The Red Sox won, at home, against the Yankees last night, 7-3. It was the first game against the Yankees at home since demon Damon apostatized. In your face, Damon!!! WOO HOO!!! 
GO SOX!
Damon’s a great guy, fine player and was a critical part of the 2004 world championship. No one (maybe a few) holds it against him that he took the money ($52m) and moved on. So now he lives in the evil empire. Judas Demon returned last night - 0 for 4. Some centerfield fans through what appeared to be very realistic fake $100 bills at him. Darn, there’s always a down side to selling your soul.
You know, I’m a HUGE Red Sox fan as well, but I can’t help but be a little embarassed about the behavior of the masses whenever the Yankees come to town.
Three things to keep in mind:
- This is a GAME
- These guys make a STUPID amount of money
- It’s a business.
Don’t get me wrong: I love this game as well, and I get empassioned about it, and I love it when we beat the Yanks, too, but it’s all about perspective. I wouldn’t want to have my kids at the game when all drunk yahoos around me in the bleachers scream that nasty chant (“Yankees S**k”). Besides, it’s just not true. While I don’t like the Evil Empire, if they sucked, we wouldn’t make such a big deal about it. A team that sucks doesn’t win as much.
Also, JD had no more loyalty to the Red Sox franchise and fans than he does to his hair, and his loyalty to NY will extend about as long as his current contract.
Keepin’ it real …
-Fyffer
You’re kidding, people drink at baseball games?!?
Everything fyffer says is exactly right, but high-intensity sports rivalries are not the product of thoughtful, compassionate analysis. The thing I like the least about Yankees S**K is the lack of creativity.
WHAT??? Way to burst my bubble 
Seriously, I do agree with you. It is just a game, but you have to admit that there is just something electric about playing the Yanks. You can’t help but get all riled up over it, to a certain extent. And besides, it was Damon’s first game back in Boston. I had to go off on him, just a little bit. Plus I really worked hard on my avatar… 
Leaving a team for money is nothing new. Quite honestly, it makes me mad when any player does it, not just JD. It’s part of the reason why I was so turned off by the game for quite some time. But for some reason, I still keep going back. I’ve loved the Sox since I was really little (and growing up in NY where your whole family consists of Yankee fans doesn’t make that easy). So last night’s win was really sweet, and despite my better judgment, I know I’m going to follow it all this season, just like I did last season.
And for the record, I do realize that the Yankees don’t really s**k in general. But they sure did last night
Aww fess up man, your kid get’s in on the fun too - someone caught him red handed in fact, telling Damon just what he thought of him: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=2963355&size=o
Heh heh, Red Sox fans get started young 
Loren
Ya know, that kid’s about the age of my son.
Sorry to get so serious, but if I caught my kid doing that in that context, I’d probably bite off his finger myself.
B’sides - it’s a chop of a Euro-photo:
So much for having a little fun with it all.
Loren
Sorry, I’m late for lunch. Workin’ too hard, and getting hungry and grumpy. 
After I’ve downed a burger and fries, my tongue will be allowed back into my cheek …
Please continue the fun-having …
No problem man, I’ve been overly grumpy myself lately. Enjoy your lunch!
Now, if I could only find a few really good burger joints here in Boston, that also had reasonable prices - $9. for a Burger and fries, is NOT reasonable 
Loren
All fun put aside, I totally agree.
Now off to grade papers…joy of joys
I’m with Izzy. Being a Red Sox fan isn’t a game, it’s a way of life. In fact, I was telling that to my 4.5-year-old daughter last night during the game.
It’s easy to blame Johnny, but there’s plenty of blame to go around. Look at whom the Sox got rid of over the winter/spring:
Johnny – the catalyst of the team. If they’d coughed up maybe 10-20% more money, he’d still be with them.
Doug Mirabelli – Oops, they just got him back. Popular player, New England native (that counts up in Red Sox Nation), gives Varitek every fifth day off, plus gives him the peace of mind of not having to catch the knuckleballer. Even the Red Sox management could recognize the mistake.
Bronson Arroyo – this one bugs me at least as much as Johnny. They had six starters, and Arroyo is willing to work the bullpen. Don’t forget one of those starters is 42 years old, and a hard-living 42 at that. Oh, yeah, and he got hurt in his FIRST START. Oh, and Arroyo is 5-0.
Bill Mueller – batting title two or three years ago, best hitter against Mariano Rivera
Edgar Renteria – I have no idea why they got the guy to begin with, after Orlando Cabrera did so much for them the year before
Ok, I’d much rather Johnny had stayed put, and I really hate it that he went over to the Evil Empire, and I loved it when the crowd started chanting his name. But I think the Red Sox “management” screwed up royally in the offseason, and Damon is a symptom of that, not a cause.
I just remembered a sign I saw last night: Looks like Jesus, acts like Judas, throws like Mary.
Sox shmox.
They’re still behind Detroit in overall American League standings. The White Sox lead the league but as if this moment Cleveland is ahead 5-2 in the 5th. Go Tribe! If Cleveland wins it brings the Tigers closer to 1st.
What sport is this, again?
The sport that goes with hotdogs.
And now a great and tragic tale:
The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville nine that day,
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A pall-like silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast.
They thought, “if only Casey could but get a whack at that.
We’d put up even money now, with Casey at the bat.”
But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake;
and the former was a hoodoo, while the latter was a cake.
So upon that stricken multitude, grim melancholy sat;
for there seemed but little chance of Casey getting to the bat.
But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all.
And Blake, the much despised, tore the cover off the ball.
And when the dust had lifted, and men saw what had occurred,
there was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.
Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
it rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
it pounded through on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat;
for Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.
There was ease in Casey’s manner as he stepped into his place,
there was pride in Casey’s bearing and a smile lit Casey’s face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
no stranger in the crowd could doubt t’was Casey at the bat.
Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt.
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then, while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
defiance flashed in Casey’s eye, a sneer curled Casey’s lip.
And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
and Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped –
“That ain’t my style,” said Casey. “Strike one!” the umpire said.
From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
like the beating of the storm waves on a stern and distant shore.
“Kill him! Kill the umpire!” shouted someone on the stand,
and it’s likely they’d have killed him had not Casey raised his hand.
With a smile of Christian charity, great Casey’s visage shone,
he stilled the rising tumult, he bade the game go on.
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew,
but Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, “Strike two!”
“Fraud!” cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered “Fraud!”
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
and they knew that Casey wouldn’t let that ball go by again.
The sneer has fled from Casey’s lip, the teeth are clenched in hate.
He pounds, with cruel violence, his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
and now the air is shattered by the force of Casey’s blow.
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright.
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light.
And, somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout,
but there is no joy in Mudville -
mighty Casey has struck out.
Soo… basketball, then?
Steven, you obviously don’t understand. Chronic runner-upmanship is what Red Sox fans live for. In 04, when they won the series, I was, like, Oh, what now? I think I’m supposed to be happy, but I feel like I have an alien growing in me. Why can’t I feel disappointed? The Red Sox fan is happy in april when the Sox are 5-3. When they’re in first place in July, we just start wondering when the collapse is going to happen. When they blow it in September or October, it’s just business as usual.
Have you heard about the Red Sox new farm team in the Philippines? They’re called the Manila Folders.
Yeah. It’s that way with Detroit too.
BTW, I’m not Stephen.
At first glance I thought this thread might be about christian fundamentalists protesting the return of the Dodge Deamon to take it’s rightful place beside the new Charger and the new Challenger…oh well.
ACK! My humble apologies. Eyes saw FlyingCursor, brain thought someone else.