The Johnny Damon affair is a sad reminder of the dishonor and bad behavior that is the flip side of big money sports teams like the Red Sox. Yes, Boston won two World Series titles, ending an 86 year curse, but perhaps without the lasting honor that even the losers of ‘86, ‘75 & ‘68 retain. The Sox won with acquired big contract players like Damon, Manny Ramirez, Curt Schilling & Josh Beckett, among others-fans of their departed teams were brokenhearted-(Oakland, Cleveland, Philadelphia/Arizona & Florida). But Damon & Ramirez would eventually sell-out the Red Sox just as the Sox had out-bid their previous teams and community of fans. Damon was booed brutally for several years at Fenway Park when he played for the Yankees. Okay, he makes a lot of money and can take it, but guess what, he’s a human being after all, and now does not want to return to a previous “home”. In fact, nice guy Damon is badly booed everywhere but New York and Detroit. It has all the hallmarks of a financial divorce. A lasting lifelong scar driven by individual pursuits that trump the honor of the common good.

There is barely a peep regarding a long term contract for Jonathan Papelbon. Too bad. He is more than a good player. He is a great player. A pressure performer and stud pitcher, and Papelbon is fun-which counts for something, especially to the paying fans at Fenway where he is lustily cheered and has deservedly become a 9th inning institution for the Red Sox. But familiarity breeds contempt, among some fans and management. The team blithely signs unknown quantity John Lackey to a $70M deal it could have given to known quantity Papelbon. Josh Beckett gets handed an even better deal and is arguably only the third best pitcher on the staff behind Lester and Bucholtz. Other older players such as Big Papi and JD Drew may be coming off the books soon, and that money should go to retain one of the most popular, clutch and great pitchers of recent Red Sox history. Careful Mr. Henry, or he’ll put on the pinstripes and take Mariano’s place!

Kobe Bryant can fake it as long as the Lakers are winning, but now we are going to see the real Kobe-the selfish, angry, Jordan-esque Kobe. The poor sport. The talent to put up 30-40 points a game. The guy who puts the “I” in T-E-A-M. The foul mouthed jerk who Schilling called out. Not a leader, just a terrifier. Kobe Bryant has to fake it to be a nice guy. Who else would choose to hate Ray Allen? The Lakers will stop making the extra pass if Kobe takes over, and the Celtics will have to adjust, but the longer the series goes on the better the odds are that the experienced veterans from Boston will outsmart the searing arrogance of Kobe and beat L.A. Win or lose, he still can’t hold a candle to Magic Johnson.

Sometimes we find ourselves yelling at the tv set because the announcers are not as smart as us. (mostly during ESPN basketball telecasts) Hmmm. They are calling a game with only their naked eye. Okay. But, ensconsed at home, we watch from every angle and in replay, slo-mo and hi def. This way we can be far more insightful and strategic than even the ACTUAL COACHES of the teams playings. Stupid idiots. In fact, we could coach BOTH TEAMS BETTER, and at the same time with all of our handheld technology. Memo to Steve Jobs: the IPAD & IPHONE are nice and all, but please develop an app IMMEDIATELY so that we can call Francoma directly from my living room to the dugout. Rrrrrrrrring! “Hello, it’s Chip, again. Time to take out Wakefield!”

…and anything can happen. Just ask the Bruins and Celtics. Sure, the Red Sox don’t look very intimidating right now, but there are still five months of baseball before the playoffs start in October. That’s an eternity in professional sports. It’s not just the injuries and wear and tear that will change the complexion of other teams, but also the development and emergence of unknown young new talent, perhaps on the Red Sox, that may yet turn them into World Series favorites.

Although the Red Sox are stacked with a lot of high priced talent, and are favored to win this year, it is still a precarious business. Volcanic ash clouds? No. All it would take at this point in the season, is a ten-day losing streak for panic to break out in the streets. Less than a fortnight. Imagine the mighty Red Sox with a 4-17 record on April 27th. Fury! Republican Tea Partiers have nothin’ on an angry Boston sports mob-the original tea partiers. Monday-morning quarterbacks? How about Sunday and every-other-morning of the week quarterbacking. Hostility, tension and criticism dog the team in the best of times. Players like Big Papi don’t so much earn their millions on the field anymore, as much as they earn it off the field where they endure an endless, withering assault on their, ahem, brand. Yes, there are plenty of optimists out there, but will people pay $200 & $300 a seat to watch a losing team?

…aka “sports talk” in Boston; a town filled with too many Irish wiseguys disguised as sportswriters. Sports journalism, and particularly the second tier tawk tawk tawk on tv and radio is an exercise in idiocy. Fulminating Michael Felger personifies the genre with solid negativity. He’s got the voice and the looks to do it on radio, tv and even print. According to Felger the Red Sox Opening Night ceremony was an exercise in overkill, no doubt a skill that he would recognize immediately.

The 2010 Red Sox will be a very efficient team to watch and root for. No more endless games for the impatient Remdawg. Great pitching, good defense and no hitting should result in quick two-hour games, lights out by 10pm. Boston is the city that sleeps! Befitting a town more early to bed and early to exercise. Theo Epstein has a roster that closely matches his temperment, and that of his non-tempermental owner John Henry. It’s the year to test their sabermetric defensive equations. The Red Sox are pre-season favorites, the sellouts continue, 94 wins is the goal. The commoditization of Fenway continues. Play ball!

The Red Sox did not land a big bat this offseason, but they may get the sabermetric equivalent in a roundabout way, because on paper, Boston has a pitching staff like they have never had a pitching staff. John Lackey, the free agent ace from the west, joins established east coast ace Josh Beckett (hungry in a contract year), lefty ace John Lester, ace-in-waiting Clay Bucholtz, and ace from the far east Daisuke Matsusaka. Great pitching, good defense and Papelbon/Bard in the bullpen will take the pressure off the hitters and the offense. Pedroia & Co. don’t have to overswing trying to hit a home run every time. So, look for the Red Sox to hit better than expected in 2010. Fenway will be a test of an interesting sabermetric equation. Great pitching + great defense = better hitting? Five aces are in the hole. Bet on it.

Boston sport’s famed “Decade of Dominance” started with the Patriots, went to the mountain with the Red Sox, and the Celtics put a green cherry on top of the whole fan-glorious sundae. And we ate it up. Memorabilia is everywhere and on everyone. We are confident if not belligerent winners. There is more pre and post game than actual game, and, a la elevator musak, the airwaves and 3G waves are now filled with sportsak from homer sports journalists. But, in its own corner of many an office or home, is the old framed photo of the 2004 team in front of the Green Monster, the team that beat the Yankees, nevermind the World Series. A vintage sports story 86 years in the making, evocative of so much to so many, warm feeling that will last a lifetime. They were dreams come true.