My Response

Like I said before, if you don't like it change the channel.

ESPN, while based out of Connecticut is a national network and as such has a responsibility to cover what they deem to be the most interesting and/or captivating sports stories in terms of a national audience. Unfortunately, for the critics of my previous post, there are Red Sox fans throughout the country, just as there are Yankees fans everywhere. And, as much as they may be annoyingly over exposed at this point, their playoff run did receive great interest and support from many casual unbiased (or anti-Yankee) fans. As a result it is at least my belief that ESPN felt the need to give coverage to the conclusion of the story. When I said that ESPN knew what it was doing I in no way said that general populous of ESPN viewers was still interested in the story. What I meant was that there was obviously enough interest, either from scattered Red Sox fans, or the casual fan who followed last season, in someone's professional opinion, to warrant the extra coverage, maybe at the expense of those who find it tedious.

In terms of the ceremony itself, I make no apologies for that. It wasn't for anyone out there who found it cheesy or overblown. It was for Red Sox fans older than I am who have watched this team and the teams before it, including the old players they brought out to honor during the ceremony. What's the point of acting like you've been there before when you haven't in your lifetime (unless you're very old) and when you have no assurance that you will ever get there again? We celebrated this team for what it was, and if that is cheesy and overblown so be it.

As far as the perception that people around the country don't believe what the Red Sox accomplished last year was anything extraordinary I must strongly disagree. First, no team outside of the NHL has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit. Whatever, that alone was going to happen eventually. Add to it the dramatic walk-off wins in games 4 and 5, the fact that they had to go into their legendary house of horrors where a year earlier they had been dismantled so heartbreakingly to play games 6 and 7, Schilling's injury, Lowe's troubles, the unusual personalities, and the fact that they had not won a championship for the most loyal and rabid fan base (w/the Yankees and Cubs) in America in the better part of a century, and you have a pretty damn good story and certainly more than an "adequate" performance. That of course is not even mentioning the curse, if you buy into that. Talk about their payroll all you want, but the fact is they beat a team with a higher payroll in the ALCS and St. Louis is near the top of the national league in terms of salary. I understand if you believe their salary limits the immensity of their victory with regard to the MLB as a whole. However, in terms of individual performances and specific circumstances their achievements do make one of the great stories in sports history.

All that being said, I'm still not trying to tell anyone to watch or appreciate the coverage, which is over at this point. If I were not a Red Sox fan I wouldn't care either.

Finally, believe me, Red Sox fans find Johnny Damon's recent media slut-fest more annoying than you do. When he existed in relative long-haired obscurity he hit the ball, now he writes and signs books and grounds out to second. Not to mention, he really is nothing more than a C-list celebrity at best who was only able to sell books by talking maliciously about cheating on his ex-wife with his current wife. Believe it, we (at least I) hate it too and if this Red Sox season goes south at any point he is setting himself up as the first and hardest fall guy.

Great comments, keep 'em coming.