Johnny Drama
Susan/Circle:
Ah, Johnny. I still have such a warm place for you in my haht, but ,dang bro, you make it tough on a girl when you continue to say things like this:
"They don't appreciate what they've let leave."
Mike:
Oh, sweet irony … It'll nevah dawn on Damon to considah the converse:
You don't appreciate what you left behind.
Susan/Circle:
Of course, if you asked Damon to "considah the converse" he'd reply, "I can't because I'm signed with Puma."
Susan/Circle:
I mean he's tough, plays his ass off, and is so good looking, but he's not going to be recruited by Mensa anytime soon.
Mike:
And let's not forget, he left ovah a difference of $3 mil which has been pointed out time and again was actually a pay cut when you considah the cost of living in New York.
Susan/Circle:
I know. He played a hunch that the Red Sox were a temporary anomaly and the Yankees would be the ones bringing the bling.
Mike:
Well, that and he thought his mere presensce on a club could be the difference makah, but assembling a winning rostah is more complex than simply sticking with iconic veterans.
Susan/Circle:
Seriously. Look at the Red Sox. The only remaining players from "The Team" are Ortiz, Tek, Wake, Timlin and Youks.
Mike:
And, technically, Schilling.
Susan/Circle:
Yeah, true, poor forgotten Schill. But the point is that Theo and the Red Sox front office really stick to the plan — value ovah emotion.
Mike:
And the results speak for themselves.
Susan/Circle:
Do they evah.
Here's the learning for the week:
hunches suck
That's why Theo is good.
lc
Posted by: louclinton | 2008.09.25 at 09:25 AM
He'll always have Michelle and her pole ;-D
Posted by: Harwich Rich | 2008.09.25 at 09:31 AM
Love the new sriracha proof t-shirts. Do they come in plastic? Do they ship to the Southern Hemisphere?
And poor Johnny, hot bottom and all, is looking a bit silly.
sdu
Posted by: soxdownunder | 2008.09.25 at 09:35 AM
Sorry Caveman, you turn traitor and you suffer the penalties. Your idiocy is no longer appreciated.
Posted by: Colin | 2008.09.25 at 09:39 AM
I am starting to feel sorry for the caveman. "They be sorry for ever making me, best center fielder ever, take offer from other team, arrggg. I make them pay." Perhaps he could cuddle with "the best player in the league" to feel better about it all.
However, how does this rank with the Manny situation. Is there any correlation? It seems that there is a different feel to Manny's antics and his departure. Maybe I am wrong, but still trying to get a handle on how folks feel about Manny. Another Theo move for the better with disregard to emotions, or just mandatory clearing out the cancah?
Posted by: therev | 2008.09.25 at 10:06 AM
//If you asked Damon to "considah the converse" he'd reply, "I can't because I'm signed with Puma."//
Thank God I'm not having my usual coffee with Sriracha, 'cause that would have burned shooting through my nose.
Posted by: Bob | 2008.09.25 at 10:32 AM
Manny Who?
Posted by: yazbread | 2008.09.25 at 11:44 AM
I may be in the minority, therev, but Manny was and is my favorite player in baseball. Watching his swing is akin to hearing the opening chords to my favorite song, or something equally poetic. The dude's just incredible to watch at the plate... although, it's leaving a bad taste in my mouth watching him hit about .400 and get on base at an almost .500 clip since going to the Dodgers.
Posted by: Mike E! | 2008.09.25 at 12:21 PM
That taste is only going to get worse when he signs with the skanks in the off season :(
Posted by: Harwich Rich | 2008.09.25 at 01:19 PM
Wow HR, I mean if he truly and honestly did that, I wouldn't know what to do. I mean a man who contributed significantly to the 2004/2007 victories turning traitor? I mean the shock would be worse than that of Johnny Damon.
What really depends is how far he goes with the Dodgers. I really want the Cubs to win the NL but LA will be a contender.
Posted by: Colin | 2008.09.25 at 01:30 PM
I wonder why Manny's numbers skyrocketed when he left. Inferior pitching? new attitude? I wonder if he would have had the same stretch if he would have stayed? No matter what it seems the team is better without him.
