What can we learn from Liverpool soccer fans' protest of ticket prices?

Yankee fans and Red Sox fans have more in common than we want to admit -- especially with The Rivalry being so snoozeworthy these days. The latest example of this is something my Boston friend Tyler has been griping about. Tyler, who mashes for Monstah Mash, wrote about the recent uprising with Liverpool Football (Soccer) Club fans, and how team owner John Henry, who also owns the Red Sox, had to back down and apologize to that fan base.

Here's the story. The team announced that they were raising the best ticket prices to 77 pounds (approximately $112) for next year. (Gee, I think both Boston and New York fans would be jumping for joy if that were our top ticket prices!) Liverpool tried to spin the price increase as only affecting some tickets but Liverpool fans were outraged. So the fans planned an in-game protest. At least 10,000 fans walked out in the 77th minute of a game, when their team was leading, 2-0. Their team, apparently flummoxed by the fans leaving, ended up giving up two goals. That got the powers that be's attention.

All it took was this one walkout for John Henry to cry uncle, apologize to Liverpool's fans, and roll back the price increases. He wrote a letter of apology to the fan base that Lonn Trost and the Yankees could learn from.

And my Sox friend Tyler is irate. He wants to know when Boston fans get an apology:

Here’s my big issue with all of this though, where the hell is OUR apology? Where is the apology for ridiculously high ticket prices (sh*t I’d love it if our tickets capped at $112), the second mortgage I had to take out just to buy a hot dog, and not to mention the classless buffoonery we’ve seen from the three stooges in their cushy box seats since they came here? Where’s our apology for gutting Terry Francona, screwing up the Jon Lester negotiations while insulting him in the process, and ruthlessly canning Don Orsillo or putting “sexy” star power over actually good players? Honestly I’m so sick of the Sox ownership and management I just have nothing left to say. Heck, maybe we could take a cue from Liverpool fans and stage a walkout or boycott at Fenway Park because apparently nothing is getting through to these bone-headed greedy pieces of crap who pretend to care.

Remember what I said about us having a lot in common with Boston fans? See what I mean?

Lonn Trost still has yet to apologize for his offensive comments about fans.  And now Boston fans are losing StubHub; the Red Sox are starting their own ticket service, with a price floor, of course. Whatever happened to the free market?

Anyhow, I wonder what we fans can do to show our disgust. Would a walkout work? Petitions? Simply not buying tickets? It's a conundrum, to be sure. Any thoughts of what might get team owners' attention? Please leave it in the comments section below.

Hooray! John Henry is squawking online again!

Thank goodness for small favors. Red Sox owner John Henry now has his own blog on NESN's web site. So I've written about it for The Faster Times. I used Squawker reader Uncle Mike's hilarious description of Henry as a "spiel-driving man" in the article's title - thanks, Mike!

Henry is going to be great fodder for sportswriters and bloggers everywhere. He's already taken time to defend David Ortiz - and dredge up the story again. Cool!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Boston Dirt Dogs mocks Sherlock Ortiz, and John Henry breaks his silence

The day the David Ortiz steroids story broke, I mocked him on The Faster Times for his claims that he would investigate what he tested positive for. I called him "Sherlock Ortiz."

So you can imagine my delight today to see none other than Red Sox fan site Boston Dirt Dogs run with the "Sherlock Ortiz" theme. They even did a photo illustration of Ortiz as Sherlock Holmes! Check it out here. Best part, besides the fact the site linked to Ken Davidoff's Newsday piece quoting me, was this tidbit:

Can You Believe That Alex Rodriguez Handled This 1,000 Times Better Than You?

How funny is that?

Here's the thing with A-Rod. However goofy he sounded, he communicated some remorse, and explained a heck of a lot more than anybody else has so far. As it turned out, he actually did handle this okay.

Meanwhile, Ortiz is still claiming he doesn't know what he tested positive for. Gimme a break.

And get this. Today John Henry finally spoke - a little - about this! Wonder if he will go back to Twitter now?

As for the Newsday article feauring me, I found a newsstand on Staten Island selling the paper, and bought out their supply. It was only two newspapers, but still!

Oh, and Squawker reader Paul from Boston noted that Davidoff's piece was republished on the Boston Herald web site. So I am being read in Red Sox Nation. Check out that link here.

Coming later today, my predictions for Yankees-Red Sox. But in the meantime, please leave us a comment!

Twittering twit John Henry is missing in action

I wrote a piece for The Faster Times today wondering when Red Sox co-owner John Henry would Twitter again. Not-so-shockingly, he hasn't written on Twitter since the David Ortiz/Manny Ramirez scandal broke. Go here to read it.

In other news, I was missing in action myself last night. After getting some sun, I got home and fell asleep just before six p.m. last night. I was so exhausted, I ended up sleeping through the game and missing the whole thing! So not only did I miss seeing the Yankees beat up Roy Halladay, I also missed seeing if the fake umpires made a return to a Yankees-Blue Jays game!

What a nightmare it was to wake up in the middle of the night, and feel like I was on another planet, after sleeping so long! Hopefully, I'll be able to stay awake for tonight's game.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Yankees enjoy first place to themselves, while John Henry Twitters about his 'frustrating' Red Sox

Big news in Yankeeland. No, not that the Bombers have first place all to themselves, but that the Brett Tomko era is over. When is his Yankeeography coming out?

