December
21, 2005: NFL Commentary, Week 15
By White Russian
He Sold His Soul
Showing
his true colors, J. Damon, formerly
of the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox, has
joined the enemy. J. Damon sold his services to the highest bidder, determining
that $40 million was just not enough to keep him in Boston. When a player
of J. Damon’s caliber becomes a free agent, he is guaranteed to make
a ton of money wherever he signs. The money is so obscenely high from all
suitors that it does not make sense to argue that the reason he chose New
York over Boston was simply because George offered more money. J. Damon wants
to be an even bigger rock star, and his wife was probably pushing him to make
the move so that she can make her big splash in the Big Apple. He claims that
he wanted to stay, like P. Martinez last season, yet decided to leave anyway.
If both truly wanted to stay, both could have, and both would have been paid
plenty of money. Instead they will both be grossly overpaid by the franchises
that they went to. Once you get to the dollar amounts they are looking at,
it is no longer a question of need. At the point they are at, it becomes more
a matter of trying to be the highest paid player at their position. It is
not about money – it is about ego.
When R. Clemens left Boston, he claimed the only places he would play were Boston or Texas. Then he went to Toronto, then New York, and finally Houston. Now he claims to really want to spend time with family and his son, who is in the Houston organization, and yet he is said to be considering both Boston and New York. Again, it is all about ego.
J. Damon was not home grown, as he had played in Kansas City and Oakland before, so seeing him leave does not have the same impact as a Nomar or a Clemens leaving. That said, J. Damon had become an important part of the Red Sox and his image was essentially the anti-Yankee. So now J. Damon will have to change his identity to join George’s team. Like Jason Giambi and M. Bellhorn before him, J. Damon will have to cut his hair and shave his face. That’s what George requires. It’s like his test to make sure you truly are willing to sell your soul.
The worst of it all is making that choice to go to the Yankees. Any player who plays for Boston should never go to the Yankees, and likewise, any player who plays for the Yankees should never go to the Red Sox. David Wells should not have signed with the Sox last season, and, thankfully, he has requested a trade. The Sox should not even be considering signing R. Clemens, due to his years in New York, including all the times he slobbered over the monument to B. Ruth. Before R. Clemens it just didn’t happen. Can you picture Jim Rice on the Yankees? Can you see Yaz playing for the Yanks? Ted Williams? Obviously the players from long ago did not have as much opportunity to switch clubs due to the lack of free agency, but it just does not seem like the Boston greats of the past would sell out like that. Like the Diesel says, J. Damon, or any other prominent Red Sox player, going to the Yankees “is like finding out a good friend is a pedophile.”
Monday Night Fawv-ruh
Green Bay's lethargic, pathetic, and embarrassing performance on Monday night
made Baltimore appear to be Super Bowl contenders, even though they had only
four wins going into the game. Brett Favre (pronounced "fawv-ruh")
looked like he was just chucking the ball in the air no matter where his receivers
or their defenders were. While the Packers looked uninterested and just plain
bad, the Ravens looked like USC playing Sac State.
Faces of Defeat
Fantasy Notes
San Diego won the battle, but White Russian lost the war. Heading into this
final week of the BMTG smallworld segment of the season, Sandman needed to
outscore White Russian by just over 500 points. By outscoring White Russian
by just over 800 points this week, Sandman has finished just over 300 points
ahead. While the 15 week segment that was just completed is a major factor
in the overall winner, the competition continues with Last Man Standing for
the final two weeks of the season as well as the pick 'em game for the final
two weeks.
Sandman was able to amass over 3,000 points for the week, despite the Indianapolis loss to San Diego. Even though Indianapolis scored only 17 points, they still provided plenty of smallworld gains. In the Oakland game, LaMont Jordan had a huge game, despite the fact that the Raiders only managed 7 points. But the big money maker again for Sandman was Seattle's Shaun Alexander, as well as their quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck. While San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson was slowed the last several weeks to minor injuries, Alexander never let up all season.
While Sandman performed like a super star, there was plenty of egregiousness elsewhere, with three owners violating the very important team representation rule. So that owners have to utilize all of the teams they draft, there is a requirement that each team be represented at least 20 times during the 15 weeks. Steamboy, Tin Man, and Brother Nature all violated this rule and are now subject to severe sanctions.
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