Sorts of Sports

Sox Thoughts

(Editor's Note: Jeff continues with his Sox thoughts)

The collapse of the 2011 Boston Red Sox is over, and will always be over. Its sports, things like this happen, but all of this crying and drama must end. It is not the end of the world by far, and the team and the media need to let this all go away. It will always be remembered sure, but so aren't a bunch of other things in sports. How do the players and fans think when the Yankees blew a 3-0 lead in the 2004 ALCS? No, you heard too much about the Red Sox succeeding rather than the Yankees failing. Did the yanks fire Torre immediately after? That is just what happens in sports, and frankly, this drama, it's for the better. Things like the collapse of the Red Sox and the miracle of the Rays is what makes sports what it is.

What bothers me is that this collapse is carrying over way too much into the Sox offseason. First, by having Tito leave his beloved Boston fans was straight up ridiculous. Francona is one of, if not the best, manager since he came to Boston in 2004. He had the second highest winning percentage of all managers in the MLB since then. Like Pedroia even said, "He is more than our manager; he's our dad and part of our family." Tito has worked way too hard since 2004, and letting him go is just absurd. Thanks Theo, now go to Chicago, the most failed place in baseball history, where you belong., and save them.

Ortiz recently got interviewed from Colleen Dominguez of ESPN, and he spoke about Francona. "I don't know why people want to blame (Francona) for all of this," Ortiz said. "He can tell us what to do. But he is not the one who has to go out there and perform." Ortiz is right on about this; Terry was not playing on the field at all. He was the one in the dugout getting the team together while starting pitchers are eating garbage and drinking beers DURING THE GAME. I am sorry John Lackey, but you are no Michael Phelps who can consume 12,000 calories a day or let alone dive into a pool.

What the fans and managers need to realize is that we just picked up two huge contracts in Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford. This drama that is carrying over into the offseason will only make things worse. Stop complaining about who did what or why they did it, and think about what they are going to do next season to change. The Red Sox roster will still be unreal next year, and people need to realize that. With Youkilis coming back, hopefully healthy, the pitchers should be ready to go at the beginning of the season, and young studs like Pedroia and Elllsbury ready to tee-off again. The 2011 season does not represent the end of the world by any means. Sure it was garbage baseball being played, but I cannot stress the fact that they need to move on and stop making immature decisions and drama. I feel like I'm in high school still with all of this media drama that's going on.

All of the players need to go do their own thing for the next month or two maybe have a team meeting before they go off, and then come back to Fort Myers next February ready to crush the league. What happens if the Red Sox come back next season and win 100+ games and win the World Series? Will that be known as the best worst situation turnaround in major league history? Who knows? I'm just speculating. The bottom line is, the new Sox need to stop making these pity moves and instead get into a positive mood and swing and get ready for next year. Someone in the clubhouse now needs to assume the new leadership role for this offseason, and to be quite honest, I see Dustin Pedroia taking over this role. He is a true down to earth kid and if he sets a good example and talks to players about dropping their egos at the door, maybe they will all understand. If we can just get a majority of the players back on track others will follow and that is guaranteed. If we don't see improvement in the clubhouse in the next couple of months, then I'm taking the initiative.

Until next time- Michael Phelps.