Posted by: therev | 2008.09.25 at 01:44 PM
I read Damon's book "Idiot" during the offseason before he signed with the mfy. When I finished it, I told my wife, who was a huge Damon fan, that if she wanted to read and enjoy the book, she should do it ASAP, because there was no way he was coming back to the Sox. It was very clear that Damon equates "respect" with "total dollars". He would have gone to the yanks for a nickel more than the Sox offer, becase that meant, in his mind, that they had more respect for him. I suspect Manny will do the same. Even if he does sign a four year deal somewhere else, you know that come the trading deadline in year 3 or 4, if that team is out of it, he will end up with the mfy. Which is why I was never an advocate of trading the guy, until he bacame a club house cancer.
BTW, from his public comments, I think Paps has the same attitude regardng respect and dollars. We will find out very shortly about Tek's position on the matter.
Posted by: Steve in MD | 2008.09.25 at 01:49 PM
If someone came by my office to offer me a huge raise, you know what my answer would be: "Screw you! Our of respect for these TPS reports, I am going to stay and be sure to fill them out in triplicate with the new coversheet."
I loved watching Manny as much as everyone else and was sad to see him go, but baseball is his job and its his right to get paid for doing it.
Posted by: Pandyora | 2008.09.25 at 02:04 PM
New to this board. My $.02 is that the Manny/Johnny comps are way off, because Johnny played hurt, valued teammates, and never thought of orchestrating a trade via threat of hangdogging it (to use a rock climbing term). And Manny with the Yanks would be awesome to behold--Girardi has benched Cano for lack of hustle, I think he'd implode over the new guy's "mental lapses."
Posted by: jhammo | 2008.09.25 at 02:25 PM
Pandyora, I have no idea what a TPS report is, but I suspect perparing them doesn't result in the adoration of millions of fans, and does not currently pay you more money than you or your children could possibly spend in a lifetime of spending defined by the normal boundries of commons sense. Additionally, if the huge raise involved a move to a place where the higher taxes and cost of living would actully result in a net cut, you probalby wouldn't take it.
Posted by: Steve in MD | 2008.09.25 at 02:26 PM
"Welcome!" to some of the new names I see in the comments.
Damon is dead to me. I ran into a NY Post cover with him on it the day after he left and took a picture of myself giving the cover the finger. I still have that image and every Sox fan I show it to chuckles in agreement. He made himself the face of the team of "idiots" and then scattered as soon as the wind didn't blow his way just right.
I have an equal, if not worst, problem with Manny. He not only checked out but he did it in the middle of a potential pennant season. He forced the team into an ugly deal where part of our "compensation" was purely to rid a negative from the locker room bottom line even if it meant tossing out so much positive in his hitting and not being able to get equivalent return in value.
No, what I don't appreciate is players who don't accept their role. None of them are bigger than the team. I don't want to see Timlin pitch in high pressure situations, but I'm still glad to call him a Red Sox. That's the difference between a Red Sox and a guy like Damon.
Posted by: Kaz | 2008.09.25 at 02:41 PM
Another frequent reader, but new commenter here.. Johnny.. Manny.. Ugh. Damon makes one understand how you can love someone and then hate, yes hate, them later on. Mftraiter. I know, baseball is a business and all, but an mftraiter all the same - and drinking the hanky kool-aid all the way - "it doesn't matter that we're not in the playoffs, we're still better than all of you haters out there!"
Manny.. I was the biggest Manny fan and defender of all things being manny. His swing remains a thing of beauty. BUT, it's been years since the Red Sox saw a run like he is on right now.. something stinks here. let's review:
early 08 - "I want to play in Boston for the rest of my days"
mid 08 - celebrity deathmatch in the club house
late 08 - Hangdoggin it (perfect term) and letting the team down so he could weasel his way out of a contract
At this point the Sox had to dump him - a great player with a bad tude is a bad player.
