Standing O for Nomar was sad to see

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Come on, Sox fans. Grow a set.

Chalk this one up to all the pink hats out there who loved to look at Nomah shirtless on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Nomar Garciaparra's return to Boston was one of the most sickening sights I have seen in quite some time. So eagerly were fans ready to forget the past and welcome him back with open arms. Let's not forget who Nomar really was.

As a ballplayer, for a time, there were few better. Some argued that at his position, there were none better. Nomar still stands fourth all time in hitting for the Red Sox behind Ted Williams, Wade Boggs and Tris Speaker. Elite company, without a doubt. His .553 slugging percentage ranks fifth all time, ahead of Mo Vaughn, Fred Lynn, Jim Rice and Carl Yastrzemski.

There were few who conducted their business on the field with more professionalism than Nomar. He was a sure-fire Hall-of-Famer.

He was also a lot of other things

He was the guy who hated signing autographs. He was the guy who would say all the right things about loving Boston in one breath, then turn around and say the opposite in the next when he thought no one was listening. He was the guy who had the Red Sox brass put a line of red tape around his locker, signifying a line the press could not cross (granted, he wasn't the only Red Sox superstar to have issues with the Boston media). But most importantly, he was the most disruptive forces in the Red Sox clubhouse and was able to be that way without doing a single thing. Remember when he sat in the dugout alone while the rest of his team was on the top step of the dugout watching as Derek Jeter was busy diving headlong into the seats?

There are few people who took for granted, or better yet failed to realize what it meant to play for the Boston Red Sox. The fans kissed the ground he walked on. So to thank them, every so often he'd take a dump before walking on.

Now Nomar has returned to Boston and the fans once again bent down to take another taste of the manure he's dropping. Nomar says he loves the fans in Boston and always has. Maybe, just maybe, when Nomar took his helmet off for a long overdue salute to the fans (and to prove to Jacoby Ellsbury that he still has the best head of hair in baseball), he was realizing just how lucky he had it here and just how much he scoffed at it.

These people would have done anything for him. Apparently, they still will.