The following quote by Pete "Dishonest Abe" was brought to my attention by Joy of Sox friend and international man of mystery "9casey." (I had to hear it from him since I pretty quickly learned not to ever read Abe for stress-related reasons--my Abe boycott is at Level DirtDogs: Never ever read.)

The Rays are at the Red Sox on April 13 for the home opener. So at least somebody will get booed louder than Josh Beckett.

He said this on February 29th. I wanted to respond to this before Beckett pitches a game (today at 4:05 in Detroit). Whatever Abe is doing, it pisses me the fuck off. He's either completely out of touch with fans, or he's trying to push his agenda on them, when he's supposed to be reporting on the team.

The guy's been to Opening Day before, right? Opening Day is when everybody comes out from hibernation and gets to see the team they love for the first time in months. Everybody's in a happy mood, watching a ceremony, and thinking about the possibilities of glory. The highlight--no matter what else happens in the pre-game celebration--is the moment when the home team takes the field, first the scrubs and the staff, and then one by one, the starting lineup. These are the guys who are the fans' favorites. These are the guys who, no matter what has happened in the past, no matter what team they used to play for, are the guys are now representing you in front of your eyes, the guys you want--need--to be their best. And listen to this next part because it's something apparently some people don't get: Even if a guy had been booed at the end of the previous season, even if you yourself had been booing him--and that's okay!--, it's a new year! If you have a problem with a guy on Opening Day, well, you're still in a happy, cheer-for-your-team mood! You cheer louder for some guys, sure, but "loud booing" for your starting pitcher?

And Beckett isn't even a guy who was getting booed in the first place! A player getting booed is an organic thing. As he starts to shit the bed, there are grumbles. If it gets really bad, you hear an audible boo or two amongst the grumbling. It rarely gets to that point with a home player. If it does, it's big news. Now, let's think back to 2011. Josh Beckett HAD A GREAT YEAR. Nine earned runs in 57 innings against the Yanks and Tampa. He ended with two bad starts, one of which was at home. I was at that game. And I was pissed. But when Josh Beckett came off the mound, it was "Goddamn, this guy's who's been so good for us started well in this game and then shat." That was the last game he pitched at Fenway. You're telling me at his next one, on Opening Day, 37,000 are going to be BOOING HIM? And louder than the other team even? (Which Abe also is clueless about--we're not playing the Yankees that day. I'm not even THINKING about the other team. Will I cheer Evan Longoria? Of course not. But will I be thinking, "Oh yeah, here come the Rays, get your guns out everybody!" Hell no. I'll be more like, "Let's get these guys over with so we can get to OUR team.") Again, even if Beckett had been steadily booed over the last several games of 2011, it wouldn't lead to boos the following Opening Day, what with him being a guy a lot of people love and who won us a World Series. No matter what the media made up about him in the off-season.

Abe is so locked up in his own e-world that he's left to think the people who call into talk shows and their online spawn are the actual fans, the ones who go to the games and understand that the media is full of shit and comes right out and admits they do things first and foremost for ratings/readers.

Either that, or, like I said, he knows full well how many people read his stuff online, and is casually saying something as if it were fact, causing people to do what he says they're going to do. To me, that's even worse than being completely out of touch. That's just evil. We need to do some booing at Fenway this year all right. And it needs to be in the direction of the media.

[Like I said, I wanted to say this before Beckett pitched in 2012--just in case something so crazy happens in his pre-Opening Day start that affects how he's thought of on April 13th. But the odds of that are remote.]