3 Days later - "I want to play in LA for the rest of my days"
You knnow what I hate about the Dodgers making the post season? Manny gets rewarded for his little coup. Aaarrrggghhh!!!!
I have to suspend this rant to go deal with another issue right now and can only rant about one thing at a time - probably a good thing I'm not runnning for POTUS.
Posted by: JB in NC | 2008.09.25 at 03:45 PM
Nice to have some new blood in here. I'm thirsty.
Posted by: Bob | 2008.09.25 at 03:53 PM
I read Johnny's book Idiot too, in that giddy period after the 04 WS where I would have read ANYTHING about the Sox, up to and including Shaughnessy... but BOY was that shit a waste of money. I don't think the boy really remembers much of the season. There are about three brain cells rattling around up there... so I cut him some slack.
SkyTV comes in a week, and they promise tons of sports stations with my deluxe world package. I better get some Sox action. Jen from HI and I have a date in front of the brand new flat screen at midnight one of these days! Bummer not to be in Beantown for the playoffs though... Enjoy it for me!
Posted by: Natalie | 2008.09.25 at 04:08 PM
/And Manny with the Yanks would be awesome to behold--Girardi has benched Cano for lack of hustle, I think he'd implode over the new guy's "mental lapses."/ Heh, I figured he and Larry Bowa would have come to fisticuffs by now, but not such luck.
Posted by: Steve in MD | 2008.09.25 at 05:35 PM
While the idea of Manny wearing pinstripes is positively nauseating, it may not serve the MFY well. Their problem is not offense. It's pitching and age. Manny solves none of those problems, eats into the payroll, is a defensive risk, and does not fit into a consistent strategy that will bring them victory. With that said, it would cut the heart out of RSN. Being the evil empire they are, they might make the move simply out of spite. Could Cashman and Stienbrenner be that shallow?
Posted by: Lazlo Freem | 2008.09.25 at 06:04 PM
/Could Cashman and Stienbrenner be that shallow?/ Hanky, without a doubt. As for Cashman, there's only a 50-50 chance he'll be back next year, and a push by Hanky for Manny could well be the straw that breaks that camel's back.
Posted by: Steve in MD | 2008.09.25 at 06:42 PM
@Steve in MD:
Don't know what a TPS report is? You need to rent Office Space yesterday, and watch it twice to make up for missing it for the last 8 years.
Posted by: COD | 2008.09.25 at 10:58 PM
Manny was/is my favorite player, too. Just to give another opposing viewpoint. But understandable and even a net positive that the Sox traded him, I admit.
Posted by: Devine | 2008.09.26 at 12:31 AM
Agree to Manny. Awesome player and he did seem to have some good karma in Boston until July swung around...after the trading deadline (except in 2003, 2005,2006), his performance was stellar. He'll only be able to DH for Yanks. He can't cover left field. He's better with LA. It fits his personality.
Isn't Bore-ass Damon's agent? I think if you look at the source of the mind-meld, it goes back to his Eevilness. I think BoreAss also worked for Lehman Bros, Bear Stearns, and WaMu.
On a brighter note about human nature (given the suckiness and dour mood on the Decline of Empire USA) for all of the shittiness of Gagne's performance last year, I was impressed by this gesture:
"Brewers RHP Eric Gagne bought 5,000 unsold tickets to Thursday's game and gave them away on the Brewers' Web site. They were gone in 20 minutes."
Who cares if he did it just to fill the stands, or that fucking Selig wouldn't/couldn't do it, or if he did it as a tax write-off. It's still a cool thing. Even if he was drunk when he agreed to do it. Or on steroids.
Posted by: Genghis Ortiz | 2008.09.26 at 02:21 AM
Hi sox fans. I don't have anything new to add to the above discussion; just checking in from the UK. Natalie is on vacation and I'm chilling out with Tess. It's hard to be away at such an exciting time in the season but totally looking forward to the SkyTV midnight games.
re: Damon I would preface the title "idiot" with a 7 letter word, starting with F and ending with ING.
Posted by: jen in HI | 2008.09.26 at 05:04 AM