How interested are you in the Red Sox at this point?

How interested are you in the Red Sox right now?

  • All time high ... this team could win next year (Willing to pay for season tickets/watch 100+ games)

    Votes: 11 2.3%
  • Pretty Interested, not as much as 2004 but I still going watch a majority of games

    Votes: 187 39.5%
  • Eh, the least interested I have been since FSG took over but still watch a game a week (Fire Chaim)

    Votes: 152 32.1%
  • Not even sure why I am here, couldn't care less, might catch some games this season out of habit

    Votes: 89 18.8%
  • I actively dislike the team and FSG at this point.

    Votes: 30 6.3%
  • Not a Red Sox fan, just here for the hawt MS Paint action

    Votes: 5 1.1%

  • Total voters
    474

Seels

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Jul 20, 2005
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actively dislike ownership and Chaim, not planning on watching until they can show that the Lester-Mookie-Bogaerts and Tito-Orsillo things aren't trends. I don't want to watch a bunch of random 2 war players with Tony Mazz doing the games. I'll follow the team but I watched 150 games a year from 1991-2019, and maybe 50 innings since. Manfred and the cheating scandal didn't help. I miss baseball. But I don't want to feel like I'm invested in a team that is putting on just a good enough product to not have Fenway only have 15-20000 show up.

Trading Mookie was brutal, but bringing back Cora - a convicted cheater - just killed it for me. I can't with this organization until he's gone.
Agree with this 1000%.

Actually - I'll be slightly more interested when Chaim is inevitably fired. But I probably still won't watch games until there is a massive overhaul of ideology and Mazz. The downgrade of Remy/Orsillo to Mazz/O'Brien has to be among the worst in the history of anything.
 
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ShoelessJoe

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I have been an ardent fan of the Red Sox since 1975. So, the lows have been very low, while the highs have been very high.

For a very long time after the 1986 season, I was convinced I would NEVER see the Red Sox win a World Series. The notion that I got to sit in Section 37, in 2013, to see my beloved Red Sox win at World Series in Fenway Park, for the first time since 1918, still makes me emotional every time I recollect that fantastic night. Thank you, again, @johnmd20 !

I absolutely love baseball and the Red Sox have been my vessel for baseball and my fondest connection to my grandfather and cousin for decades now. I am going nowhere!
lol perhaps this is a generational thing, because I feel the exact same and am guessing we’re similar ages as the first season I can really remember is 1978.

I can’t really understand the anguish as it seems to me like we just won the World Series like, yesterday??

This ownership group has made some questionable choices in the past few years, sure, although again, given the context of the 70’s when ownership let a hall of fame catcher who was native to New England walk because they forgot the paperwork I guess my tolerance for what I will put up with is a little higher.

Anyway, I suppose I’m an easy mark, because this crew has at least three years of leeway before I really start getting antsy, and in the meantime, I’ll enjoy the less crowded Fenway Park I guess!
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Honestly. If they let Devers go, I'm done.

I gave them a pass on Betts. Bogaerts they botched from moment one. They still have time with Devers. But if they let this kid walk, my 40 year fandom will go with it.

Not hyperbole. They are already giving me practically entire seasons not to care. I have tons of other pro and collegiate sports programs to care about and spend my money on.
I have watched the Sox say goodbye to Fisk, Lynn, Boggs, Clemens, Nomar, Valentin, Mo Vaughn, Lester, Papelbon, Pedro, Damon, Betts, and Benintendi, all players I loved. I can survive if Devers goes too. I won't like it, but I can survive it.
 

CoffeeNerdness

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Jun 6, 2012
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I hope that baseball start to benefit from some of the rule changes. Football has tweaked the rules to promote scoring and offense, and it looks like baseball is trying to do the same now. People don’t want to watch three hour plus hour games nightly where there are long stretches of inactivity.
I'm 100% there too. Aesthetically three true outcomes baseball kinda sucks. I grew up worshipping Wade Boggs so I'm biased against .230 hitters and a season full of ABs for a player like Bobby Dalbec is enough to get me to switch to another form of entertainment. The race towards hyper efficiency has really hurt the beauty of the game.

