Bye Bye Johnny Good Bye

I miss the days of Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan and Pete Rose. The days of my youth when the men on the diamond represented the team, they were the team. They loved to wear the uniform as much as the fan loved the team. They were not just some over paid athlete who wears the uniform as long as the price is right. They were fixtures on the team, bigger than life. I can still name every position player on the Big Red Machine but I can't remember who played 2nd base for the Red Sox two seasons ago.

The rivalries of my childhood were real. The Red Sox fans hated the Yankees and so did the players, maybe even more so. Now the rivalries exist only in the stands and in the media that does its best to pump up the fan. Tickets to see the Red Sox play the Yankees sell for 10 time there face value. But the players? Hell they arrive together in the same car (Manny and Arod) or go out to eat after the game. The rivalry is no more real than Peter Pan and Captain Hook played by best friends in a grade school play. Oh, they put on a good show, they say the right things and may even fight (Arod & Varetek) but it is just a act, a momentary flash in the pan, something that sells tickets and that is after all what they are there for, to sell tickets and make the huge amount of money it takes to pay their salaries.

Johnny Damon is gone. The "idiot" has signed with the dreaded Yankees. He will come to Fenway and get boos from the fans. The same fans who cheered him just a few months ago. He will make 52 million dollars. Now who is the idiot?

Personally I hope he gets razor rash. Go Sox