I love watching A Rod. In person he is the perfect baseball machine.

I love watching him play on another team.

Teams that win are teams that have chemistry. Until A Rod finds a team where he is part of it, and not above it will he become a winner.

The way he could start is by going somewhere that he wants to go to. Somewhere, where he loves the city, the ballpark, the team. Then he needs to fire Boras' ass and play for a reasonable amount of money. An amount that will allow the TEAM to afford other players.

This is a pipe dream. A Rod has never been, and will never be a team player. That doesn't make him any less the most blessed player, skill wise of this generation, and maybe ever, but it does make him a playre I don't want on my TEAM.

Nobody cares. LOL. I see you're still at it though. I'm happy a couple of championships after so many many years of tiresome and obnoxious Red Sox fan whining about you alls "suffering" makes you happy and if the 2004 Red Sox want to attribute their latter-half "fire" to A-Rod's asskicking of Varitek, then that's all good as well. Perhaphs Bill Simmons will change his book title from "Now I Can Die In Peace" to "Now, I Can Finally ShutUp". Meanwhile, the Yankees have an enormous amount of good memories to drawn on so I glad you can finally join the "good memory" club with a couple of your own.

...to King and all the people here who are not Red Sox or Yankers fans and have had to suffer through the back-and-forth I've had with the two Yankers fans. I have no doubt I've come off as annoying and/or obnoxious to many of you. I want to assure you that I really am not usually like that. I'm not one of those Red Sox fans who are arrogant and have very short memories. All the lost seasons and destroyed hope is still very fresh in my mind despite our recent success and I really do appreciate what the Red Sox have accomplished the past few years and do not take it for granted or think it will never end.

I have great respect for all the other MLB teams and their fans. Unfortuately, the Yankers and many of their fans get under my skin at times and it sometimes brings out the worst in me. So, for what it's worth, sorry if I've gotten under yours.

"You're quite the contortionist."

You're quite the comedian.

"If Red Sox fans want to remenber only the glove shove and attribute the incident in general to getting the the Red Sox "fired up" and playing better baseball for the rest of the season, well that's fandom for you."

Fandom? Actually, it's the Red Sox themselves who said the incident fired them up and helped turn around the season. Francona himself said the incident provided a much needed spark. I didn't make that up or pull it from my ass.

But really, what I like to remember about that season (other than the Red Sox winning the Series) isn't so much the Varitek-ARod mash-up, but rather your Yankers choking against the Sox in the ALCS. I think that is probably my most cherished sports-related memory.

I am not going to go back and find the quotes - but...

I agree completely with a few people who point out that you seriously underestimate the antipathy in Red Sox nation for A-Rod.

I have been happily rooting for the Sox since the days of Jim Rice and Fred Lynn. I was elated, obviously, in 2004, when they won the series.

I was furious within a few months. Not because they lost Damon and Pedro to outrageous contracts, although I would have liked to have seen them approach those two with a little more "uuumpphh," but because of Orlando Cabrera. Cabrera came up HUGE in the 2004 playoffs, and we ditched him for ... I don't even want to get into it.

But it is very reminiscent of the Lowell situation. Lowell comes here (funny, I am in Orlando FL and writing "here" about Boston) and plays his heart out, is the obvious choice for team MVP, and a not completely idiotic choice for league MVP (although I will give that to A-Rod, no problem), and you replace him with someone that your fan base COMPLETELY FUCKING HATES? In what bizarro universe does this make sense? Speaking as a thirty year fan of the Red Sox, I would much rather take my chances on Mike Lowell for the next few years than A-Rod, who is statistically the greatest thing since Babe Ruth, and will, I am convinced, rejuvenate the god damn curse if Theo and Co are stupid enough to bring him to Fenway. It is not always all about numbers. Did you notice that we just won the world series?

There is such a thing as being too smart for your own good. The Red Sox poisoned their relationship with Nomar seeking to trade for A-Rod the first time around. Learn the god damn lesson already.

I will continue to root for the Red Sox regardless of what they do (well, if it has anything to do with Ted Williams' head I might think twice, but other than that ...), but it will be with absolutely no zeal if they sign that whiny twerp.

BRING BACK LOWELL!!!!

Schilling only does it to puff up his image as a bloodied legend - give me a good sportwriter any day who can wax eloquent about a season, a team, and I am putty in their hands. Give me an egocentric who announces that he writes goodbye letters to his team and lists the teams he deigns to consider, and I give you an asshat.

(It is cool to get a response from you, though)

Please, King, keep writing about baseball. Can't can't can't get enough baseball. I am counting down the days until pitchers and catchers report.

Is it Spring yet?