Here's Johnny

http://www.ecnnews.com/cgi-bin/05/snstory.pl?-sec-Sports+1k589g0+fn-bradfordsn.0502-20060502-


First, let's make this clear.

I don't like Johnny Damon. Never did. Still don't. Woohoo he's a Yankee. Whatever. Just like I don't like Giambi (because I loved Tino and because I hate cheaters) and I didn't like Clemens (because he's too arrogant -- talented, but too arrogant) and I'm pretty much indifferent about A-Rod and Sheffield. I mean, these guys are my team now so I have to cheer for them. But I don't have to like them.

Give me Derek, Jorge, Bernie and Mo any day of the week. There's something about guys who come up with your team. Who were there for the World Series wins.

So I don't understand how Boston fans were so brutal to Damon last night.

He was their Derek Jeter. He was their marquis player. He didn't do steroids or drugs or get arrested or start fights. He played hard, he was successful and he won them their first World Series in 86 years.

Bottom line, he felt the Red Sox disrespected him. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. But it was his life, his decision. I don't know this for sure, but it doesn't seem to me like Damon signed with the Yankees to give a big "F you" to Boston fans. It seems like he went because that was the best deal for him.

What if the White Sox or the Mariners or the Mets had offered him the same deal and he was with one of those teams right now? I doubt they would have booed him in Fenway last night.

Does the fact that he left the Red Sox for the Yankees make it worse? Probably. If Derek Jeter ever left the Yankees and went to the Red Sox, I might jump off the facade at the stadium. But I would never boo him. Ever.

Because he's my favorite player. Because it has given me tremendous joy to watch him play for the past 10 years. Because he won 4 World Series with the Yankees. The list goes on. I would never boo him. I would be beyond devastated. And it would be worse because he would be playing for the most-hated franchise in professional sports (well, at least to me). But when he came back to Yankee stadium, I would give him a standing ovation.

That's what they should have done for Damon last night.

There's something awesome about the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry. And I'm all for the Red Sox fans making references about Jeter and A-Rod's sexuality and the Yankee fans asking Pedro who his Daddy is. It makes it fun.

Sometimes, though, it's just stupid. Baseball is a game, not a fight to the death. Sometimes Yankees/Red Sox is juvenile and excessive. And it doesn't seem fair that players who did great things for their respective cities and teams are ostracized simply because they play for the other side now.

So boo Johnny Damon, Boston fans. Like you boo Jeter and A-Rod and the rest of the Yankees. Because he is a Yankee now and you're predisposed to hate them. Just like I boo Ortiz and Manny and Varitek because I'm predisposed to hate the Red Sox.

But don't boo him because he left Boston. Don't forget that he's part of the reason the "Boston Red Sox: 2004 World Series Champions" banner is hanging in Fenway. Changing teams is part of the game. It doesn't mean you forget where you came from.