Thursday, January 26, 2006

 

The Future is Bright

In the days approaching the now famous "gorilla suit" Halloween, I expressed concern with the motives of our ownership. I worried that a short-term outlook would get in the way of what was best for the team. Funny, although not exactly in the form that I speculated, it seems like that's exactly what happened.

Differences in philosophy caused theo to walk, or so the FO says, and maybe I'm the only one who believes them. When theo made his statement in November about not being able to do the job because his heart was not in it, many people could not understand. We needed someone to blame, and Lucchino made an easy scapegoat (along with chb, but we'd want him burned at the stake anyway, I imagine.) It's not money, so it must be a personal rift/power struggle between the prodigy and his mentor, right? Now that theo's back, despite John Henry's statements, most people believe Lucchino has lost his veto power, thinking theo would only come back with autonomy.

Some people are in it for the power and the money, and that's it. While we might admire these people's accomplishments, they aren't exactly the type you'd pick for the godparent of your child, right? (in fact I think we call these people "sell-outs") The one thing we've all liked about theo since day one is the sense that he is not about that. Despite his assertion that to become the GM he had to give up being a fan, we all know where his heart is, and knowing he truly wants the best for the ballclub helps us in red sox nation to let go a little bit and trust.

The thought that theo could not believe in the direction of the organization really disturbed me. It pretty much wiped my faith in the organization away. It almost made me believe these ridiculous skank-taunts that we wouldn't see another ring for another eighty-six years. Loyal readers of reb sox would be right to assume that my recent leave-of-absence was partially due to apathy and loss of faith. My approach to this off-season has been cowardly, with hands over my eyes like a little girl at a horror movie/ boy at a chick flick saying "let me know when the bloody killings/gross kissing (sell-off of our best prospects) is over."

The statement of "we now have a shared vision," the concept of our brass being on the same page, the mention of spirited discussions and healthy debates... hey maybe you all see this as smoothing things over for the press. I don't. My heart healed and my trust was restored when I read these words. Mistakes will be made by the best of teams, but no organization can reach their potential without sharing the same goal and agreeing on the avenues to acheive that goal. With a shared vision, there "ain't no mountain high enough" to keep our team healthy and competitive for years to come - and really, what more can a fan ask?

Comments:
Bingo! The path upward is always littered up dips and turns. The team dipped and you momentarily turned. The road upward is level now, and we as fans who were confused and disillusioned are back. At least I am, and you.
 
Now that Theo is back, that hopefully means that whatever disconnect there was in the FO that would make him want to leave in the 1st place has been fixed, which is definetely a good thing.

I hope the Sox FO really means it when they say that they are going to, at least attempt, to keep contract negociations and other such dealings private and out of the press, a-la The Pats. I see that as a GOOD THING. Hope they follow through.
 
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