The Evil Has Shifted
F*BOSTON, Boston Red SoxShare This Post October 29th, 2007As haunting an image as it was to see Jonathon Papelbon clutch his hat after the final pitch of the 2007 season, the only relief that came to mind was reason number 10 from Why the Red Sox are Annoying. “Papelbon’s gay, not Irish.” And after watching him pitch the last inning with his face envisioning a circus seal suckoff while gazing into Captain Varitek’s mid-section, it was hard to deny that reason. You can bet a low blow like that will rattle any Red Sox fan out of their drunken states but you can be sure that Kevin Youkilis will open some eyes tonight as he and the rest of the Aryan Brotherhood burn a cross in celebration. No this isn’t going to be a platform to drown in the sorrows of another Boston Red Sox championship (although feel free to comment as needed, it does help a little), this is your first and last wake-up call Red Sox Nation, the evil has shifted and their is little time to escape.
For all the negative attention the New York Yankees receive for their free spending on the open market, the Boston Red Sox have quietly established themselves as the highest paid championship team in baseball history for the second time in four years. At a staggering $143M the Sox raised the stakes on their previous record of $127.3M, set in 2004, further distancing themselves from the third place New York Yankees whose championship in 2000 cost a mere $107M. $143M, that is a payroll of $89M more than their opponents, the Colorado Rockies. I’ll let those numbers sink in for a moment, because I know what your thinking, “who cares, we just won the World Series, and you know what, the Yankees didn’t.” And let me finish by saying, yes, it has been seven years since the Yankees won their last championship. Yes, New York’s payroll has swollen larger than A-Rod’s ego. And yes, without Joe Torre, New York is a franchise in peril. But sadly, that is how it all starts.
The once cursed 34,824 fans that made up Red Sox Nation has spread across America like wildfire since 2004. And as the fans keep spending that $14.95 to join Red Sox Nation, the very green fabric of the franchise has relinquished the cloudy curse to reveal the dollar signs that have been hidden by 86 years of faith and heavy drinking. It won’t be long till John Henry and his army of Red Sox Nation replaces the once well-oiled machine known as the Evil Empire. It is capitalism in all its glory and though the idiots may be gone, the new well-oiled machine that is the Boston Red Sox is primed and ready for a future of free spending to keep that army in tact.
As Alex Rodriguez fights his way out of New York, many wonder if he will be the final piece to complete Boston’s own Death Star. A healthy relationship between agent Scott “Dracula” Boras and Larry Lucchino may help but will it be enough to wake the true fans from their Championship hangovers? Or is it too late for a team that has spent its time and money becoming their rivals rather than hating them. After the dust settles on yet another championship parade many fans will realize what is on the horizon but for the majority, there will always be another band wagon to jump on. So enjoy it while it lasts Boston, because those lovable idiots that captured America’s heart are long gone from the days of breaking an 86 year silence. The band wagon is filling up faster than Red Sox Nation can shovel their soylent green into the masses, but in the end, a bought championship is a bought championship, don’t deny it, just enjoy it while it lasts.
(4 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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October 29th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
This response comes from Harvey_Bars (http://yardbarker.com/users/Harvey_Bars) on Yardbarker.com and it was so good I had to post it here:
If the purpose of a great writer is to conjure up strong emotions from your audience then my fellow ‘Barker jasoncarulli would be awarded the Pulitzer Prize tomorrow if it were up to me. After reading his article (http://yardbarker.com/mlb/articles/The_Evil_Has_Shifted/33388), all I could think of was that these four paragraphs penned by Mr. Carulli should be collected and distributed as a pamphlet entitled “So You’ve Decided To Hate The Yankees.” While jasoncarulli was trying to prove that the Red Sox “are trying to become their rivals” he in fact revealed the complete opposite. The Yankee fan base has become something they unfairly had to deal with for a long time: a group of people who scoff and belittle the success of those around them simply because those around them now execute their game plans more shrewdly and with greater results.
Considering the first paragraph is pretty much just homophobia and Nazi comparisons, I’ll move right to the second paragraph in which jasoncarulli tries to spin the Red Sox success as a byproduct of exorbitant spending:
“For all the negative attention the New York Yankees receive for their free spending on the open market, the Boston Red Sox have quietly established themselves as the highest paid championship team in baseball history for the second time in four years. At a staggering $143M the Sox raised the stakes on their previous record of $127.3M, set in 2004, further distancing themselves from the third place New York Yankees whose championship in 2000 cost a mere $107M.”
First off, throwing modifiers like ’staggering’ in front of $143M doesn’t really do much of your own team spends $52M more than that. The Yankees $195M payroll is $52M ahead of the next closest team, the aforementioned Red Sox. If were speaking in terms relative to the rest of the league, the difference between the Yanks and Sox payrolls in nearly identical to the difference between the Sox and the San Francisco Giants, which is the 11th (!) highest payroll. Now that’s a staggering figure.
