Fans

[bulldoggie]

In the spirit of Automated Teller's inspirational positional threads, who do you think the fans at the home opener will be, and is it possible to name them all?

[MuffinMcFluffin]

Well... err... this is an interesting topic. You're lucky that sarcasm is normally appreciated here.

Uhh, Ben Affleck for one. And probably whomever he's dating for another.

[kelleigh1]

Originally Posted by MuffinMcFluffin

Uhh, Ben Affleck for one. And probably whomever he's dating for another.

Since he's married now, I'd hope that he'd take his wife.

[Spaceman]

Me, I know I will be there on opening day.

[citgo]

Ben Affleck is taking you?

[Spaceman]

Nope, his wife is.....

Naw, I just know Im going to be there because I plan on waiting in line for the tickets.

[MuffinMcFluffin]

Originally Posted by Spaceman

Nope, his wife is.....

Naw, I just know Im going to be there because I plan on waiting in line for the tickets.

Better start getting the hot chocolate ready. It's going to be one long line...

[Zen653]

I'm looking forward to the new season and hope to get to a bunch of games. I'm just not sure I'll be quite as excited for the upcoming year if the lineup doesn't feature a certain Manny Ramirez. There are only three players I really care about on this team right now, and they're David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez and Jon Papelbon. I love watching them play. I want them on my side.

[EnderSwarm]

As far as I'm concerned, I won't blink an eye if Manny is traded. Yeah, I hope we get something good for him in return, but I don't think our front office would deal him if that wasn't the case. All of Manny's "want-outs" over the years have worn out his welcome with me. If Manny wants out, don't ask me to give a crap about him while he's here. He doesn't care about the team that I do. Keep in mind, I'm not adopting the Boston media mentality of, "get him out of here ASAP. What a jerk!". By all means I'd love to keep him because his bat in our lineup makes it that much stronger. I'll always be a fan of Manny Ramirez, the ballplayer. I just don't care for Manny Ramirez, the person, anymore. We freakin' won a world title, and he's STILL unhappy here? Wow. Just wow.

Manny used to be my favorite player in all of baseball, but now I just tolerate him because he's on the roster, and is still a good player to have. I remember when the Red Sox originally signed him. What an awesome thread that was here on the old Fanhome! I was so damn excited that night. I was over at a friend's house, and I couldn't sleep all night while trying to follow the happenings of that signing. Loved him while he loved to be here, but he (probably) hasn't cared about the Red Sox for many years now.

See you later, Manny. Have fun on your new team. Don't ask me to give a crap if you're unhappy there either.


I put this in the 'Fans' thread, mostly due to Zen's post before this (which brought up Ramirez), but also to ask all of you something. Do any of you have sort of jaded stances towards certain team issues like I have with Manny? For any team/player/sport?

[Zen653]

Yeah, I hope we get something good for him in return, but I don't think our front office would deal him if that wasn't the case.

I'm skeptical as to whether we should trust the front office with anything. It seems that star players always bad mouth the franchise on the way out. There's always so much negativity surrounding every decision and failed negotiation. I almost never hear anyone demand a trade out of New York, yet we frequently hear trade demands out of Boston. And a big part of those trade demands, and general animosities, stem from legitimate personal frustrations with management. Pedro getting angry because the Red Sox sent his MRI to other teams. Manny getting angry because he was placed on irrevocable waivers and a year later dangled for the Mets just days after winning the World Series MVP Award. Damon getting angry because of a lowball initial offer. Lowe getting angry because he was never offered anything at all after 04. Arroyo getting angry because an implied promise of sorts was broken. Colorado getting angry because the Red Sox reneged on a trade. Tampa Bay getting angry because the Red Sox tampered with Julio Lugo. Pittsburgh getting angry because they were initially dealt damaged goods. Florida getting angry because the Red Sox interfered with their sale of Kevin Millar. Lots of other people getting angry because Epstein allegedly has quite a temper and Lucchino is a total jerk. The list goes on and on.

Then there's the Boston Globe, a subsidiary of the New York Times, which owns 17% of the Red Sox, as Dan Shaughnessy reminds us. The Henry-friendly media conveniently makes things up to suit the front office's purposes. Remember the way John Henry and the media bashed Garciaparra on his way out of town? They tried to create the impression that Garciaparra refused to play in certain games, faked his injury, and wanted out of Boston. Yet Nomar never publicly said anything to that effect. Now if the front office was willing to destroy Nomar's reputation, why wouldn't it similarly tarnish Ramirez's reputation if it's trying to find an excuse to unload him?

Teammates routinely say that Manny is not a malicious person. Everyone seems to get along with him on a personal level just fine. Coaches say that Manny prepares hard for games, shows up early for fielding drills, and watches plenty of video. The Manny we see in left field at Fenway is gregarious, jovial and very fan-friendly. Yet the media turns every Manny moment into a circus. Ramirez walks into the Green Monster between innings. This somehow makes front page news. Ramirez fails to run out a groundball (something a lot of other runners similarly neglect), and yet this too makes front page news. The Red Sox try to dump Ramirez on anyone that'll take him after 2003. They try to give him away to the Mets a day after the World Series. In 2006, they claim he's faking his injury (the same injury that ended John Valentin's career) even though we first heard about it back during the All-Star break while he was still trying to play through it. Wouldn't this combination of factors get on your nerves after awhile?

I'm not saying Manny is perfect. He's not. He probably did request a trade. But we don't know how he requested a trade, we don't know why he requested a trade, and we don't know if he's truly itching to get out of town. We've never heard anything from Manny himself, or from any of his teammates, about wanting out of Boston. I don't think his agent has ever even come out and said anything concrete about Manny's willingness, or lack thereof, to play in Boston. We only hear second and thirdhand accounts from the Henry-friendly local media. The national media then grabs onto these stories and runs with them.

Fact is, we just don't know what's really going on, and I'm not convinced that we should take the front office at its word.

[AutomatedTeller]

This link quotes Schilling as saying that Manny wants to be traded.

I certainly agree that the Sox have pissed off teams. I guess they've pissed off players, but that's partly because they figure out what they want to pay and won't go beyond that. They seem to have been right about Pedro - I don't really remember a lot of badmouthing by Damon when he left.

and of course no one wants to leave NY - they get paid huge amounts of money.

[Rooster]

Originally Posted by bulldoggie

In the spirit of Automated Teller's inspirational positional threads, who do you think the fans at the home opener will be, and is it possible to name them all?

HUH ?????

If you are going to pose as someone like Bulldoggie at least try to make some sense...

To answer the question -- NO, it is not possible to name all the fans at the home opener

[ingagi]

Manny's always under the gun for the 20M a year for 8 years he signed w/ Duquette in 2000. Simple as that. You wait and watch J.D. Drew, whenever his little 'owchey owchey' history starts up again c. 45 games into the year, oh the Shaugnessy's of the world are gonna have fun w/ him, yessir.