Baseball or Beer—What Do The Red Sox Like More?

After a disastrous September, the Red Sox season has come to a screeching halt.  Immediately following the historic collapse, our beloved Manger Terry Francona parted ways with Boston. 

Now this week, the controversy continues with a music video for Kevin Fowler and his song "Hell Yeah, I Like Beer" which features cameos by Josh Beckett, Tim Wakefield, Clay Buchholz and John Lackey.  

It seems to me that maybe if our bullpen paid a little more attention to pitching than beer then maybe they'd be in the post season.  Don’t get me wrong, I understand that it did not all fall on the bullpen, but they do need to at least shoulder some of the blame. 

We are now hearing reports of players drinking in the club house during games…imagine! I mean that would be like a receptionist cracking open a beer at her desk during work hours or a lawyer having a cold one during a trial! I think hearing that they had that amount of disrespect for their fans hurt the most. 

In recent days, I have heard some talk radio personalities blaming it on Terry Francona and saying he should have had more control over the team.  Yes, but aren’t these grown men we are talking about? I mean isn’t it common knowledge you don’t drink at work? He is their Manager not their babysitter.  I personally think the Red Sox made a big mistake letting Francona walk away.  He broke the curse and brought us two World Series wins...but they needed a sacrificial lamb and unfortunately Francona was it.

A lot of fans are now looking back and saying Francona should have done this, and he should have done that, but blame is not going to change the outcome.  Plain and simple, the players did not play up to their potential.  Some say it was a clash of personalities, others say it was lack of control over the team; bottom line—they didn’t perform.  It seemed their focus was on other things, like an ice cold brew in the club house!

I can’t help but feel sorry for the fans who have been let down by this.  I mean being a Red Sox fan, we have weathered our fair share of disappointments but this seems to take the cake.  We had to sit by and witness our team have the worst collapse in baseball history. Now we hear that it was all over drinking and childish shenanigans in the club house! It is like a slap in the face. 

I feel almost like a person who has been cheated on.  We trusted them and all they did was act foolish behind our back.  Much like a relationship, this will take time to heal. 

I hope that next year the Red Sox will rise above the petty drama and prove they like baseball a little more than they like beer!