RED SOX: DIVAS ARE US

Every two weeks, Adrian Gonzalez rips open an envelope that contains a paycheck
worth nearly $2 million dollars. During a six-month season, Christmas Day comes
to the Red Sox first baseman and every other major league player, 12 times. Gonzalez
should be bouncing off the walls with happiness, but he's not. He doesn't like his boss
and it's making his life miserable. Gonzalez was so unhappy about it that he texted
principal owner, John Henry, to complain about manager Bobby Valentine. And thus
began  another chapter in the Red Sox soap opera: "Divas Are Us."

There were meetings, more meetings, and meetings about the meetings. Red Sox GM
Ben Cherington confirmed as much after Yahoo Sports broke the story about the mutiny
on Boston's not-so-good ship lollipop. It was reported the team discussed the human
sheet of sandpaper that is Valentine. They didn't like him or the way he managed them.
If there was a poll taken in the real world, I'm sure 95 percent us would have the same
complaints about the people we work for. That's just reality. But these are spoiled,
pompous, entitled players on the hit reality show, "Divas Are Us" and its so much more
juicy than some housewives in New Jersey who are engaging in cat fights, debauchery,
and despicable behavior that would make Tiger Woods cringe.

When confronted about the report stating the players wanted Valentine out as manager,
Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia, who was also named in the article, pretty much said,
"Problem, what problem? We love Bobby V." Henry responded with an e-mail to the
media saying that nobody wanted Valentine fired and it wasn't even discussed. That's
right, Gonzalez just texted his owner to find out the size of the owners new baby so he
could purchase a nice little outfit for her. Please, the spin control is laughable, but then
again, just about everything coming out of the empire on Yawkey Way is laughable,
these days.

All the fun (and misery) started as soon as Valentine was hired by team president Larry
Lucchino last December. And make no mistake about it, it was Lucchino who forced
Valentine down the throats of GM Ben Cherington and everybody else who drew a
a paycheck from the organization. Lucchino thought Valentine was the perfect guy to
clean up the culture of the Red Sox chicken-eating, beer drinking clubhouse. That's
because Valentine wouldn't stand for that type of behavior.

If Lucchino had done his homework, he would've seen that Valentine never really had
a handle on his clubhouses in New York. During game 6 of the 1999 NLCS against the
Atlanta Braves, Rickey Henderson and Bobby Bonilla were back in the clubhouse playing
cards while the rest of the team tried to stave off elimination. They had tuned Valentine
out just as most players who've been around him do after awhile. That's no secret, it's
been well-documented.

However, as most of us know, employees still have to perform whether they like their
bosses or not. Gonzalez and a lot of the other Red Sox are having trouble doing that
and need a scapegoat for all their struggles and misery. And Bobby V is public enemy
number one. They didn't like the way Valentine used the media to call out Kevin Youkilis,
or the way he uses the microphones to demonstrate his worldly knowledge of the game.
They didn't like the way Valentine left Jon Lester in the oven on slow roast only to get
overcooked by a Toronto team that punished him with four home runs and 11 scored.

The 2012 edition of the Red Sox have more frivolous, man-made theatrics than the
TNT Network, who's slogan is, "We know drama." There isn't a tent big enough to
cover that three-ring circus. Perhaps, that's just the way the ownership likes it
because when the team is bad, it'd be impossible to sell all those pink hats, keep the
sell-out streak alive, or draw big numbers and advertising rates on NESN.

But as most reality shows find out, people get sick of seeing the same obnoxious,
childish, and despicable behavior over and over again. This reality show produced
by the Red Sox is getting old and unwatchable. Good thing there is only six more
weeks before it goes off the air.