And with that, the innocence is now completely lost.
When the Red Sox won their first World Series exactly 370 days ago tonight, it just felt right. We had legends (Schilling, Pedro, Manny), heroes (Ortiz, Damon, OC, Foulke), and just plain likable guys (Minky, Wake, Millar, Mueller, Tek, etc.). And at the forefront was Theo Epstein, the knight in shining armor for a franchise that spent 86 years being raped by dragons.
Like any GM, he made good moves (Schilling, Foulke) bad moves (Jeremy Giambi, Ramiro Mendoza) and just plain balls moves (the Nomar trade, going after Mueller, Millar and Ortiz and them becoming icons).
As Keyser Soze once evoked: ‘And like that, he's gone.'
And just like that, every Sox fan in New England has gone screaming toward message boards and radio call-in shows because somebody is to blame here. Shaughnessy's column (the most controversial New England document since Thomas Paine's “Common Sense”, or so it would seem), Larry Lucchino, Theo himself. Someone has to take the fall for this.
The Boston Herald naturally placed all of the blame on the Globe. The Globe is owned by the New York Times, which has a 17% stake in the Red Sox. Hence, all Globe columns/articles must naturally support the front office, right? The fucking Herald would have you believe so.
Larry Lucchino has offically replaced Bruins owner Harry Sinden as the most hated man in Boston sports. With fans resorting to calling him a ‘filthy Jew', even though I'm fairly certain Lucchino is Italian (I can't imagine why people think Boston has a race problem), the question becomes: is it really his fault, or is he a convenient scapegoat? Lucky looks awful in this, the miserly old prick who went to war with the JFK Jr. of Boston sports. But who knows what happens behind closed doors. Maybe Theo dropped a deuce in Lucky's potato pancakes. Who knows? Maybe Theo called Lucky from his office and told him he's a doctor and Lucky is pregnant because he's a filthy whore. Who knows?
Maybe Theo is to blame. Maybe he's the greedy one for wanting $2.5 million (the original offer the Sox made to Oakland GM Billy Beane three years ago). Maybe he's just like Manny, unable and unwilling to accept the fame that comes with being a Boston icon. (I'm sure it's how I fell during the semi-annual PIC luncheons, when everyone keeps hounding me about how great I am. All I want to do it chat with Ali, and I've got goddamn Nate babbling on and on about Tony LaRussa. Up yours, Nate.)
So who's to blame? How about us, for starters? The fans who just can't shut the fuck up and enjoy the fact that we're just one year removed from a World Series title, get to follow a great team, and be a part of arguably the most famous fan base in the country (Yankees fans will disagree with that last part, but are the Farrellys making movies about NYY fans? Nope. Hmm, then again, ‘Fever Pitch' ate ass, so maybe you've won this round.)
When looking back and trying to pick my fondest memory of Epstein's tenure, I'm surprised to find that my favorite moment wasn't even one of the good times, but probably the worst of the worst time; shortly after Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS (the Aaron Boone game). Theo was being interviewed; he could barely speak, and his eyes were beat red. He reacted to the heartbreak of that game not as a businessman, but as a fan. I don't know why I keep remembering that, but I do.
So good luck, Theo. Like Tom Brady and Patrice Bergeron and Tedy Bruschi, you helped usher in a golden age of Boston sports. I hate to see you go, and as a diehard Red Sox fan who can't even imagine life rooting for any other team, it's a sad day to say goodbye.