish grandmother...your either with us or against us...right now JD is a minion of the (not so) Great Satan of the Bronx.
Let's hope there will be enough folks praying for his soul in Baseball Purgatory than he can come over to the light when he is done (with baseball)...oh, forgot, the church cancelled Purgatory a while back...sorry, JD, hope there's plenty of ice water (another one of my gram's expressions).
Posted by: Follower of Tito | 2006.04.28 at 11:35 AM
...oops..."you're either with"...not "your"...sorry, I picked a bad week to quit Crank...
Posted by: Follower of Tito | 2006.04.28 at 11:38 AM
It's pretty hypocritical for the Dirt Dog to take the high road and chide Sox fans after all the mud he's flung in recent years. What's next? An article by Mike Barnacle on ethical journalism?
Posted by: BosoxBob | 2006.04.28 at 11:53 AM
I'm sure you've all seen the video of Delmont Young chucking the bat at the ump. That's how I felt last night watching the Indians blow up the Sox. Ah, what are you gonna do? I guess those games happen sometime. Fortunately I was at a bar and they changed the channel to an NBA game ... I never thought I'd actually welcome the chance to watch the NBA.
Posted by: IkeG | 2006.04.28 at 12:17 PM
Johnny Muhammed gets no applause from me. I won't boo, but he will not receive congratulations or encouragement considering the way he went out (and for *less* money since the cost of living in Manhattan is higher than downtown Boston by a greater amount than the contract difference he received to go to New York).
Posted by: Kaz | 2006.04.28 at 12:35 PM
Just saw this in the comments over at SG:
http://strokinarod.ytmnd.com/
(best viewed in IE, it seems)
Posted by: Kaz | 2006.04.28 at 12:38 PM
Man, HB I'm SO glad I haven't looked at dirtdogs in like a year and a half. Since when is a Red Sox fan expected to cheer for a Yankee? I was upset a couple years ago when the crowd gave Clemens a standing O after he left a game at Fenway while the Sox still had a chance to pull it out.
I agree with the fan who saw Joe Torre in the elevator one time and told him "We'd rather beat you guys than find Bin Laden." Torre thought the guy was joking, which only shows that tumor got more of his gray matter than many thought...
No. Cheering. For. Anyone. Wearing. Pinstripes. Period.
Posted by: pawsoxpop | 2006.04.28 at 12:46 PM
Of course maybe I'd cheer him in the ninth inning if he goes 0-4 and makes the error that allows the winning to run to score. But then I'd be cheering what he did for the Sox, not the stinkees. Just like the folks who cheered Mariano Rivera on opening day last year...
Posted by: pawsoxpop | 2006.04.28 at 12:49 PM
This season has been suspect ever since the fatman took the mound. As for Damon, my daughters still wear their WWJDD t-shirts and he remains ever etched in my mind hitting a grand slam off Vazquez. Watch - he will throw out the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning next week and preserve a Yankees victory. [It could happen if JD played 2nd base for a game].
Posted by: yazbread | 2006.04.28 at 01:07 PM
Yeah, Yazbread, I'll always remember Johnny Damon 2004 fondly. But I have no use for JD2006-10. My daughter has traded in her Damon shirt for an Ortiz 34 and I see no need to cheer the man as long as he's wearing pinstripes.
If your wife dumped you and married your worst enemy, would you still have to send her flowers on your ex-anniversary? I wouldn't. I guess dirtdogs would. Which makes them bigger men than I am, I suppose. Or stupider. You decide.
Posted by: pawsoxpop | 2006.04.28 at 01:20 PM
I already had my chance here out west to boo the Demon in the A's opening series against the skanks. And I was definitely not alone. The crowd erupted into the Yankees Suck chant more than they even do at Fenway!
There were Yankee Hating shirts of every variety everywhere you looked. And the fewer than normal Spankee fans that did show up were quiet & polite & rather scared looking if you ask me. Course it is Oakland...
Posted by: Ice Princess | 2006.04.28 at 01:29 PM
So based on our small sample size here in the comments it looks like the boo's will be the majority on Monday.
Posted by: h.b. | 2006.04.28 at 01:40 PM
I don't mind BDD so much, sometimes its good, sometimes, not so much. I'm all for booing, and not because "I will never be a Yankee." The man gets verbal diarrhea in front of a mic, whatever he says is meaningless. For me, he crossed the line, plain and simple. I was at Fenway when Orlando and the Angels came, and he got a heartfelt SO. But this is different. Then again, still trying to figure out wtf to do with my Che/Johnny tee shirt from Blohards.....
Posted by: dirtdog in ny | 2006.04.28 at 03:26 PM
Headline on some sportswriter's column next week:
"Johnny, We Heartily Booed Ye"
Posted by: pawsoxpop | 2006.04.28 at 04:58 PM
Nice to see most of the soxaholix fans are in unison against BDD. I hate the Globe's propaganda job pushing them as the "voice" of RSN. Gimme a break. BDD relishes throwing guys under the bus when they have a bad game and we're supposed to heed their advice to "act with class"? Spend less time poorly photoshopping Foulke's face onto various embarrassing images and do some web design post-1997 while you're at it.
As for Damon, I think anything from outright non-interest to fierce booing is absolutely what he deserves. Sorry BDD, I know what he did in 2004 but that was 2004, but I don't root for yankees, period. If Damon really wanted to stay here, he could've taken the Sox's offer. The difference between guys like him and guys like Ray Bourque is precisely because its not about the money. Bourque took salary cuts so the team had more cash to sign other talent. That's class. Damon looks at the Sox's offer to raise his salary as "disrespect". That's just greed. And if that's what you're about, fine - don't spend hours insincerely pouring your heart out about how you felt betrayed.
Posted by: illegitimate son of dwight evans | 2006.04.28 at 06:41 PM
As long as JD plays for the Spankees, he will hear my boos all the way from the westcoast. Once he retires, or if he moves elsewhere, I will relent. Until then, like GG said earlier in the thread, "he is dead to me".
Posted by: vancouversoxfan | 2006.04.28 at 07:29 PM
F the BDD. They don't speak for the true hearts and minds of those who love this team. What Damon did in 2004 will be forever in all of our hearts, and I'll think about cheering him when he retires. But that greedy SOB betrayed us when he signed on with the MFY, and I don't believe anyone in their right mind who loves this team should cheer his Ben Franklin ass. Had he gone anywhere else - fine. Good luck. The F'ing Yankees. He makes me throw up in my mouth every time he says how the Sox disrespected him with a $40 Million offer. Didn't want him? They put up $10 million a year, and that's a decent copntract by any stretch for a centr fielder who throws like my little sister. F-you Johnny Damon. F-you right in the mouth.
Posted by: Santo | 2006.04.30 at 09:05 AM
LOL, Santo. Exactly. You guys already said everything I wanted to say, so if you want my opinion, read the last 10 comments or so. That is all. John Damon = Yankee = Crap. Until he goes to another team or retires.
Posted by: Philly Patri0t | 2006.04.30 at 01:45 PM
Ok, I just need to vent. Could Seanez possibly suck any more than he already does?? Sox only down by a run, I'm feeling the comeback vibes, then he goes and fucks everything up by giving up a two-out, two-run homer to Carl Crawford, who has very little power.
Sox go down in order in the 8th, with Papi and Manny getting the last two outs. We're a done tom turkey.
Posted by: Deepsub | 2006.04.30 at 03:36 PM