I have tickets to three A's games this year, so it looks like I'll be seeing Nomar, whose player tee I still wear to this day. This is going to be another one of those deals where as his return approaches, any media people who don't like Nomar will come out and make it seem like there's some uncertainty about how he'll be received at Fenway. Nomar was one of the most popular Red Sox of all-time, and he's not wearing pinstripes. I can't think of a reason why Sox fans wouldn't give him a standing ovation. But if the media wants it to be a debate, they have the power to make it one, to the point where some people start believing it.

But here's the key--the people who get brainwashed aren't the ones who go to the park. So we're okay. I still feel like there's a huge chunk of Red Sox fans who don't follow the team beyond watching the games. And that's okay! The people with kids, the people who are above a certain age, kids up to a certain age--they just aren't sitting around on the Web. If they are, they're probably watching the latest viral video or canceling one social networking site account so they can join whatever one's popular this week.

In other words, these people just see how the players play, and how they act at the park when they're at a game. All the crap spewed by media misses these people, so if they do things like telling us we all hate, for example, Pedro, it's not gonna work because the fans at the game love Pedro. The Internet crowd seems to think they're 100% of the audience, but I feel like they're only a small portion of people who follow the Sox.

I am trying to be more like those people, in that I've been slowly boycotting different sports sites and stations. I'm always going to follow my team, and seek out info on them using the Web, but I don't need the opinions of media people who are the furthest thing from me as a fan. I feel a lot healthier this way. There are certain sites you'd probably guess I check daily that have been off my radar screen for years. Try it. If you want.