GaryMrMets
01-01-2006, 07:16 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/story/379095p-321992c.html
Sports Forum
Last Week's Question
Is Johnny Damon a traitor for signing with the Yankees?
Daily News poll results:
YES: 14%
NO: 86%
Letter of the Week
RED SOX CURSED THEIR FANS
As if there were such a thing as a traitor in the business of baseball! Damon simply brought his skills to the team that valued them more. A better case can be made that the Red Sox betrayed their fans by not offering Damon as much as the Yankees did.
Mitch Newman, New Paltz
* * *
BUCK NEVER STOPS
Johnny Damon is not a traitor for signing with the Yankees just as no pro athlete is a traitor - because there is no loyalty on their part to begin with. Everyone knows that professional athletes just go where the money is. Bernie Williams almost signed with the Red Sox a few years ago. Had there been a bigger offer from them, he would be playing for them today. Traitor? No, businessman!
Pat Vecchio, Bronx
MOVIN' ON UP
Johnny (Be Good) Damon is climbing the sports biz ladder to more money and more media coverage. He did his best for the Red Sox, is comfortable in a large city, and since when does loyalty make a difference in the business world?
Ruth Unterberg, New York City
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKED
Let me tell you something, I work for the US Postal Service and if Ringling Bros. offered me five cents more a year than I make now to clean up after elephants, I'd take it.
Does this make me a traitor? No, it makes me an opportunist. This is exactly what Johnny Damon is. Roaming center field at Yankee stadium is probably the most prestigious position in sports. Johnny Damon was offered this, plus more money than the Red Sox offered.
Combs, DiMaggio, Mantle, Murcer, Rivers and Williams played center field for the Yankees. Lynn, Rick Miller, the other DiMaggio for the Red Sox...not much of a choice when you want to continue a legacy. Staying with the Red Sox wouldn't have done much more for his resume, but coming to the Yankees will only enhance how he is remembered 50 years from now.
Plus he won't have to look over in left field and see Hideki Matsui walking into the left field wall for a bathroom break, a la Manny.
George Rafferty, Bayside
SO LONG, JOHNNY
Johnny Damon is as traitorous as Judas. He was a nothing until he came to Boston - Red Sox Nation loved him and made much of him and he proclaimed that he loved them. That he can leave and go to the Red Sox's sworn enemy shows absolutely no loyalty to Red Sox Nation or his former team.
Going to any other team wouldn't have been so bad, but this was such an obvious slap in the face to all Sox fans. While we Sox fans were rooting him on in the World Series, and loving him, to him it was just business, apparently.
Look at Tim Wakefield - he took a pay cut, went to the bullpen, and then back to the starting rotation, just to stay with the team he loved. I refuse to believe that baseball is so cold and businesslike, yet moves like Damon made make me lose heart.
All of Johnny's pictures came off of my bulletin board at work, and I threw his book out. He lost a huge fan.
Josephine Odierno, Bronx
LET DOWN
Although some of the blame has to go to the Red Sox, to me Johnny Damon is a traitor! Boston was and still is the best place for him and they gave him everything. I thought he was smart and saw that all those superstars a championship team does not make. Boy, I thought wrong.
Michael Vega, Queens
DONE WITH DAMON
A traitor is too light of a word for Johnny Damon. The clearest thought that loafs in my mind, for a guy that could spite his team by signing with a rival organization, is duplicity. Damon's move was immature and selfish; plus at his age, he is definitely thinking too high of himself. But it would be nice to see just how much swagger his game can hold onto without the hair.
Jason Nock, Brooklyn
OFFERS THEY CAN'T REFUSE
Of course not. Johnny Damon is just a businessman like every other sports player in this day and age.
How many 33-year-old players do you know that are turning down $13 million a year to play ball?
Michael Ungar, Brooklyn
MANE MAN
Perhaps to Vidal Sasson.
But considering what professional sports has been now, for years, wouldn't you say that Damon is, simply, perfectly emblematic?
Jim Burns, Valley Stream
PERFECT DEAL
Get real! Johnny Damon is no more a traitor to the Red Sox than any other savvy entrepreneur in the business world, who has a unique specialty and uses his special talents to sell himself to the highest bidder.
In exchange for getting a modest haircut, Damon will wind up patrolling the same outfield as other Yankee greats, such as Ruth, DiMaggio and Mantle, while hopefully emulating them as well at the plate.
What's traitorous about living that dream?
Emil Maricondo, Brooklyn
CASH IS KING
A traitor in baseball? Since free agency, there is simply no such thing! The Red Sox did not exactly go all out to keep him. Both the teams and the players are all about getting as much as possible.
It's the American way.
As an old Yankee fan, I am thrilled we have Damon and Fenway does not! Bravo Brian Cashman.
Larry Wolfson, Port Chester
This Week's Question
Who will be out of New York first in 2006: Herm Edwards, Stephon Marbury or Larry Brown?
What's your opinion? Let us know in twenty-five words or fewer. Include your name and hometown. Select responses will be displayed on Sunday, Jan. 8.
Send your responses to: sportsforum@edit.nydailynews.com.
