The Nation Speaks
Random observations from The
Nation:
"So here it goes, it doesn't bother
me one bit that young Hanley idolizes Derek Jeter. Jeter is one of the few
people who is the face of a franchise. Jeter is the Yankees, yes I hate the
Yankees, yes if I saw Jeter in some low lit back alley, with a few drinks in me,
his playing career would probably get cut short. But for As long as I can
remember, Jeter has been a Yankee. I only hope that someday Hanley will be as
hated and respected by the Yankees, as Jeter is by the Red Sox. Jeter makes some
big money, no one is denying that much, but unlike other people on that team
(Giambi, Brown, Jared Wright, hell even Randy Johnson so far this season) Jeter
earns every damn dime they give him, I just hope Hanley doesn't end being as
much of lush as Jeter (or ending up in love with his third baseman for the
matter)
"From the sunny beaches of south
Florida, Sox fan for life (minus the card holding privileges)"
-- Mike Daley
Yankee Dome. "Thought everyone
up in Boston should have an idea of what is happening down here in Tampa after
the Sox-Rays series last weekend:
- "Sox vs. Rays average roughly about
30,000 fans for the weekend series. For the 3rd year in a row, Red Sox fans outnumber the Devil Ray fans four-to-one. Throughout each game a consistent "Here we go Red Sox, here we go" chant is over whelming while the Rays' fans are unable to keep up with the
energy level of the Sox fans! In turn the Rays' management unsuccessfully pump the sound of
"boos" into the stadium through the sound system in an attempt to drown out the
Sox fans' chants.
- "After the series and the benches
clearing on Sunday the Tampa area sport radio stations continue their tyrant (sic) on
Sox fans with a little more vigor we have now gone from loud and out numbering
to as one painfully boring DJ on 620 AM likes to say "jack-offs!" They rip into
anything Boston and call us nothing but bandwagon fans who don't know baseball
(I am sure with a World Series championship there are a few bandwagon fans but I
tend to believe not all of us are!) They prank call the Sox and quite a few
stations to disrupt, as they put it, the sad state of Red Sox Nation. (all in all
quite amusing that they have now spent two weeks talking about the Red Sox to be
honest)
- "They decide they need to outnumber the Sox fans at the next series and begin a campaign called "Shell
Schilling" quickly they realize that they do not have enough Rays' fans to outnumber the 15,000-20,000 Sox fans who attend games in Tampa so they turn to
large base of Yankee fans in Tampa and are now requesting Yankee fans to join
them in the next series to do nothing but make life miserable for Sox fans and
when he pitches Curt Schilling.
- "I propose that Red Sox fans from
all over make a point to join the sox fans of SW Florida, if possible, come to
Tampa in July and out number as we always do not only the Rays' fans in their
home stadium but now also the Yankee fans who are signing up by the dozens to
attend the games and make a night at the park miserable for the Red Sox players
and fans.
"Just
think of the sight... Monday night baseball on ESPN (why would ESPN be carrying
the game...Sox-Rays, has been the headline for four straight days) they scan the
crowd and all that is seen and heard is Sox fans taking over a visiting
Stadium!" -- Red Sox Fan Southwest Florida
Vote for Pedro.
"Enough about Pedro already!!! The guy is
gone and the whole character assassination thing you've got going here got old
before spring training!! Let it go already. Why can't you just take Pedro's time
in a Sox uniform for what it was- a couple of the best years anyone has ever
seen and a couple of very good years....and oh yeah....the first World
Championship in 86 years!!!! Why can't you just be thankful that the guy was
here, accept the fact that he's gone, and move on? This is the same nonsense
that has always gone on with the Boston media, because of knuckleheads like you
who can't get enough of trashing a player because he left. You bitch about the
stereotypes of Sox fans that are upheld by crap like Fever Pitch and the idiots
on 'EEI, but you do more to uphold it than just about anyone out there."
-- Greg Vassak
Vote for Theo.
"...Here is the question that
remains unanswered: If the Sox were willing to give Martinez as many as three
years by the time December arrived, why didn't they offer that to him in March
2004 in hopes of preventing him from going to free agency altogether?" --
Tony Massarotti, Boston Herald"
"I can't read Theo's mind, but do you think maybe it had something to do with the
idea that they wanted to make sure he made it through the year healthy? By
extending him in March 2004 at 3 years $40 million you'd run the risk of signing
a guy who may never pitch during that new extension. By waiting until the off
season you can avoid that first year of risk... so, if Theo was playing Xbox
this would be a great question. Theo took a calculated risk and it didn't work
out (he wanted Pedro at 3 years and $40 Mil and didn't get him). Losing Pedro was
a risk worth taking when you consider the downside, Pedro getting hurt in 2004
and never throwing a pitch during his $40 million dollar extension.... In Theo
We Trust, In Mazz we expect better questions!" -- Tom
Old school Lou. "The
problem is, Curt has a short memory. He doesn't remember when he was a young
pitcher. We have a lot of young pitchers here and they're trying to learn to
pitch at the big-league level. Our kids are learning to pitch inside and they
have to do that to survive up here." -- Lou Pinella
Actually Lou, the problem is that you
don't know how to use stats:
Schilling's HBP each
year since 1988: 1988 - 1, 1989 - 0, 1990 - 0, 1991 - 0, 1992
- 1..." -- Michael, New Braunfels, TX
Zimmer down. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but
didn't Zimmer use the "You don't throw at a guys head" excuse when he charged
Pedro during the "Zimmer Down" episode back at Fenway in 03? It would appear
that Zim is giving approval to throwing at guys heads by his silence. Zim and
Pinella are two of the biggest hypocrites in the game today, Zim for his
silence, and Lou for his arrogance. I don't think that there is a baseball fan
alive today who thinks that Pinella didn't order his pitchers to throw at the
Sox batters. He knows that next time the Sox come to town he'll put asses in the
seats of that crappy field down there in Tampa in anticipation of an all out
brawl. Nice going jackasses. Once a Yankee, always a Yankee" --
John Peterson, Santa Monica, CA
"Nomar Never Used Steroids." "Not that I
think it will matter to you but kudos on the Nomar bit. I have been critical in
the past but that was an impressive thing for you to do." -- Patrick Sullivan
Hanley loves Jeter? "I just saw the little clip where
protégé Hanley Ramirez has decided he idolizes Derek Jeter. Now before I say
this, it should be pointed out that I am a die hard sox fan, with roots in
Bangor, Maine, I live in south Florida and go to school in Boca Raton, where
every other person is a Yankees fan, trust me on this, Sox fans like me are hard
to find, I even started a group called Red Sox Fans Rock. So I need not be
questioned, I may live in south Florida, but I listen to every single Sox game
on XM radio, and before that became available used to get MLB ticket services.
- "Any help you can provide spreading the word and helping turn Tropicana field
into a sea of Sox fans would be appreciated