It's also rather stunning to think of the talent that's been drained out of the organization from Manny and Big Papi to Jerry Remy and Eck. Tuning in to games in 2023 to watch the Trevor Story Sox presented by the drier than dry white toast Dave O'Brien sounds painful. Having the perhaps imminent exit of their last of the 2010's fun home grown player looming over the season... Depressing.
 

Salem's Lot

Andy Moog! Andy God Damn Moog!
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Jul 15, 2005
14,465
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I will still follow the team and watch when I have time, because I like baseball, and I’m a creature of habit. But I doubt that I’ll get emotionally invested until I see who they inevitably sell the team too in 3-4 years, because that has to be what they’re setting up here.
 

bsj

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I have watched the Sox say goodbye to Fisk, Lynn, Boggs, Clemens, Nomar, Valentin, Mo Vaughn, Lester, Papelbon, Pedro, Damon, Betts, and Benintendi, all players I loved. I can survive if Devers goes too. I won't like it, but I can survive it.
Here's the thing. I don't live in Boston any more. My kids don't like baseball. I don't "need" to be exposed to it. It's already well behind the Pats, the Celtics, my college team, & my kids college team re things I watch and care about. I'm a Sox fan because I've always been a Sox fan. But if the angst tips past the joy, I just don't see the value. This is an environment of rabid spending and we are big market team that simultaneously wants to charge me $150+ a pop for a single decent seat, and nearly $1K for a family of 4, for one day at the park, yet refuses to spend accordingly.

Devers would, for me, be the tipping point.
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
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Here's the thing. I don't live in Boston any more. My kids don't like baseball. I don't "need" to be exposed to it. It's already well behind the Pats, the Celtics, my college team, & my kids college team re things I watch and care about. I'm a Sox fan because I've always been a Sox fan. But if the angst tips past the joy, I just don't see the value. Devers would, for me, be that tipping point.
Yes to each his/her own, for sure.
 

streeter88

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@ShoelessJoe @mr_smith02 and @BaseballJones all make good points.

I remember being in college in 1986 almost equidistant from Boston and New York, and being just crushed by the ending of that WS. So much so that I literally left the USA, passing up two very good offers to work in NYC when given the chance. The current ownership group has lots of achievements -- 4 WS rings and the revival of Fenway Park and the Red Sox in general are among the best -- but they seem to have lost their way over the past couple of years.

I loved the Ortiz farewell tour, and more recently watched the Cardinals get a second chance to fete Pujols, along with Yadi this year, and I think those moments are also valid and vital for loyal fans. Not quite as much as winning a WS, but important to keep your homegrown stars occasionally. The Sox have not managed to do that since Big Papi, and we will be poorer as Sox fans for it.
 

bsj

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Yes to each his/her own, for sure.
I added this above...This is an environment of rabid spending and we are big market team that simultaneously wants to charge me $150+ a pop for a single decent seat, and nearly $1K for a family of 4, for one day at the park, yet refuses to spend accordingly.

If the Sox priced themselves like a hokey small market that concurrently couldnt spend with the big guys, that would be one thing. This aint that
 

Minneapolis Millers

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Jul 15, 2005
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Given the way the choices are laid out, the #2 “pretty interested” option ought to get 75%+ of the vote. Anything less? Why are you reading this thread?? Go read a book….
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
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Oct 1, 2015
24,376
What's killing me is that I don't have cable - I use YoutubeTV - and I don't get NESN, so I hardly watch any Sox games. I listen on the radio and follow online, but it's hard to stay as engaged when I can't really watch them except for when they play on ESPN.
 

