You have a lot to prove

Dear Boston Red Sox,

Last year was a very tough year.  Oh, it wasn't your dismal record that depressed me.  It was how YOU the players gave up on the team long before we fans did.  I have been a fan of the team since birth - closing in quickly on 50 years - and during that time I have seen more teams with losing records then winning ones.  And while not "okay" that is just how it was...and no set of fans perfected the cry of "There's always next year!" better then we Red Sox fans.  But what I always did come to expect was that the team year in and year out tried their very best.  They CARED every time they took the field and winning was the only goal.  I can accept and love a losing team full of players who played their hearts out.  What I can not accept is what the 2012 Red Sox turned into.

empowernetwork.com

 

 

Two year olds on playgrounds tried harder and complained less then the boys (sorry - you do not deserve to be called men) who resided in that hallowed ground known as Fenway Park.  And really?  During the year long celebration for the Grand Dame's 100th Birthday that was the best you could do?  The lot of you should be ashamed of yourselves.  The slide into irrelevance began in the waning days of the 2011 season when all attention was focused on "Chicken-gate" and the team's epic collapse.  In the real world which none of you understand, when an employee (And let's not forget that is all you really are.) fails to meet the standards of the organization, that person gets fired.  But in the crazy world of sports it is the manager who gets fired for not being able to motivate a bunch of over-paid athletes to go out and win!  So out with the old and in with the new....

 

the Bleacher Report

 

 

 

 

Oh - that's right.....you guys didn't like Bobby V.  He made you work hard...took your beer and chicken away....called you out when you didn't play well.  Imagine that - he was the boss and he wanted to hold you accountable!  (Off the record - do you really think Robert Kraft would have ever agreed to meet with members of the Patriots behind Bill Belichick's back so they could bitch about how mean Bill was being to them?  I'm pretty sure he would have told them - Get back on the field and do your jobs before I find someone to take your places!) So what did you boys do?  Did you prove him wrong?  Did you show him and everyone else that you were BETTER then Bobby V said you were?  Nope.  You acted just like you did for Tito...you gave up.  You sat back and pouted.  You took your bats and balls and checked out. 

 





Congrats!  You got what you wanted....a new manager.  A new manager whose old team went on a spending spree to significantly upgrade the team AFTER they let him out of his contract. Hmmmm...  A team with 273 catchers and no one to play first base.  A team that pretty much has its starting rotation in tack from last season....and we all know how stellar THEY were....yes please read that last statement with lots of of oozing sarcasm.  We fans are pretty much faced with the same ship and a new captain.  And this fan?



Look, we have all worked for bosses that we haven't like - but that doesn't mean that we roll over and stop working!  Every single one of us in the real world have had days were we just didn't feel like working...we are human after all...and sometimes we called in sick or we went to work and didn't give it our full effort.  I understand that happening....but the entire season?  Seriously?  With few exceptions, how is it possible that so many of you had so little regard for the game and for the fans that you just stopped trying?  And don't give me some BS story how it was Bobby V's fault!  It most certainly wasn't!  YOU - all of you - could have risen about the din in the clubhouse and came out swinging if your hearts were in the game.  And that is what saddens this fan the most....your hearts weren't there.

soxsticker.com

 



We now find ourselves on the cusp of the 2013 season...Truck Day is but a few weeks away....and you - ALL of you who are members of the Red Sox organization have some very tough decisions to make.  For each and everyone of you has something to prove to this Red Sox fan and to members of the Nation both near and far.  Are you going to go out and actually PLAY baseball this year?  Are we the fans - the fans who spend our hard earned money to pay your salaries - going to see the fire-in-your bellies every time you take to the mound or the batters box?  Will we fans see you take the field each day with a renewed sense of purpose?  Will we see that you actually love the game as much as we do?  Or will you just be setting us up for disappointment again?  Each of you has a decision to make.  But please do this fan a favor - if you can not love and respect this crazy game as much as I do, then please, have the decency to step aside and let someone else take your place.  We fans will respect you for that.

It IS the next season that we have been dreaming about Boys...make it count.

Play Ball!

Jules