Last night, Coco Crisp (yes, if your not familiar with him, he does in fact share his name with the breakfast cereal) took a swing at the (first place) Tampa Bay Rays’ James Shields after getting plunked.
After the game Crisp basically called the Rays a bunch of pussies.
Later in the same game Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkillus went at it in the dugout.
Let us not forget the fact Manny Ramirez doesn’t acutally wear baseball pants during games, Tony Francona chews a disgusting amount of gum every game, and the team refuses to enforce any real cleanliness issues with the players or the uniforms they wear.
Maybe it’s the Yankee fan in me, but even to an innocent bystander, the Red Sox have to be perceived as classless. The Yankees do go a little over-the-top with their restrictions on facial hair and uniform cleanliness, but would it kill someone to get a new batting helmet when it’s covered in pine tar? Would it upset Ramirez to actually put on a baseball uniform?
There’s something called the sanctity of the game and the Red Sox, in their neverending quest to be the anti-Yankees, have thrown it all to hell.
Fenway Park is a shrine to the game, the Red Sox organization should put together a team worthy of it.
