I cannot imagine not being a Red Sox fan. It's just too ingrained in me. And as has been pointed out, Mookie's stance -- must go to free agency and talk of a $400 mm deal -- is part of why the Sox are entertaining trading him. If he made it clear to the Sox that his priorities are a market deal AND staying in Boston, I would think they would and could try harder to make it happen. My sense is that being in Boston is a positive for him but hardly a driver. And it might not even be a positive.
Parenthetically, the grass is not always greener, and I do wonder how Mookie will enjoy playing in a market that is less baseball crazed, if he goes to a place like SD or LA. Or many other cities.
But I digress. My main point is that while I diverge heavily from the view that says "I am done with the Sox if they trade Bettts," I have to admit that I do feel some reduction in my intensity around sports. It's based on the sum total of what we've experienced in the last few years. Things such as the NFL punishing Brady with such sparse evidence of ball deflation, Brady possibly leaving the Pats when really, he should be a Patriots player for life in my opinion, the Mookie situation, the Sox sign stealing nonsense, the Pats organization being stupid enough to actually tape another sideline (and I believe it was just stupidity, not cheating), Kyrie Irving needlessly pledging his fealty to the Celtics and then walking that back almost immediately thereafter, the Sox seemingly necessary focus on getting away from the luxury tax penalties, and the annual noise about will they or wont they go to the White House, collectively sap a lot of the fun out of it.
I am not overly focused on any one thing, and there are other buzzkill examples, but these sorts of things make rooting for my teams less joyous. What's the next disappointing off field thing I will be faced with?
So Mookie being traded will not push me over the edge. It wont make me quit the Sox. Or choose another team. Those notions are insane to me. But it will contribute to the sense that investing so much of myself into something that so often kicks me in the gut might have to be re-evaluated or might just naturally decline. In fact, I think that is already happening.