Boo

Dear Johnny Damon,

Perhaps you've heard about the campaign by the Boston media intended to influence fans to "do the right thing" and give you a standing ovation at Fenway tonight. That would certainly be a novel and "classy" deed. The problem is, we're not that classy and we won't be able to pull it off. Even those fans who walk into the park intending to cheer for you will turn away in horror when they sit down with a hot dog and beer and see you step to the plate wearing your old number "18" in Yankee gray.

It's not that we've forgotten how much you once meant to the Red Sox. In the four years that you played in Boston you gave us hustle, entertainment, idiocy and of course a World Series victory. We know that you are probably still a cool guy. In the overall scheme of life you did the right thing for your family by accepting the highest offer. The extra money that you will get to play in New York will give you financial security for decades.

The problem is that you do play for the Yankees and that is the one thing that a Red Sox fan cannot forgive. It has tormented us to see how quickly and completely you have acclimated to "the other side." Couldn't you at least have rebelled a little bit? Maybe you could have demanded a clause in your contract that would allow you to grow your beard every third season? Did you have to become chummy so fast with A-Rod and Jeter? And what was the deal with that comment about the Yankees being the "greatest franchise in the world"? Ouch.

We know that it was your hard work on the field that made you who you are, but we also can't quite shake the idea that in Boston it was our passion for the Red Sox and our acceptance of you "as you were" that made you a cult hero. As hard as we try to be rational, as much as we are slowly learning that baseball is indeed a "business", we just can't distinguish the man from those evil pinstripes.

Boo.

http://www.drunkenbleachers.com

"Knocking the straight shit out of Johnny Damon" video from You Tube