Papo The Snow Tiger

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My answer may change in a few weeks, but at this current moment I voted for actively disliking the team and the FSG. I became a fan in '67 and lived through some hard times (the Fisk/Lynn debacle, the LeRoux/Sullivan years, chicken and beer and the Terry Francona fiasco, Theo Epstein having to leave Fenway in a gorilla suit, the Bobby V experience), but I never thought about not rooting for the red sox. But today something is different. I've never been as disgusted with the red sox as I am right now. I know you can't keep every player forever and there's only so much money to go around but losing Xander was the last straw. The front office made an insultingly low first offer in spring training and didn't get serious about negotiations until it was too late, then came up well short at the end. It's the same thing over and over again; the homegrown star isn't valued by the team and one way or another he ends up somewhere else. I am actually thinking about what it would be like to root for another team, or to become a baseball agnostic altogether. And this is coming from someone who watched at least part, if not all, of most of the games on NESN. I have to wonder if anyone else is at the point of switching allegiances.
 

bsj

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My answer may change in a few weeks, but at this current moment I voted for actively disliking the team and the FSG. I became a fan in '67 and lived through some hard times (the Fisk/Lynn debacle, the LeRoux/Sullivan years, chicken and beer and the Terry Francona fiasco, Theo Epstein having to leave Fenway in a gorilla suit, the Bobby V experience), but I never thought about not rooting for the red sox. But today something is different. I've never been as disgusted with the red sox as I am right now. I know you can't keep every player forever and there's only so much money to go around but losing Xander was the last straw. The front office made an insultingly low first offer in spring training and didn't get serious about negotiations until it was too late, then came up well short at the end. It's the same thing over and over again; the homegrown star isn't valued by the team and one way or another he ends up somewhere else. I am actually thinking about what it would be like to root for another team, or to become a baseball agnostic altogether. And this is coming from someone who watched at least part, if not all, of most of the games on NESN. I have to wonder if anyone else is at the point of switching allegiances.
I cant switch allegiances. I can't ever root for someone else. But I'll bail on the sport if Devers goes. That dude exudes joy. Don't screw this guy.
 

pdub

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Jun 2, 2007
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I'm always in. I love this team even if they piss me off sometimes.
 

JOBU

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I voted actively dislike. Not the team per se but the ownership and front office act the last few years is wearing thin. With that said I still plan on watching as many games as possible and posting in the game threads.
 

LeoCarrillo

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Oct 13, 2008
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I cant switch allegiances. I can't ever root for someone else. But I'll bail on the sport if Devers goes. That dude exudes joy. Don't screw this guy.
I respect this. I don't believe the other part (that you could just bail forever on baseball). But I respect your "There will never be another" sentiment. You could live a full life, like Rose after the Titanic sank and she didn't share a huge piece of door with Jack.

58661
 

snowmanny

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Dec 8, 2005
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I am sorry to see Bogaerts go but it’s not disastrous. I think the way they managed the negotiations appeared embarrassing from the outside. You low ball the guy and let him go to free agency, where the likelihood is you won’t win the auction, then you make a big fuss about him being priority number one. Then you get out bid by a hundred million dollars. Losing Bogaerts makes the team worse in the short run but is fixable.

You lose Devers I don’t see how you replace that bat without spending a ton of money or a ton of prospects and probably both. Maybe getting crazy lucky I guess.

Anyway I watch way less, go to fewer games, know way less about other baseball teams than I used to (and less about other baseball teams than other basketball and football teams).
 

BigSoxFan

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My current Sox fan hood is similar to my Patriots one. Both teams have provided tons of titles and great moments for 2 decades but are currently mired in severe mediocrity due to a series of poor decisions that are tough to stomach and understand as a fan. I have no idea what Belichick’s plan with Patricia/Judge is and I, likewise, have no idea what Chaim’s plan is here. This lack of clarity and direction has impacted my interest in this team.

It’s also worse when you compare the Sox to the Celtics who are currently steamrolling through the NBA with 2 homegrown stars and ton of likable supporting players. And Stevens has basically hit home run after home run with his personnel decisions. The only thing this group hasn’t done is win a title. I hope one is coming but my world won’t end if it doesn’t happen. But that team is fun as hell to root for.

The Red Sox are not a “fun” team for me anymore. I watch because I like baseball. My connection to the team is just not there like it used to be.
 

