I've been a huge Nomar Garciaparra fan from his earliest days as a Red Socker until the current minute. The #5 T-shirt I wore in a video from 1999 (It's all cued up to be the next in that me/Chan vacation video series!) is the same one I wore to Fenway when he came back last season. I, like a majority of Red Sox fans, am happy that A. he wants to retire as a member of our team and that B. the team is embracing the idea.

But here's what's gonna happen. People (90% being Yankee fans disguised behind their digital persona as a "neutral fan who hates the Red Sox and Yankees," 5% being members of the Boston media who love when bad things happen to the Sox and when the Yanks do well because it's a "better story," and 5% being those old, crusty, negative Red Sox fans who complain about literally anything the team does) will flood the e- and airwaves with talk of how "the Red Sox are stealing your money! Look at how bad and stupid they are! They'll probably charge you $10 to watch the press conference and FORCE you all to buy a commemorative bla bla bla." It's all cut-and-pasted from a template with (if they have half a brain) the relevant words and names plugged in. (A great example came yesterday when someone on a messageboard accused the Red Sox of suckering people in to spending money on a spring training game only for fans to see the stars for a few innings only, as if the fact that the stars playing only a few innings in early exhibition games doesn't happen with EVERY team. As a bonus, the guy said this about a ROAD GAME. Whoops! See, you can't just throw your template out there at any time when you have no idea what you're talking about. He also reeked of Yankee fan but as usual didn't admit it to make it appear that his opinion was shared by the masses.)

At that point, most of your co-workers will buy into the hype, and spew back to you what they heard on the radio/internet as if they thought of it (See Manny Ramirez). Some newer under-20 Yankee fans will also make fun of the "one-day contract" concept, as they will have never heard of it before because it's never happened in their fantasy league.

By then, it will appear as if "everyone" hates this whole idea, and that it's really dumb and un-awesome. And the sports radio hosts will laugh at us geeks who care about this stuff, when in reality their job exists because of it. Just remember, though, the bulk of fans (over 99%) don't post on the web or call radio shows. It was proven when Nomar returned to Fenway last year that Red Sox fans love the guy. So if you are a Nomar fan, and people are saying stupid shit to you, take a deep breath, and think about the situation: It's very simple, no one's trying to take your guns or money away from you, we're just letting a guy we love retire in a Red Sox uniform. The world will be the same tomorrow, except that Corey Haim won't be there. So when someone blindly says to you, "You hear about this Nomar thing, pretty shitty and stupid, huh? Lolcatz facebook tweet", you don't have to give 'em the giggle and nod, just say, "No. Totally fine. No problem. A nice gesture. Fine." (If they listen to sports radio, feel free to add that that's the "bottom line.")