So I wrote a little something yesterday about Jonathan Papelbon griping about the Red Sox Opening Day. Since there was no transcript of his video appearance, I had to watch it several times to type his comments down. What fun that was.
Anyhow, my criticism of Papelbon got picked up by a ton of sites, including Baseball Think Factory, AOL Fanhouse, Can’t Stop the Bleeding, Lone Star Ball, Sliding Into Home, and A Diehard Yankees Fan. (Thanks for the shout-outs!) Now this blog entry is our most-read Subway Squawkers post for this year. Hooray!
We’ve gotten a ton of comments so far about what I said on Cinco Dopo. Here are a few of them, and my responses:
The first of many Anonymous posts says:
You do know that EVERY SINGLE Sox player said similar things, right? So are you going to put up an article that says, “Waah! John Smoltz whines and complains about Opening Day ceremony” or “Waah! Mike Lowell whines and complains about Opening Day ceremony”.
If all the Sox agree with Papelbon, which I haven’t seen, then that’s a pretty sorry reflection of the team, and what they think of their fans. And yeah, I do think they’re all out of line. Just the same way Red Sox fans thought Manny Ramirez and David Wells were out of line when they complained about the fans.
And yes, if a Yankee acted the same way, I would make the same criticisms.
Squawker reader NAM said:
And this somehow is worse than Joba the Hut and his drunken tirade or A-Roid’s sober statements?
It’s not. I have repeatedly both criticized A-Rod and Joba, as well as Papelbon – in fact, I had just ripped into Joba the day before. Didn’t think I had implied Papelbon was worse than Joba. But they do have something in common – when it comes to their propensity for saying ridiculous things, both could use a nice steaming cup of Shut the Heck Up.
Uncle Mike opines:
Say what you want about certain Yankees who have gone too far, but Jonathan Papelbon is scum. Not only does he essentially tell Red Sox fans that he’s too good for them — yuuuuck, I’m actually empathizing with Red Sox fans, but that’s how much of a louse Papelbon is — but he’s threatening a team executive with being sent down to Pawtucket, as if he has that kind of influence over the front office.
I feel sorry for Red Sox VP Sarah McKenna. In these horrid economic times, she tried to come up with something to show appreciation for those fans still spending their money on Boston tickets. She didn’t deserve to be trashed like that.
Another Anonymous wrote:
Poor little pitcher boy might turn an ankle on one of those big-bad steps, fall down and bruise his shins. OMG! My widdle heart is breaking…..
Yep. Fans have to go down those same steps every game they attend. And somehow, they manage to do that feat with a minimum of mishaps. But for Papelbon, traversing these same steps is like a triathalon or something. And no, the players were not in cleats – they were told to wear sneakers.
As for Papelbon, somebody who’s so concerned about injury didn’t seem to worry about pulling anything with all those dopey dance moves last year!
Red Sox fan Paul from Boston disagreed with most Sox fans commenting. He writes:
Less is more boys!!! Just shut up and do what you’re paid a hefty sum to do.
My favorite, response, though, was this Anonymous one:
Ah, shut up. Everyone sucks.
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