CoolPapaBellhorn

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Aug 15, 2006
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There’s nothing on that list that fits exactly, but my interest is low. I love baseball and will obsess over the playoffs regardless of who’s in, but in the regular season I’ve become more likely to bounce around the league than to stick to the Sox. The roster has atrophied and the game presentation on NESN and WEEI oscillates from bland to insulting.

On the roster, Bloom hasn’t gone full Rays North yet, but he’s getting there. I wanted to give him room to run, but there are only so many Rich Hills and Tommy Phams you can roll out before I lose interest. Yoshida and Jansen sound like fun, but the X news damages that excitement.

As for letting the homegrown players get away… they’ve fooled us three times. We should all know better by now. My expectation of Devers being here in 2024 is zero-point-zero.

But the biggest problem is the PR and spin machine located in the executive suite. Going back to Grady Little, they can’t just make a decision and stand by it. There is always - ALWAYS - some workshopped messaging or smear campaign to justify their actions and/or calm the masses. Sometimes - most of the time, in fact - they make the right move, but they just can’t let the move stand on its merits. It’s tiresome.

If it didn’t bleed into baseball decisions I might be able to stomach it, but it does. Bridge year? Rubbish, here’s John Lackey. Lester left? Look, it’s Pablo Sandoval! I’m waiting for the Correa signing to soothe the Bogaerts anger, only to hear later that they couldn’t possibly fit both Correa and Devers under the tax threshold.

Yes, this sounds jaded and entitled, I get that. But if they’re going to pander to me like I’m a fickle drone, then I’m going to treat them like a fungible entertainment option. Loyalty goes both ways.
 

j-man

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Dec 19, 2012
3,646
Arkansas
not a sox fan but what is your GM doing

maybe 11/280 was too rich for them but i wouild had offerd 8/250 or 8 /275 with opt out after year 4 and 6

he does relize u can do both in boston does he spend and build up a farm system
 

Beomoose

is insoxicated
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May 28, 2006
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I haven't lived in the market in (sigh) decades now, so the amount I watch the team has for a good while been more dependent on my ability to watch than the specifics of the team's quality. But my motivation to hunt down streams or find a place to watch a prime time game definitely has taken a hit as the heart of this team has retired/left and been replaced with what increasingly feels like just a bunch of names. Maybe the guys coming up from the minors can reverse that trend, become the next X or Dustin or whomever's name is on your shirt.

I'm still a Red Sox fan, I remember cheering for not-great teams in the past so why would I stop now? But, man, the team's hard to get excited for right at this moment.
 

Spelunker

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Jul 17, 2005
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I'm pretty sure at this point that if Devers goes I'm done for a while. My interest has been waning- they're way behind the Celtics at this point, and have been for years- and losing all the home grown talent we were so excited about in 2018 is just disastrous.
 

BornToRun

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Jun 4, 2011
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I have no doubt that I’ll get over it eventually and be back to my usual fandom self but right now it’s hard to feel any real excitement or interest in the team. Over the last few years, we’ve seen two of our homegrown stars leave for other teams through trade or free agency. Losing Mookie and X stings on its own but the looming cloud of Devers making it 3 for 3 on not locking up our own when everyone else seems capable is a major bummer to add onto that. If they get something done and extend him, then this changes my feelings entirely. Right now, though, it feels like it’s only a matter of time before we start to hear the reports that an extension hasn’t come together and Raffy intends to test the market.
 

Minneapolis Millers

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My answer may change in a few weeks, but at this current moment I voted for actively disliking the team and the FSG. I became a fan in '67 and lived through some hard times (the Fisk/Lynn debacle, the LeRoux/Sullivan years, chicken and beer and the Terry Francona fiasco, Theo Epstein having to leave Fenway in a gorilla suit, the Bobby V experience), but I never thought about not rooting for the red sox. But today something is different. I've never been as disgusted with the red sox as I am right now. I know you can't keep every player forever and there's only so much money to go around but losing Xander was the last straw. The front office made an insultingly low first offer in spring training and didn't get serious about negotiations until it was too late, then came up well short at the end. It's the same thing over and over again; the homegrown star isn't valued by the team and one way or another he ends up somewhere else. I am actually thinking about what it would be like to root for another team, or to become a baseball agnostic altogether. And this is coming from someone who watched at least part, if not all, of most of the games on NESN. I have to wonder if anyone else is at the point of switching allegiances.
You’re honestly most “disgusted” with this team, now, a team with a poor history of integration/race relations even during your fandom? And more disgusted over management than Fisk/Lynn? https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2021/02/12/carlton-fisk-fred-lynn-mailed-contracts-red-sox-1980/

That’s surprising, especially after what this ownership group has accomplished over the past 18 years.

