Filed under: Boston Red Sox
I called my dad as soon as I found out. “Did you hear the news?” I said in a less than Christmassy voice. He knew exactly what I was talking about. The news wasn’t that Aunt Edna was making her famous fruitcake for Christmas, or that my buddy Hahs got engaged. Nope. It was far more dismal than that. Johnny Damon is a Yankee.
I went through about every Elisabeth Kubler-Ross grieving stage in the span of 15 minutes. Denial. Oh, he didn’t really sign with the Yankees. Oh, he won’t pass his physical. We could still sign him. Shock. What the fuck? Is Johnny Damon really a Yankee? What the crap is going on?(said with a troubling blank look on my face) Anger. Stupid traitor Johnny Damon. Have fun with your weak right arm and your cortisone shots you prick. Depression. Oh no. We’re doomed. The Yankees are going to win the pennant and then the World Series again. Woe is me. And finally, the curse of every red sox fan, Hope. Hey, we’re all right. We’ll be ok. We can get a good, young lead-off hitter in a trade or something. Yeah that’s it. A trade. Oh we’re fine.
Now the hard part is maintaining this stage. Or else be doomed to depression again. I think its numbness now. I am pretty sure I actually don’t really know how to react.
ESPN.com has a picture of him up as their headline. Great. I know its breaking news but why must we get tortured by this. Maybe I’m doing it to myself.
I keep running this situation over and over again in my head. A beardless, clean-cut Johnny Damon as the first guy to take the batter’s box in Fenway Park as the most heated rivalry in sports rehashes for the 2006 season. This is going to happen. What will my reaction be? Can I hate this man? The man who coined the ‘Idiots’ nickname. The man who hit a grand-slam in the playoffs and was such an integral part of our World Championship. Am I capable of hating him? I am not sure yet. As a Red Sox fan, I must. It’s like a code. I took ESPN’s poll a few years ago that asked fans to rate which Yankee you hated the most. Actually putting thought into each vote, I think I checked off every one except Flash Gordon. I hate the Yankees. And as a Yankee, I am going to have to hate Johnny Damon.
Maybe it won’t be so hard. I do feel betrayed. Is he a traitor? My Dad reminded me of what every sports fan(especially Red Sox fan) loathes to hear. “It’s a business.” He said. “And sometimes that’s a slap in the face to the fans”. He’s right of course. In that “wise, old, veteran Red Sox fan” kind of way. But who’s to blame? Johnny Damon? Despite his crossover to the dark side, he did give forewarning to the front office and the Red Sox Nation that he would be accepting offers from the Yankees. Perhaps the Front Office? Did they drag their feet? Shouldn’t they have known that Steinbrenner would have countered with something better than 4 years, $40 million? And poor Ben Cherington got played worse than a Peter Gammons guitar. It’s can’t be his fault. Scott Boras? Can’t we always blame him. Except for giving us Varitek for four years, don’t we have ample evidence to be convinced people actually can sell their souls to Satan for a fast car, trophy wife, and millions of dollars(sometimes as the expense of loyal, hard working, clean living sports fans) and that Scott Boras did do this? I bet he’s drinking buddies with Drew Rosenhaus.
Whoever is to blame, it doesn’t matter. Johnny Damon is a Yankee. He has joined the likes of the Babe, the Rocket, Wade Boggs, Flash Gordon, and Aniken Skywalker as former rebels who then played for the dark side. Some of these traitors are certainly hated more than others. Some not even traitors at all. Where will Johnny Damon fall? Time will only tell. Lets just hope he doesn’t take it out on the fans for his retreat, al la Roger the Rocket. But meanwhile, I have more important things to worry about. Like how the Red Sox will fill this hole in their lineup and outfield.
I’m trying hard to be optimistic. This is the same Johnny Damon that took cortisone shots just to wake up in the morning and couldn’t throw out Christopher Reeves at home even if he had one of those slingshots that cheerleaders use to launch t-shirts at college basketball games. A four year deal does lock him in into his 30s. More importantly, this isn’t the blockbuster pick-up like the Yankees have had in the past two years. They went out and got the best player in baseball in A-Rod and were the favorites. We won the World Series. They went out and got the best pitcher in Randy Johnson and were the favorites. We finished with the same record. The Yankees are still(and will be) the Yankees.
What the Red Sox need to be focused on right now is putting together a team that is going to welcome that rebel-underdog-giant killer mentality that has characterized this franchise’s success in the past few years. And last I checked, we’re still months away from pitchers and catchers reporting. So let’s all take a deep breath and relax. So no Johnny Damon, so what? There have been a lot of changes to this team since the big WS win. That’s ok. When Pedro left so did that team. They’re gone. As a Nation we need to start getting used to that. We can’t be that teenage girl that balls inconsolably for weeks at a time because the guy who stole her V-card dumped her. Yes, it hurts but we have to move on. We have a Front Office that is committed to winning. They have proven that. With Caveman Johnny gone, its time to evolve. After all, this is the Red Sox Nation. So let’s be true to our creed and keep the faith.
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