Sports Then and Now

Tito deserved better.

Watching Terry Francona and Theo Epstein talking on Thursday afternoon, I felt a pit forming in my stomach. No, not because the Boston Red Sox would miss the playoffs. That feeling had come and gone more than a week before. It came now for another reason.

The players had driven off the best manager in Red Sox history.

This is no longer idle speculation. Francona confirmed what we all had thought and said. The Red Sox were out of shape, they were arrogant, and they felt entitled. Because of that, Francona was forced to step down from one of the best jobs in sports.

It was because Josh Beckett gained ten pounds this season. It was because John Lackey flipped off at the media. It was because of all this, Terry Francona felt that he had let the Red Sox down.

He said at his press conference on Friday night that he felt he let everyone down; the players let him think that. Thanks to the lack of accountability, someone who did not have to stand up and face the music was forced to. Because no one stepped up on this team, it was nine players, nine cabs type of team. Francona had to leave the team he loved and cared about. He was the causality. Read the rest of this entry →