Originally published on December 31, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/123-damon_yankeestadium.JPG
Johnny Damon
Sports Forum
Last Week's Question
Is Johnny Damon a traitor for signing with the Yankees?
Daily News poll results:
YES: 14%
NO: 86%
Letter of the Week
RED SOX CURSED THEIR FANS
As if there were such a thing as a traitor in the business of baseball! Damon simply brought his skills to the team that valued them more. A better case can be made that the Red Sox betrayed their fans by not offering Damon as much as the Yankees did.
Mitch Newman, New Paltz
* * *
BUCK NEVER STOPS
Johnny Damon is not a traitor for signing with the Yankees just as no pro athlete is a traitor - because there is no loyalty on their part to begin with. Everyone knows that professional athletes just go where the money is. Bernie Williams almost signed with the Red Sox a few years ago. Had there been a bigger offer from them, he would be playing for them today. Traitor? No, businessman!
Pat Vecchio, Bronx
MOVIN' ON UP
Johnny (Be Good) Damon is climbing the sports biz ladder to more money and more media coverage. He did his best for the Red Sox, is comfortable in a large city, and since when does loyalty make a difference in the business world?
Ruth Unterberg, New York City
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKED
Let me tell you something, I work for the US Postal Service and if Ringling Bros. offered me five cents more a year than I make now to clean up after elephants, I'd take it.
Does this make me a traitor? No, it makes me an opportunist. This is exactly what Johnny Damon is. Roaming center field at Yankee stadium is probably the most prestigious position in sports. Johnny Damon was offered this, plus more money than the Red Sox offered.
Combs, DiMaggio, Mantle, Murcer, Rivers and Williams played center field for the Yankees. Lynn, Rick Miller, the other DiMaggio for the Red Sox...not much of a choice when you want to continue a legacy. Staying with the Red Sox wouldn't have done much more for his resume, but coming to the Yankees will only enhance how he is remembered 50 years from now.
Plus he won't have to look over in left field and see Hideki Matsui walking into the left field wall for a bathroom break, a la Manny.
George Rafferty, Bayside
SO LONG, JOHNNY
Johnny Damon is as traitorous as Judas. He was a nothing until he came to Boston - Red Sox Nation loved him and made much of him and he proclaimed that he loved them. That he can leave and go to the Red Sox's sworn enemy shows absolutely no loyalty to Red Sox Nation or his former team.
Going to any other team wouldn't have been so bad, but this was such an obvious slap in the face to all Sox fans. While we Sox fans were rooting him on in the World Series, and loving him, to him it was just business, apparently.
Look at Tim Wakefield - he took a pay cut, went to the bullpen, and then back to the starting rotation, just to stay with the team he loved. I refuse to believe that baseball is so cold and businesslike, yet moves like Damon made make me lose heart.
All of Johnny's pictures came off of my bulletin board at work, and I threw his book out. He lost a huge fan.
Josephine Odierno, Bronx
LET DOWN
Although some of the blame has to go to the Red Sox, to me Johnny Damon is a traitor! Boston was and still is the best place for him and they gave him everything. I thought he was smart and saw that all those superstars a championship team does not make. Boy, I thought wrong.
Michael Vega, Queens
DONE WITH DAMON
A traitor is too light of a word for Johnny Damon. The clearest thought that loafs in my mind, for a guy that could spite his team by signing with a rival organization, is duplicity. Damon's move was immature and selfish; plus at his age, he is definitely thinking too high of himself. But it would be nice to see just how much swagger his game can hold onto without the hair.
Jason Nock, Brooklyn
OFFERS THEY CAN'T REFUSE
Of course not. Johnny Damon is just a businessman like every other sports player in this day and age.
How many 33-year-old players do you know that are turning down $13 million a year to play ball?
Michael Ungar, Brooklyn
MANE MAN
Perhaps to Vidal Sasson.
But considering what professional sports has been now, for years, wouldn't you say that Damon is, simply, perfectly emblematic?
Jim Burns, Valley Stream
PERFECT DEAL
Get real! Johnny Damon is no more a traitor to the Red Sox than any other savvy entrepreneur in the business world, who has a unique specialty and uses his special talents to sell himself to the highest bidder.
In exchange for getting a modest haircut, Damon will wind up patrolling the same outfield as other Yankee greats, such as Ruth, DiMaggio and Mantle, while hopefully emulating them as well at the plate.
What's traitorous about living that dream?
Emil Maricondo, Brooklyn
CASH IS KING
A traitor in baseball? Since free agency, there is simply no such thing! The Red Sox did not exactly go all out to keep him. Both the teams and the players are all about getting as much as possible.
It's the American way.
As an old Yankee fan, I am thrilled we have Damon and Fenway does not! Bravo Brian Cashman.
Larry Wolfson, Port Chester
This Week's Question
Who will be out of New York first in 2006: Herm Edwards, Stephon Marbury or Larry Brown?
What's your opinion? Let us know in twenty-five words or fewer. Include your name and hometown. Select responses will be displayed on Sunday, Jan. 8.
Send your responses to: sportsforum@edit.nydailynews.com.
Originally published on December 31, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/123-damon_yankeestadium.JPG
Johnny Damon