The following is a previous post of mine from shortly after Johnny Damon signed with the yanks. Then and now, it briefly sums up my feelings on the matter. I think it's appropriate for the day Johnny returns to Fenway Park. It, along with a subsequent post, included below, also clarifies--this one last time, I swear--why I refer to the team from the Bronx as "Mr. Dunbar." The one thing I've added is a rendering of what Mr. Dunbar looks like to me. Feel free to use this as your guide, or draw your own version of Mr. Dunbar and send it in to me. Then I can do a post of all the Dunbars I receive. Here's original post #1, from 12/22/05:
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Bob Ryan just doesn't get it. This article starts by telling Sox fans to give Johnny a standing O next season, prefacing it with the dreaded "show some class."

His reasoning seems to be: There was nothing unfair about what happened. (Yeah. So?) He was a really good player for the Red Sox. (Yeah. So?) Does he really think people are going to read his article and say, "Oh yeah...he was a good player. He did play by the rules. I'll cheer him as a member of the other team! I'll even cheer for his team to beat ours!"

Then he tries to compare this to Manny getting here the same way as Johnny left. As if Manny had been the star of the yankees before coming to the Red Sox.

Hey, Bob, your mom just divorced your dad and married the guy across the street--the one who used to molest you when you were little. But give credit where it's due. Give her a big hug. She always put food on the table for you, and she legitimately went through the divorce process and then had a nice legal wedding with Mr. Dunbar. She played by the rules. So show some fucking class when she and the new mister come over and have sex in your room.

Also, I had this fantasy that the yankee brass would end up wining and/or dining Damon here in NYC. And I'd find out where they were going and me and a hundred other Sox fans would go and hold up signs outside the window, telling him much we love him and want him to stay. And Johnny would give us all a wink over Cashman's turned back, letting us know he's just messing with the yanks. Then he'd sign with the Sox and we'd all live H.E.A.

It's just so disappointing how it went down. He didn't even see if the Sox could give him a better offer. (Note: any Red Sox offer would include clearance to grow hair on any part of the body if that's what one wanted, and fans who all already treat him like a god instead of ones who won't want him anyway because he stands against everything they represent.) It was just, "You wanna play for us?" "'Kay."

Very sad.

Note to homophobes: Go two paragraphs up for me talking about Damon winking at me! Gimme what you got! You may even impress some other homophobes and you could arrange to not hang out with them. Ever.

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Post #2, from 12/30/05:

Ever since I compared the yankees to the mythical "Mr. Dunbar" in [the above] post, I've been thinking: The yankees should be referred to as simply "Mr. Dunbar" on this blog, effective immediately.

So, let's try it out, using a sample conversation between person A, who we'll call "Me," and person B, who we'll call "Chan":

Me: What up, C-Sekshin?

Chan: Hey.

Me: I'll be going up to Boston this weekend.

Chan: You gonna see a game?

Me: Yeah, Mr. Dunbar's in town for three.

Chan: You better watch out, Mr. D's got another murderer's row this year.

Me: Eh. Mr. Dunbar's overrated.

Chan: You going to any games at Mr. Dunbar's house this year?

Me: I should, I do live in his neighborhood.

Chan: Nice. Well, I gotta go watch "Lazy Sunday" for the hundredth time.

Me: I'll join you.

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I'm so anti-cheer for tomorrow night, I've already come up with some excuses to use in case he actually does get cheers:

1. Group mentality.

2. When a portion of the crowd cheers, the booing only adds noise, making it seem like everyone is cheering. (See Clemens' "last" game at Fenway.)

3. The cheer side can add height and therefore visibility to its side by standing and raising their arms. The boo side can't sit any lower than they already are.

Remember these, because some Red Sox fans, I've learned, although I still can't believe it, will cheer for the New York yankees' leadoff hitter Monday night. But I'm hoping the boo people will not give in, and will try to out-boo the cheers. I also don't get this one: "I'll cheer him the first time for what he's done, but I'll boo from then on." Uh...why does he need the one extra set of cheers? You knew he was on the last year of his contract in 2005. You had so many chances to cheer him then for all he'd done. I know I took advantage of that opportunity. Guys like Millar, sure, they'll get a polite cheer from me as an Oriole. But to cheer a yankee? Not gonna happen. Not from me, anyway. If you're gonna do it, that's your call (with Lynn Doyle). But if it is, I, like, hope you don't have a ticket for tomorrow.