Dan Shaughnessy, (aka CHB), takes Sox fans to task in his latest fish wrap for booing Johnny Damon whenever he makes an appearance at Fenway Park. He wonders if Yankee fans will boo him the next time he appears in the wind tunnel. I highly doubt that would happen. Damon can’t reject their offer and sign with their arch-rivals, as he did to the Sox after the 2005 season. But nowhere in his column does he mention Damon’s forked-tongue allegiance to the Sox midway through that season.
“There’s no way I can go play for the Yankees, but I know they are going to come after me hard,” Damon said. “It’s definitely not the most important thing to go out there for the top dollar, which the Yankees are going to offer me. It’s not what I need. I’d like to finish my career here “
From RedSox.com: Boston topped his choice of teams for which he would prefer to play. Damon said he’s “very happy” to be a Red Sox.
And then as soon as Steinbrenner unzipped his wallet that October… Zoom!!! He was in pinstripes just like that. Yet Shaughnessy maintains that Sox fans should welcome him into the back into the fold, if not as a Yankee player (highly unlikely at this point), then certainly any time he returns in a uniform other than a Sox uni.
Dan, Dan, Dan, Dan, Dan…
What Damon did was kin to stiffing your bride at the altar. It was like moving into a house with your best friend and watching said best friend turn into some unholy, evil and unrecognizable beast the moment the lease was signed. Johnny Damon turned into yet another Yankee only in it for the money. Ian at Sox and Dawgs agrees.
Yes, he was a major factor in the historic 2004 Red Sox World Series championship team. Yes, he was endeared by most, if not all of Red Sox Nation. But has he ever explained those remarks from May of 2005? Has he ever apologized for his turncoat behavior?
I’ve said it before, players such as Damon, Ramirez, and now Bay who have or had become endeared to the nth degree by Red Sox fans would be worth much, much more post-career had they stayed with the Red Sox to the end of their careers, a very historic team in its own right, instead of jumping from one team to another in search of the instant almighty dollar.
Shaughnessy needs to watch “The War of the Roses.” Some relationships are just impossible to repair.
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