Thinking of how great it would be to hear 18 straight minutes of commercials, unfunny and/or neanderthal callers, and rampant sexism and homophobia, I flipped on 103.7 FM, and sure enough, there was the talk of "what will happen?" tonight when Nomar is introduced. Now the one guy, who I've never had a problem with, Mike Mutnansky, was like me. However, Joe Haggerty was the co-host and he felt Nomar should be booed for that whole thing at the end of his time with the team. What Haggerty did was cement my feelings on Boston media people in general. This is what he said, noting that he was in the clubhouse with the '04 team:

(and I paraphrase), "Nomar said he couldn't take the pressure of the media in this town--said he felt like he was playing three games every night."

And? So you're admitting that YOU media types put all this crazy pressure on guys. And when they admit they can't handle it, you're gonna rip on them? This is what we mean when we say the media "ran a guy out of town." And this is why I hate the media for the most part. We're the fans, we're the ones who care about the team and its players. The media just wants to sell shit. They're not afraid to come right out and say that if the team goes through turmoil, it's "good for the show/paper/etc." So it makes perfect sense that a media robot would want to boo Nomar, because Nomar didn't give them what they wanted.

But he gave US what WE wanted. For many years. Even if Nomar blatantly quit on the team, asked out, whatever, for whatever reason, even IF that were true, I just don't see many of the 99 percent of Sox fans who considered Nomar their favorite or one of their favorite players for eight years holding a grudge over it, to the point where they'd miss their chance to cheer him.

AJM commented and said this one wasn't as clear cut. I think this one is very clear cut, but I will admit this: the one player's return that won't be clear cut at all is Manny. I was supporting him full-on, while many people had totally gone the other way...and then he was found to be cheating. I can't support that. But does that mean I'll boo him? No, but he made me not care so much about trying to out-cheer the booers if and when he does return to Fenway.

But as for Nomar, it's a no brainer. And I'd say EEI set this up so that they could turn this non-debate into a debate for ratings purposes if Haggerty didn't sound so sure of himself.

Another thing to remember is that we on the Internet fall into a trap of thinking this virtual world is the real world. If enough people take the time to express an opinion online, it starts to look like that's the way the world sees an issue, when in reality, this is just the voices of the very few who follow something at obsession levels. In the real world, people take their kids to the game, cheer the home team, and move on with their lives. While we were all dissecting what Nomar's body language in the dugout meant (and still remembering it five years later), most folks were changing diapers or mowing the lawn. And this may sound like I'm saying the stupid masses are correct just because there are more of them, but, I have to say, in the last few years I've done less following of the team through media sources, and it's way more enjoyable. I'm obviously as obsessed with the Red Sox as ever, but I do it just by watching the games and forming my own opinions. When I read about the team, I prefer to read other fan blogs. It still disappoints me that so many Sox fans discover the Internet side of following the team through the horrible Dirt Dogs, which I can proudly say I haven't visited in years.