I'm not happy, but I’m not standing on the ledge. (Yet)
 

Pozo the Clown

New Member
Sep 13, 2006
745
I'm VERY interested. In a similar manner to how I'd be interested should I have the misfortune to witness a full plane (piloted ironically by a man bearing a moniker that translates to "life") crash...into a speeding fully packed train...bursting into flames...careening off the rails...into an orphanage...and then an animal shelter. That kinda interested.
 

BornToRun

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I'm VERY interested. In a similar manner to how I'd be interested should I have the misfortune to witness a full plane (piloted ironically by a man bearing a moniker that translates to "life") crash...into a speeding fully packed train...bursting into flames...careening off the rails...into an orphanage...and then an animal shelter. That kinda interested.
I believe the phrase you’re looking for is “morbidly interested”
 

Bergs

funky and cold
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Jul 22, 2005
21,613
Honestly, I'm more concerned about the broadcast quality pushing me away than the unfortunate economic realities. The drop from Orsillo/Remy to DOB/??? Over the last decade is more detrimental to my enjoyment of a random game in May that whoever is wearing the unis. Eck leaving on the heels of Remy is gonna suck.
 

Bernard Gilkey baby

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I’m in. Losing Betts was a legitimate gut punch. But Bogaerts is a different case. We have prospects in the wings for this. And I think we need financial flexibility for pitching. Our farm system hasn’t delivered enough in that department for the Sox to afford both Devers and Xander.
 

Blizzard of 1978

@drballs
Sep 12, 2022
503
New Hampshire
I love our Red Sox, but must admit this Celtics and Bruins ride is good and exciting. The team that disappointed me more than the Red Sox is the Patriots now. Well, I guess that's another thread. I love talking sports. Have a good night everyone.
 

Papo The Snow Tiger

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You’re honestly most “disgusted” with this team, now, a team with a poor history of integration/race relations even during your fandom? And more disgusted over management than Fisk/Lynn? https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-red-sox/2021/02/12/carlton-fisk-fred-lynn-mailed-contracts-red-sox-1980/

That’s surprising, especially after what this ownership group has accomplished over the past 18 years.

I'm not happy, but I’m not standing on the ledge. (Yet)
Racism is abhorrent wherever it occurs, but unfortunately it isn't unique to the Boston Red Sox. The racial divide that occurred during the White House trip after the 2018 World Series is another blemish, and the right thing would have been for all the players to stick together in deciding not to go, but that really wasn't a front office issue.
 
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astrozombie

New Member
Sep 12, 2022
394
Somewhat comforted to see a lot of sentiments here that echo my own. For my own personal story, Sox fan going back to about 98, so the crushing low of 2003 and huge high of 2004 were a really quick gut punch and redemption. I followed the team through the 2018 championship, but trading Mookie pretty much destroyed my interest in the team. Coupled with losing access to NESN, my fandom over the past few years has been checking in occasionally to see whos here and how they are doing. Losing X was the second to last straw and the last was a lack of anything resembling a direction. At least in prior seasons they still had Ortiz or Lester or Betts or someone to build around - nothing like that for awhile, until you get to Mayer (who looks great but who knows!). This year, it looks like more of nothing (I am convinced Devers is gone by the trade deadline, likely for two low prospects so Bloom can build up the single A affiliate or something) and I am sure Bloom will "be looking at everyone" and yet won't do anything else.
FSG had a great record here and accomplished a ton. That said, they seem most interested now in saving money and just trusting that Sox fans are going to keep showing up.
 

