Finally in Boston we can take a MJ break. Not to talk about the political status of Honduras but to talk of the return of Nomah. Boston is full of the most loyal and yet harshest fans. I remember the first time I ever saw Dice-K, he dropped the puck at a Bruins game when we were still figuring out how to say his name correctly. Everyone in the Garden stood, only expecting greatness, from a pitcher we truly didn’t know much about. Last same I saw him, he was on the mound at Fenway, and he got booed like a Yankee. Before 2004 the medias only job in Boston was to boo. You read the sports page now and it’s a whole new thing, full of bunnies and flowers, and maybe the occasional Manny bashing (even with him all the way in LA). Before it was all a bashing.
Tonight lets not just focus on our break-up with Nomar. Lets focus on the man, the player. He was a go to guy while he was in the city. Kids playing peewee mimicked his superstitions at bat. For a while, he was Boston. He embraced the butchery of his name. Think back to a shortstop Nomah caliber, who has stayed long enough for you to invest in a jersey…
The trade ended up working. But without Nomah, even just his promise, that season would we have made it to the Series? I cried when he was traded. I went to Wrigley that season in my jersey and Cubs fans bought me beers, because we got each other. We understood the misery of curses, we had an excuse to be massholes, we had every right to drink a few too many, and boo at our own players.
But now we have six players going to the All-Star game, about time, Wakey! We have two rings, and Cubs fans hate us. Boston sports writers are smiling, guest starring on PTI and Around the Horn. It’s been raining all summer, and we are in better moods than five years ago. We’re in first place.
So I’m standing for Nomah. Lets show an old hero how far we have come. And then lets stand for who will hopefully become a Fenway hero, Smoltz…
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