UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD

Not to pile on Johnny Damon, but how much endorsement money did he just pass up to go to New York? I know I ranted on it a while back, but there is something to be said about staying somewhere comfortable where your pole-dancing wife can get a TV gig, a cushy job for life is yours if you want it after retirement (Jim Rice may have been unfriendly with the media, but he stayed in Boston his entire career and is basically assured a team-related job for the rest of his life. How do you put a price tag on that?) Does Johnny really think anyone in New York is going to be interested in him? Somehow a sequel will not play too well in the Bronx, I imagine. Heck, unless he starts brawling with A-Rod and Psycho Sheffield in the locker room, the back pages are gone form his future. He gave up a statue in Boston for a few extra dollars now.

Of course, on the other hand, I doubt there are many people that would be able to objectively weigh the long-term benefits of a position when faced with the big dough and bonuses and whatnot of the newest suitor on the block. How many executives spent a year or more scrambling for work after bailing out and going with some stupid start-up of the week in the late nineties in an attempt to get as much money in hand at once? Scott Boras really does not give a flying you know what about Johnny Damon and his life outside baseball: he only cares about his percentage on the deal he is working on right now.

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NOMAH IS A DODGAH:

Not to be rude or anything, but did anyone else take a gander at the AP photo of Nomah and Mia Hamm Sandwich holding up the Dodgers jersey and think: can you imagine what that poor kid would look like? Sure, the kid would be a great athlete, but the costs of keeping paper bags around to cover that face…

All kidding aside, it is sad that after all the good that Nomar did in Boston the most emotion I can muster over Nomar packing up his bags and moving out west is a slight wave of the hand and an of-hand: bah! The man is Spike Owen to me now. Sure, you are a little curious about where he will end up, but otherwise we are all more concerned about figuring out what to do with three second base candidates.

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GOING GREEN:

Sure, I meant to tune in to the Celtics game the other night versus the Warriors, but without Run-TMC for the past 15 or so years, who really cares about the Golden State Warriors? Also, what the heck right do they have referring to themselves as the nickname, not a good one, of an entire state with three other pro teams? Golden State. Where do they play anyway? Not L.A., not Sacramento, so where? Talk about a team that could/should be moved to Las Vegas!
Anyway, between wrapping presents, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and checking in on how Jamal Lewis was running against the Green Bay Packers last night (as he only carried my entire fantasy football season on hi s back) the Celtics, as they tend to do lately, totally slipped my mind.

The good news is I needed 12 points from Jamal Lewis to advance to the second round and I got 13. The bad news is that one of the few loyal Celtics fans out there totally missed the game and likely dropped the viewership from 13 to 12 regular viewers.

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SEEING RED:

So is the plan officially to move Dustin Pedroia back to shortstop for a year in AAA and let Alex not Joey Cora handle SS in 2006? It makes sense to me and I see no reason to panic or rush into a rash decision for the Red Sox. Trading Manny to Anaheim for the O.C. and Darin Freaking Erstad seems like such a bad move that I cannot imagine the Sox pulling the trigger on that one. Dealing away phenom Andy Marte makes no sense either. His value is over the next four years before becoming arbitration eligible as he hits down in the order and develops into the full-time replacement for Manny in 2008.

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LIFE IS CRUEL:

Is there nothing worse than sitting on the commuter rail listening to two bozos talk about trading Manny to Seattle for Ichiro would be such a great deal. It reminds me of Gallagher’s t-shirt: YOU, OUTTA THE GENE POOL!

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