Jason Bae

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I'll watch as much as I can, if mostly because I have to buy MLB.tv to watch the Red Sox on a daily basis anyway. If they're sucking by mid-summer I'll just follow another team and tune in sparingly, I'll still watch baseball.
 

Minneapolis Millers

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Racism is abhorrent wherever it occurs, but unfortunately it isn't unique to the Boston Red Sox. The racial divide that occurred during the White House trip after the 2018 World Series is another blemish, and the right thing would have been for all the players to stick together in deciding not to go, but that really wasn't a front office issue.
Don’t want to sidetrack the discussion, but I was thinking of this whole history: https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/23/sports/boston-case-revives-past-and-passions.html

Just asking for perspective here. Things aren’t going well right now. But there have been worse management and results over the past 50 years. The past 20 have been great.
 

pinkhatfan

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Sep 27, 2011
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I don't think I'll ever lose interest. Players come and go; I'm not always happy about it, but the team is always there, and I have a long family history of Red Sox fandom. Right now, I'm not seeing management's vision and it is looking like we might be in for a low stretch. But this team has been through some very low lows before. And the highs have been very high.

So, I'm looking forward to spring. I miss baseball in the off-season; the rhythm of it. And even if this season isn't successful, well, maybe next year.
 

Heating up in the bullpen

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I'm always in. I love this team even if they piss me off sometimes.
Me too.
I was the kid listening to the transistor radio under my pillow in the 70s, dreaming of playing outfield for the Sox, climbing the wall to take away doubles like Freddy Lynn. Then we lost Freddy, and Fisk, and the Rooster. And Yaz popped out to end the '78 playoff play-in game against the Yankees. Then Yaz retired, and I captured that sadness combined with the '78 pop-out in a line of a poem for my hs english class, "and Yaz no longer hits...". Then there was '86. Watching game 6 against the Mets in a house in Lewiston Maine with a mix of Sox and Mets fans, and someone (a Mets fan who didn't want to see what was supposed to be the end) pulled a fuse just before the ball went through Billy B's legs, and when the power came back on we couldn't believe what had happened in that blink of an eye. Early 90s I moved to NC, tough to follow from afar in the infancy of the internet, yet being away from New England made my connection to the Sox stronger and Mo and Nomar and Pedro gave us so much hope. When Grady left Pedro in against the Yanks in '03 I'm sure he's the only person on the planet who would have made that disastrous choice, but that brought us Tito and '04 and I got married less than two weeks after the Sox brought us all to the promised land. Three titles since, some all-time great players -- Tizzle, Pedroia, Mookie...
In the end, the players all end up leaving, one way or another. And new players come, and we fall for them and hate to see them go.
And in the end, I'm a New Englander, and that makes me a Sox fan, win or lose, bad management or good.
I follow the Sox more now than I ever did when I lived in New England, MLB at-bat allowing me to watch all the games (except against the O's and Nats), and often listening to Joe Castiglione instead of the tv guys (especially Tony Mazz, ugh). My wife sees me pouring through the threads here and asks me why. For the connection. I mean, I have to skim a ton of posts, the fucking back-and-forths some of you guys get into are ridiculous, and the re-hashing of shit that happened years ago... But also lots of great insights and information and passion for the Sox.
So yeah, I'm always in.
 

BigSoxFan

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May 31, 2007
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I don't think I'll ever lose interest. Players come and go; I'm not always happy about it, but the team is always there, and I have a long family history of Red Sox fandom. Right now, I'm not seeing management's vision and it is looking like we might be in for a low stretch. But this team has been through some very low lows before. And the highs have been very high.

So, I'm looking forward to spring. I miss baseball in the off-season; the rhythm of it. And even if this season isn't successful, well, maybe next year.
Your handle is quite misleading then…
 

YTF

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actively dislike ownership and Chaim, not planning on watching until they can show that the Lester-Mookie-Bogaerts and Tito-Orsillo things aren't trends. I don't want to watch a bunch of random 2 war players with Tony Mazz doing the games. I'll follow the team but I watched 150 games a year from 1991-2019, and maybe 50 innings since. Manfred and the cheating scandal didn't help. I miss baseball. But I don't want to feel like I'm invested in a team that is putting on just a good enough product to not have Fenway only have 15-20000 show up.