Tomko, who was released yesterday to make room for Sergio Mitre, hadn't even pitched since July 11. On the other hand, another Yankee who hasn't played in ages, Cody Ransom, scored two runs in yesterday's victory. Until last night, he hadn't played since July 10.

Incidentally, if anything bugs me about Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman this year, it's the way that roster spaces are wasted on players who are never used. Angel Berroa was another player who shouldn't have been on the roster. But now he's a Met, which is fitting, somehow.

Speaking of the Mets, does Jeff Francouer dropping a fly ball last night make him a True Met?

I probably should give Squawker Jon and his team a break, though. They look as hapless as Teddy Roosevelt does in the Washington Nationals' Presidents' race each night!

Back to the Yankees. Mitre gave the Yanks about as much as Chien-Ming Wang had been doing in his last few starts before getting hurt. Mitre started out poorly, then settled down, then had a shaky sixth inning. He got a nice ovation from the crowd for his game. It was a positive start in the right direction, and Mitre's first win in two years. And really, anything else Mitre can provide over what Wang would have given the team will be a plus.

I also appreciated how Alex Rodriguez and the Yanks manufactured a run last night without a hit. That was a highlight of the night.

Another highlight was seeing the Red Sox's John Henry gripe about his team's lousy play on Twitter. He called the Sox's week "frustrating" and wrote, "Tough night in Texas." Boo bleeding hoo!

At least he didn't complain about the Yankees' spending $400 million in free agents this time. Thank goodness for small favors.

Speaking of big-spending teams, how come nobody gripes about how the Sox have enough money to release Julio Lugo, even though he has $13.5 million on his contract? Just wondering.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Red Sox co-owner John Henry needs a new Twitter target besides the Yankees

Red Sox co-owner John W. Henry recently took time out from enjoying his new marriage to slam the Yankees on Twitter. Again.

Yesterday, the Boston owner, who posts as John_W_Henry on Twitter, tweaked the Yankees over their new fan club, Yankees Universe:

News from Yankees' Universe. Big upsurge in membership. Apparently coming mostly from Pluto. Not doing nearly as well on Mars.

It's not that I find Henry's comments offensive. It's that I find them unfunny, which is arguably a bigger sin.

Dude, just because your underlings may laugh at your "jokes," it doesn't mean that those witticisms are actually funny. Leave the comedy to the trained professionals.

I will give him credit for one thing, though. At least he didn't make a Uranus joke.

But really, Henry's obsession with the Yanks is kind of sad. He writes more about the Bombers than I do about Jonathan Papelbon. But at least I have the excuse of having no life.

The Red Sox co-owner, on the other hand, is both a gazillionaire and a newlywed. Yet he appears to have nothing better to do than to complain about the Yankee playroll and suggest that the acquisition of Mark Teixeira -(MT in Henryspeak) has cursed the Bombers.

I do have a suggestion for something Henry can do on Twitter - spark an online fight with former Red Sox/Yankee/Met player Doug Mientkiewicz - aka DougieBaseball on Twitter. (Squawker Jon is still stunned by the news that Mientkiewicz refers to himself as DougieBaseball!)

Mientkiewicz recently made Twitter news by calling Yankee Nick Swisher "a turd" and saying "I think he's way way over rated." Maybe Henry and Eye Chart can get into a dispute about the 2004 World Series ball again or something. An argument between the two would be more compelling than the Red Sox owner's tired anti-Yankee rejoinders, to be sure.

Or heck, Henry could start a Twitter war with us (of course, Squawker Jon would probably take the Sox owner's side!) Our Twitter account is subwaysquawkers. Bring it on!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Red Sox co-owner John Henry is a Twittering twit

The Yankees may be in the tank these days, but Red Sox co-owner John W. Henry just can't stop Twittering about them - and their payroll.

The Boston gazillionaire, who raised eyebrows a few weeks ago when he wrote on Twitter that the Yankees might be suffering from the curse of "MT" - aka Mark Teixeira, is still yakking online about New York's team.

In an Internet conversation this evening with "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star Larry David about the HBO star's program, Henry tweeted about David's show, "And you didn't spend $400m during the offseason!"

This isn't the first time Henry griped on Twitter this week about the Bombers' payroll. On Sunday, Henry wrote, "Happy Fathers Day to all dads. Awful wet for a knuckler. 3 ahead of $400m offseason." Get over it, dude.

I'm guessing that $400m offseason figure is in every conversation Henry has. It really has nothing to do with Larry David's part of the discussion, but Henry can't resist tweeting the figure.

You'd think somebody worth $800 million or so would have better things to do than air their petty gripes on the Internet for the world to see, particularly when teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Washington Nationals would love to have the Sox's $120 million payroll.

Then again, you would think that Mark (aka MT) Teixeira saying about Henry that "there's no reason to get into a war of words with a 70-year-old man" would have shut up the co-owner's tweeting. No such luck.

I'm just glad George Steinbrenner wasn't actively running the Yankees in the Internet era. Can you imagine what mayhem he could have caused with a Twitter account? Sheesh.

Subway Squawkers are also on Twitter, causing our own form of mayhem. Follow us here.

What do you think of John Henry? Leave us a comment.