Get your popcorn ready. Now that former Boston Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra is retiring - and signing a one-day contract to end his career as a Red Sox - we're about to see a whole lot of bandwagon jumping:
* Watch all the Boston fans who mercilessly trashed him in 2004, and said that getting rid of him is why they won the World Series, pretend that they stayed Nomar fans all along;
* Check out the Beantown writers who slimed Nomar repeatedly over the years pretend that they never wrote the vicious things they once did about him;
* And finally, notice how the Boston Red Sox ownership team will conveniently forget the part they played in trashing Nomar's reputation in the media - feeding negative stories to the press, etc.
Excuse me while I go throw up.
Yes, yes, I know about the awful things George Steinbrenner did to players in his heyday. The difference is that he suffered real consequences for it.
On the other hand, in recent years the Red Sox front office has gotten away with trashing every single star who ever left the team, whether they were traded or left as free agents. Gee, I wonder where all those stories about Jason Bay being an injury risk came from? (Funny how the player who Boston fans once said was better than Manny Ramirez, the man he was traded for, magically morphed into the second coming of Nick Johnson!)
So please, spare me all the tearful "We love Nomah" hosannas out of Boston. The Sox could have simply traded him in 2004 and taken the high road. Instead, they had their minions trash the man who was once the face of the franchise ten ways to Tuesday. And Boston fans could have simply been happy with winning the 2004 World Series. Instead, they spent way too much time pointing fingers at Nomar. Classy!
What do you think? Tell us about it!
I once knew a Yankee Fan who said, "That's the trouble with jumping on a bandwagon: You might fall off. And then you blame the driver."
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many people still think Nomah Gahciahpahwah was better than Jeter? Or A-Rod, for that matter? It's so hard to believe now, after Derek's 5 rings and Alex's 1 (in each case, "and counting"), that the debate was ever serious, but, at the time, it was, along the lines of DiMaggio vs. Williams, Mantle vs. Mays, Berra vs. Campanella, Munson vs. Fisk.
Then again, some people thought Rey Ordonez was better... and still think Jose Reyes is... but that's a whole other can of worms.
Wow... never forget how "classy" Yankee fans are! (Eyes rolling.)
ReplyDeleteNomar was a great Red Sox who had an unfortunate ending to his tenure. And now that his career is over, he ends it by saying good bye on his terms rather than being cut by the A's.
Yeah, the 2004 trade DID help the Red Sox win the World Series, but that doesn't negate the great career he had in Boston and some of the years that he carried the team on his back.
I know Yankee fans love to squawk about how classy they are... and usually Lisa is (although this article is kinda sorta jaw droppingly crass.)
Yeah. Red Sox and their fans are saluting him and with a little distance wanted to say "thanks."
Not everyone gets to have a perfect good bye (did someone say Don Mattingly? Bernie Williams? Tino Martinez being shown the door for Jason Giambi? David Wells?)
And there might have been some bitterness in 2004... that's in the past and forgive us for wanting to say "thanks for the memories."
http://sullybaseball.blogspot.com/2009/12/sully-baseball-salutes-nomar.html
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ReplyDeleteLisa, for shame. Perhaps you didn't read about it, but Nomar said the reception he received at Fenway last year was one of the highlights of his career. I think people living in glass houses....applies here.
ReplyDeleteBut it is nice to be reading your blogs again. I hope you had a nice winter - I'm sure #27 helped a lot.
Noreen
Lisa, I have no idea what possessed me but I decided to start checking out your blog today, and of course you wrote something so ridiculous... well, your consistency is comforting.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about how the current Red Sox management (e.g. Larry Luchino) likes to trash players as they leave. However, the notion that Steinbrenner has "suffered real consequences for it" as opposed to the RS is absurd. Puh-lease. The man should have been banned for life for the Dave Winfield/Howie Spira thing. Funny how Yankees fans always seem to forget that little incident.
As for Beantown Writers, Shank Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe still thinks Nomar was a "total fraud" because he didn't get along with the sports media. Well, who the heck cares if he made life harder for the media? So much for your prediction about Boston writers acting as if they never wrote anything negative about Nomar. That never happened.
Nomar was awesome when he was here but he broke down, physically, almost immediately after he was traded. Seems to me that Theo pulled the trigger at the right time. Two World Series championships this decade (plus 3 super bowl victories and 1 NBA title) makes me a happy Boston sports fan.
Fred Garvin
My evil scheme worked - I got Red Sox Nation to bring me the hits (and got Fred Garvin, Sully Baseball, and NAM) to show up and say hello. Whoo-hoo!
ReplyDeleteWill address your posts in a blog entry later on today. Thanks!
Fred Garvin said, "Nomar was awesome when he was here but he broke down, physically, almost immediately after he was traded. Seems to me that Theo pulled the trigger at the right time." Yeah, just as the steroids stopped working.
ReplyDelete"Two World Series championships this decade (plus 3 super bowl victories and 1 NBA title) makes me a happy Boston sports fan." Actually, cheating (and we haven't yet figured out how for the '08 Celtics, but it's surely there) made you a happy Boston sports fan. Exposure of that cheating made you a miserable Boston sports fan -- is there any other kind?
Nomaqr Carciaparra and Johnny Damon are 2 of the classiest Red Sox players who ever wore the uniform. But then again that didn't mean much since you are comparing to such a low class organization.
ReplyDelete