Agree with this 1000%.

Actually - I'll be slightly more interested when Chaim is inevitably fired. But I probably still won't watch games until there is a massive overhaul of ideology and Mazz. The downgrade of Remy/Orsillo to Mazz/O'Brien has to be among the worst in the history of anything.
2021 did nothing for you?
 

Papo The Snow Tiger

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Don’t want to sidetrack the discussion, but I was thinking of this whole history: https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/23/sports/boston-case-revives-past-and-passions.html

Just asking for perspective here. Things aren’t going well right now. But there have been worse management and results over the past 50 years. The past 20 have been great.
To be honest, I had completely forgotten about Tommy Harper and the Elks Club affair. That was more than completely inexcusable and more disgusting than what happened with Xander. If I could change my original post I would have said something along the lines of that I'm extremely frustrated with the current ownership group.

As far as worse management and results go, we may disagree. Losing Fisk because someone mailed a contract late was bad, especially when it was done to make a point, but it was one off thing. It started in December and was over by March. Haywood Sullivan lost no other players that way. Xander's saga started in spring training and drug on throughout the season, with team officials saying it was a priority to resign him. I wasn't happy when Fred Lynn, Rick Burleson and Butch Hobson were all traded, but at least useful major leaguers like Rick Miller, Carney Lansford, Mark Clear, Joe Rudi and Frank Tanana were part of the return. Jim Rice, Dwight Evans, Yaz, Bob Stanley Jerry Remy and Eck remained from those very good late '70's teams after the winter of '80-'81. 1981 was a strike year with a truncated schedule, but I remember that team at least being in contention in the second half after the strike ended (I was away in Pennsylvania in college at the time and couldn't follow all that closely), and the '82 team was in contention until the final week of the season. The difference is that now virtually every significant player, except Raffy, Chris Sale and Matt Barnes, from the 2018 team is gone and they all were let go just before it came time for a big payday. Mookie, Xander, Benintendi, Vazquez all gone with little or nothing to show for them. It's a pattern that's repeating itself over and over. As a whole the last 20 years have been great, but the last three have been shaky. People may not want to count 2020, but the records are in the Baseball Almanac and a champion was crowned. They may have made the playoffs in 2021 but they also came perilously close to blowing a commanding lead for a playoff position, and except for the month of June they were bad this summer. It's almost like being in a marriage or another committed relationship. There can be some really good, happy times, but if one of the partners starts to take the other for granted, stops trying, or starts to do some really off the wall things you have to question what's going on.
 

pinkhatfan

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2011
102
Your handle is quite misleading then…
My kids gave me the hat, and I was, as I recall, a little annoyed at some discussion on this site that struck me as a bit misogynistic and dismissive of anyone without an an encyclopedic knowledge of baseball. Thus the handle. But I've been hanging around this site for almost 20 years now, for what it's worth, and I've learned a lot.
 

Tony Pena's Gas Cloud

Member
SoSH Member
Jun 12, 2019
358
I don't care if they win 100 or lose 100, I still keep watching as often as possible. Baseball is the game that I grew up with, and the Red Sox will always be my team. My mom and dad passed their love of the game on to me, and I'm passing it on to my son. The trials and tribulations of the Sox will always be the cornerstone of the day's discussion with family. It's not about winning, although that certainly helps. It's about life having an anchor, when no matter what else happens, there's a game on at 7.00 and we can all point out strategies or disagree with managers or deride umpires in a unifying experience as our parents and grandarents did, and (hopefully) our children will as well. So, yes, I've always watched and always will, whenever I can. If this isn't your answer, why are you here?
 

teddywingman

Looks like Zach Galifianakis
SoSH Member
Jul 31, 2009
11,168
a basement on the hill
I will always watch baseball, but never again at Fenway. I made that decision with the Betts trade.

Last time I went it cost my family like $1,000. I can't afford that. I'm never going back now that ownership/bloom acts lile they can't afford our favorite players.