He then follows that up with this point:
“$143M, that is a payroll of $89M more than their opponents, the Colorado Rockies. I’ll let those numbers sink in for a moment.”
What he’s trying to do here is give the impression that a good part of what the Red Sox have accomplished is due solely to the fact that they have money to throw around when its clear to any sports fan with any sense of rationality that MONEY DOES NOT EQUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS. For instance, the Cleveland Indians defeated said Yankees despite having a difference in payroll of $134M. And for those keeping score at home, yes, the DIFFERENCE in those two payrolls was more than every MLB team’s ENTIRE payroll, Yanks and Sox aside. I’ll let those numbers sink in for a moment.
Hidden between the leaps of logic and thinly veiled cheap shots that makeup the final two paragraphs (I’d rather watch a show entitled “86 years of faith and heavy drinking” over Sterling Hitchcock’s Yankeeography any day) is the final piece to what makes the Yankees metamorphosis into a jaded second fiddle team complete. Over the last decade, it has become the basic assumption that because of their tendency to (over)spend, that any big free agent that came on the market was the Yankees to have, if they so choose, which is the assumption that Carulli makes here with A-Rod only saying he may sign with the Sox basing it on the notion that Larry Lucchino has a healthy relationship with Scott Boras which to me is comical because I’m pretty sure that as Boras drinks his freshly squeezed glass of puppy blood in the morning, he’s not letting his relationship with any owner, good or bad, get in the way of the fact that he is in control of the greatest cash cow in the history of sports. Not to mention the Red Sox value something far greater than talent, which is chemistry. And yes, while they may bring in the occasional J.D. Drew (.314 postseason avg. this year) I can’t see the Red Sox feeling the need to bring in A-Rod when they just outscored their three postseason opponents by a score of 99-46. Does this seem like a team that really needs some massive, overpriced offensive upgrade? Therein lies the difference. The Red Sox will not blindly throw money at their problems while the Yankees will continue to dump silver dollars in a hydrogen powered potato launcher and aim it at the next Kei Igawa.
I am not a Red Sox fan. I did however grow up in New Jersey and at one time was an irrational Yankee hater. I despised their dynasty to the point I would have cage fought my 85 year old grandmother if it meant the Yankees would not win another championship. Now? Well, you know the old saying “Winning cures everything” well, its akin to that but in the opposite direction. The hatred has gone away now that the Yankees have become this parody of itself trying to solve their woes with the all mighty dollar when all they do is make their situation worse. I mean just look at this commercial that we’ve all seen ad nauseum over the last few months. What was supposed to be a cute, lil’ tongue-in-cheek spot became an embodiment of Yankee baseball.
So, yes, through the course of this offseason, you may hear a lot of talk from Yankees fans about how the Red Sox are the new “Evil Empire” but I’ve personally seen too many poorly written action movies where the bad guy with his back against the wall tries to illicit compassion from the protagonist only to go back to their devious ways once they regain control. So as Vito Steinbrenner hands over the reigns to Fredo, excuse me if laugh uncontrollably as they look for pity. Yes, there has been a shift in the AL east but it is not of evil, but of power.
October 29th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Bravo! A brilliant response and much appreciated. I guess the main point that I was trying to illicit is that a level of expectation is evolving in New England and to keep all the “new” Red Sox fans around, John Henry is going to have to open his wallet to keep them satisfied. You can blame whoever you want for the rash of big contracts that is steadily fueling an over-priced market and yes it may have started with George Steinbrenner, but how can you blame a man for delivering a dynasty? Who knew it would unknowingly spawn into an Evil Empire? Up until last season, teams like Kansas City would pocket the luxury tax money, which was put in place to distribute some kind of level playing field, without blinking. The fact that Steinbrenner built a billion dollar franchise out of a $10M team proves his committment to not only delivering to his fans but to the game of baseball an opportunity for others to follow.
So now the Yankees are taking a stand against a monster that Tom Hicks created (not Steinbrenner) and let it be known that if and when the Red Sox buy into A-Rod’s astronomical price tag it will only be for the greater good of the fans, because those two seasons in between their last championship were unacceptable failures, and the growing three headed beast that is John Henry, Larry Lucchino, and Theo Epstein will not be allowed to let it happen again. It seems that in order to deliver a dynasty without a salary cap it can become quite a costly. And if the Red Sox plan on following the Yankees winning ways, they better be prepared for the side-effects.
So the Yankees got out of control with some bad contracts and the example has been set. But that didn’t stop the Red Sox from making the same mistakes, and you can look no further than all three of their major offseason moves (Dice-K, JD Drew, Julio Lugo). But if I hear one more person talk about all the “home-grown” talent the Sox have, I am going to lose it. Do me a favor and compare the rosters, because the last time I checked, Boston has 7 home-grown players, and the Yankees 14. So what do you think is going to happen when those players pan out and develop HOF careers? Cha-ching.
February 4th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
[…] bear the burden of our own curse — but enough already. In the eyes of a lot of baseball fans, the Red Sox have become every bit as evil an empire as the Yankees ever […]