Count me a rebel...

You may want to read the following - if you don't have time heres the summary: Fans of other teams are irritated that sox fans show up in droves and cheer harder and louder and drown out the hometown fans.

http://blogs.philly.com/blinq/2006/05/phillies_nation.html - Phillies take on the Sox fans

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-sp.schmuck10apr10,0,2161502.column?coll=bal-home-columnists - Baltimore's opinion

While surfing dirt dogs this morning I stumbled on this beautiful article written by an entertainment columnist. It is not as quite stupid as the Baltimore one - but all I can really say is - I am sick of fans of other teams complaining about Sox fans cheering and jeering - it is part of the game!

Part of the game is having people yell things and think they know more than the next guy... part of the game is to have some 19 year old girl spit out stats and facts you never knew making your date (and hers) look like a idiotic toad.

Part of facing the Red Sox is having your stadium filled by Red Sox fans... this is a terrible complaint - if its so terrible - fill the stadium with fans from YOUR OWN HOME CITY. You can't complain about us drowning you out if you don't show up to fight back.

If you really cared that much you would only sell tickets to fans of your team - but your managment doesn't do that - why? Because NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR TEAM! You only sell out when the Sox or Yanks come into town! If you don't want the Sox fans drowning you out - get more people to like your team - namely by WINNING to do so...

Don't hate us because we show up and we know how to start a cheer. We don't need some lousy score board message prompting us to clap or chant - we just DO IT.

I don't care what team shows up and drowns you out... Sox, Yanks, Cubs, Cards.... it doesn't matter... everyone has a right to go and cheer and jeer given that they paid for a seat. Is it OUR fault we actually CARE about our team? That seat you pay for is like a right to have an opinion and a right to express that opinion in a safe, legal way. And since when is cheering your own team a crime?! If it is please let me know so I can start refering to myself as Ghandi or Martin Luther King Jr. because I'm going to resist! Count me as public enemy numero uno starting right here right now.

GO SOX!!!!

(you can bet your kid's tuition that I'm going to cheer louder in Toronto and Baltimore and Philly and every other away game when I see them now...)

Bad Moves Plague The Sox

Reports were whispering like sequoias today of the Mirabelli trade: Bard and Meredith for Mirabelli. Everyone excited for the return of a back up catcher. But, yup, you guessed it – I’m not pleased.

Josh Bard will be a greater catcher than Mirabelli ever was (this coming from someone who said Mirabelli deserved a starting role, and liked Mirabelli better than Varitek). Meredith will be a great relief pitcher. So why trade them for a guy who hasn’t been able to hit? Simply because he can catch Wakefield? Let me ask you this – if we have a gold glove catcher in Varitek – why the heck not let him catch Wakefield and let Bard catch someone else to give Varitek his “desperately needed day off.” (Don’t get me started on this – clearly not many other teams feel the need to pay a guy like V-Tek that much and rest him every fifth day – freaking bogus.)

Mirabelli isn’t going to spark Boston’s offense, nor help their relief pitching, or provide a fifth starter – so why make a move like this? Because it makes fans happy? They gave Bard 4 weeks – 5 starts. A few starts he didn’t do so well, a few he did great – (note he did better than Varitek did with Wakefield last spring…)

The Red Sox DESERVE to lose if they make trades like this: ineffective trades of new, promising talent, ignoring the greater problems of the pitching staff and offense. If they were smart they’d trade for a closer so Papelbon could start… or find a better situation than Seanez and Tavarez out of the pen.

The problems of the Red Sox go beyond a few past balls, and trading to make the fans happy, making a scapegoat of Bard, will not fix that.

So here’s to Bard. Have a great career. I’ll miss you man – remember you always were, and will be, the Killer. Hell, I hope you go deep on the Sox every single time you face them.