Fuck it. I'm rooting for the Orioles.
 

Daniel_Son

Member
SoSH Member
May 25, 2021
1,685
San Diego
Not an option, but I'm just as interested as ever.
I've been a fan since somewhere around 1970. I've watched plenty of bad teams and plenty of good teams, but I have been able to find enjoyment every season. Obviously, championships are awesome, but I've always been able to enjoy an individual game as an individual unit of entertainment, without obsessing over the larger implications. Hell, even the shitty teams are going to give me 70-80 wins. It's one of the many things that I love about baseball--enjoy today, see what happens, and then there will be another game tomorrow, another chance for victory, or at least, some great performances.

Literally the only time that my fandom was shaken at all was after the 1986 season. I was so heartbroken, I didn't know if I could start it up again. But Opening Day 1987 came, and for me, hope sprang eternal.
This is where I'm at. I'm going to watch as many games as possible. Why wouldn't I? It's my favorite team playing my favorite sport.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
SoSH Member
Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
All time low, but it has basically zero to do with FSG and everything to do with 4 titles and life getting in the way. I still care and check the scores every day and read the main board. But it all rolls off me very, very easily like never before.
This.

The Coyote caught the Road Runner in 2004. The compulsive *need to watch until We Finally Won subsided.

I still enjoyed watching, but living out of market and with most games starting when I’m getting home from work and the first time I’m seeing my wife and kid all day… tge length of the game is a disincentive, and as the team just got gradually less compelling for the reasons people mention here…

the follow-every-game rhythm is easier when you’re in your teens and twenties.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
SoSH Member
Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
Agree 100% with the nausea re: the treatment of Tito and Orsillo.

my daughter (12) and I were visiting my folks in central CT over Labor Day weekend. We were driving the 4 minute drive from my brothers to my moms and I took a detour that turned into driving around town for a few hours. I put the Sox game on the radio. I told her that this is what I did in high school and college breaks when nothing else was going on. I’d put the Sox game on the radio and drive around all night like Jonathan Richman in Roadrunner, listening to Castiglione and stopping in at all the fast food places where I had friends working the drive thru, or Friendlys for a free Fribble if my girlfriend was scooping ice cream.

That was fun.
 

OCST

Sunny von Bulow
SoSH Member
Jan 10, 2004
24,483
The 718
Btw, if there’s anyone in Sox management who’s reading this, the fact that folks on *this board* are saying this should terrify you.

As should the fact that the core group of posters still has many of the same names as when I joined in my 30’s, 20 years ago, and while we have some excellent younger posters they are fewer. The kids aren’t picking up what you’re laying down.

Selling the Red Sox in Boston should be the easiest gig since selling booze to sailors on shore leave and you guys are blowing it.
 

BravesField

New Member
Oct 27, 2021
252
The only sport I watch is Baseball. I'm really looking forward to the youth movement, but I haven't made up my mind to watch Boston or the minor league network games. Worcester is looking pretty good on paper.
 

Boston Brawler

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 17, 2011
9,757
1999-2007 was definitely my peak of investment. I was in high school and college and watched as many games as possible of all our big four teams, especially the Sox. From 2008-2018, I was less invested, but would still catch games when possible and definitely watched every playoff game. 2019 to the present, I basically just check the score and the standings. With work, family, and kids (and a six hour time difference from the east coast) it's just not a priority or possibility most of the time. I would care more if they were winning, but I'm not sure that would change how invested I would feel.

I go out of my way, and so does my family, to watch the Bruins and Celtics right now (and for the last few seasons), because there doesn't feel like it's been a ton of turnover on the teams and we feel more connected to them in a sense.
 

jacklamabe65

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
I still CARE a lot, but after pining for a championship from 1963-2003, four World Series-winning seasons have given me the kind of satisfaction you might feel for your high school alma mater that is doing well after all these years. Intense loyalty, but not so much passion because of age and experience. Thus, rebuilding years are not fretful, mistakes are accepted as part of the human condition, and the ebb and flow of the good and the bad is the ongoing reality.