I just can’t believe Red Sox fans. Whether it be MFH — or any other more despicable members of the Nation — I can’t get over what a bunch of f@#kin’ crybabies you all are. You’re winning World Series left and right, one of your guys even wins the All-Star game MVP in our ballpark, and yet you still find room to whine about petty bullsh*t? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the year was 1998 and you guys are doing all this complaining just to get some much needed attention. I mean you’d think being at the top of the sport would be enough get you guys off the rag, but apparently it isn’t. Plus, the blame here clearly falls on Papel-boner. Seriously, what was he thinking bringing his wife to parade in Midtown? It’s like taking your kid to the ball room at Mickey D’s and then suing the joint when he comes down with E.coli poisoning a week later. What did you f@#king expect?
And let’s not paint Papel-boner as an innocent bystander here, ’cause his words (if anyone in Sox Nation even bothered to read them, which clearly they didn’t otherwise they wouldn’t all be standing around shrugging their shoulders, mumbling “What, not our guy.” ) spoke for themselves:
“If I was managing the team, I would close,” Papelbon said. “I’m not managing the team, so it don’t matter.”
Papelbon, though, seemed to believe that Boston’s championship a year ago not only ensured Terry Francona’s place as the American League manager, but him being the closer.
“We’ve both earned that right; us, by winning the World Series and having the opportunity of having our manager there and our team being represented, and Mariano by what he’s done for this role, we’re in Yankee Stadium and blah, blah, blah,” Papelbon said. “It’s not that easy. Everybody thinks it’s a cut and dry answer, but it’s not.”
And when you say “blah, blah, blah,” Jon, do you mean “being the undisputed, greatest closer in the history of baseball… having the 5th lowest postseason ERA in history… having the most career World Series saves (9, next closest is Rollie Fingers with 6)… and owning the most career postseason saves (34… the next closest is Dennis Eckersley with 15)?” There’s a fine line between being a “competitor” and being an arrogant, self-delusional prick. I’ll let you all decide where Papel-boner falls here.
And last, but certainly not least, please spare us the etiquette classes, thanks. It’s not like you’ve all distinguished yourselves in the class department over the years. I mean which is more unbecoming of civilized baseball fans– making idle threats against a ballplayer’s wife, or tipping over/keying every car in Kenmore Square that had New York license plates when the Sox won the Series in ‘04? Yeah, sorry to be break the bad news to all you ignoramuses, but I guess most of you “card-carrying” members of Sox Nation wouldn’t know any of these dirty little secrets considering you’ve never spent more than 24 hours at a time in Beantown. If you wanna b*tch and moan when Joba puts a 99-mph heat-seeker in Youkilis’ ear next weekend, be my guest. But until then, shut the hell up.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:07 am
I’m calling Yankee fans out for doing something stupid and suddenly I’m whining? Where exactly in that short piece do I present even a hint of crying? You have every right to reply to what I said and I expected you to, but don’t exaggerate shit to make your argument stronger. By the way, I did read what Papelbon said and I saw the clip from the press conference. He said that he and Mariano have both earned the right to close, but if it were up to him he’d be the one closing. How is that worthy of going after his pregnant wife? And don’t try to suggest that I’m not a real Red Sox fan because I don’t live in Boston. Exactly how many weeks have you spent living in New York City? I’m well aware of the vandalizing of cars that went on back in ’04 and my comments back then were that it was that kind of ridiculous shit that gave Red Sox fans a bad name outside of Boston, and if I weren’t a Sox fan I’d hate them too. But that’s because I can step back and look at actions by my favorite team’s fans objectively and admit when they’ve stepped over the line (not that it’s difficult to do so in that particular instance). I find it hard to believe that you truly don’t think verbally attacking the family of a player is out of line. If the situation was reversed I know you’d be calling out Red Sox fans for being petty assholes. I personally think player’s families are off limits, regardless of what team they play for, and I know I’m not alone on that. You’re telling me that when we played high school basketball, if some Shen fan had starting yelling threats at your mother because you had the audacity to remind a Shen player that we were league champs, you’d have simply let it pass? I highly doubt it.
July 17th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
your blog was pretty much taken from the Nation’s talking points, so it’s more a critique of you guys as a whole than anything else, sorry you took it so personally… and i’m pretty sure the Yanks are the NEW YORK yankees, you know, as in the “all of New York State” Yankees (for further clarification, they aren’t to be confused with the NYC Yankees… or the Bronx Yankees, or the River Ave. Yankees… or… sorry, point made), which is basically the reason why MOST PEOPLE THAT LIVE IN THIS STATE ROOT FOR EITHER THE YANKEES OR THE METS. I’m not saying you’re not a real Sox fan, but I will say that most people I’ve run into over the past few years (and especially while at college) never gave two shits about the Sox until they A) went to school in Boston, or B) started winning championships. I’ll be a man and admit that this same thing happened to me when i took on the Pats as my favorite team, but it just buttresses my point. What I will say (or actually ask) is what happened to all that Ken Griffey/Seattle Mariners gear you used to own? Did you throw it all away after ‘04? I’m not necessarily excusing what Yankee fans did, but I just thought a little sarcasm would go a long way to showing how hypocritical you all are… well again, not you, because you’re not a Bostonian. See, you didn’t have to take it so personally, now did you??
July 17th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
You wrote this in response to what I wrote and called me out by name and you expect people to believe what you said didn’t have anything to do with me? And please dude, you know the answer to the Mariners question. You’ve brought it up on many occasions to try to question my fandom and it’s getting quite old telling you the same thing over and over. Besides, I wrote about it on THIS SITE last year. 1997 is quite a ways away from 2004.
July 17th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
I never said I didn’t have you in mind when i wrote my blog (which is EXACTLY why I named you in it; you’re a member of Sox Nation, right? Comes with the territory.), I’m just saying I’m surprised you took it so personally. It’s not like I made a death threat against your wife or anything (just so I don’t give any false impressions to anyone else reading these comments, MFH does not have a wife, and as a matter of fact, is a fully eligible bachelor who is quite the hot commodity these days. Just a word to the wise for all you female members of SC Nation). And I’m not questioning your fandom at all… but I’m saying, for a fact, that none of us actually know (and that includes me, one of your best friends) when you actually became a Red Sox fan. You wrote that you “fell in love with the team and their fan base when you were a kid” before their championship run, but that seems like it would’ve been hard to do if you weren’t actually surrounded by other members of their fan base while residing in NY, no? And in 1997, you were already half-way through high school, yet at least to my knowledge, you were still firmly entrenched in the Seattle Mariners camp… again, none of this makes you any less of a Sox fan ’cause I know you’re a huge one at this point, but I’m just reiterating the fact that I have absolutely no idea when you became one, so that leaves all of this open to interpretation.