I was lucky enough to attend last nights game, and it is actually the only game of the year whose ticket I bought months in advance. I absolutely love Nomar, always have, and always will. I wanted to make sure I was there in person to pay my respects for all he did for Red Sox baseball, and further more, Boston sports. The typical Boston Road to take here is to turn rose colored glasses black, and focus on all the negative that may have been associated with Nomar. Yeah he probably juiced. Yeah his phantom injuries were strange. And yes he sat and pouted in Yankee Stadium as Derek Jeter made the defining play of his career, but it's honestly not about that. He also gave Boston someone to cheer hard for during a time when Boston Teams weren't winning a Championship seemingly every other year. He was as big as Larry Bird, and Paul Pierce wasn't even close to the stratosphere Nomar was flying in. He was Boston sports. His glove adjusting and toes taps became mythic from Rhode Island to Maine, and we embraced his strange name (Ramon spelled backwards), in a way only New England could. He WAS Red Sox baseball, and like I said, for that, I love the guy.
Since he's left there seems to be a curse that hangs over the SS postition here, and maybe last night helped eradicate that a bit. Just hearing his voice crack while talking about Boston fans in the above video has to win you over to a degree, no matter how big of a hater you are. I'd love nothing more then to see him in a Mark Kotsay type role to end his career with us a year or two from now, he deserves it, and who knows, maybe he'd be able to win his second ring with the Sox right way, by being on the field.
Very cool video. Nomar was always one of the Sox I liked. him and Damon were pretty much the only guys on the list. And if you recall i said that while they were still Sox, so it has nothing to do with one of them not being on the team and another being a Yankee. And by the way... better a SS curse, than being on year 91... Because that's what would have gone down.
1 game back. Things are going to be interesting 2nd half. Wouldn't you say?
Posted by: Erik | July 07, 2009 at 08:35 PM
What a great ovation! I got chills watching that live the other night. I do believe that getting rid of Nomar was a good move but that doesn't mean we didn't love him while he was here!
Posted by: Callie Durbrow | July 10, 2009 at 08:27 AM