Controversy has always followed me and now it has exploded over a simple trade, a change of mind you could say. I have left Red Sox Nation and I have joined the Evil Empire. I have become a Yankee fan on August 25, 2009. John Sterling move one seat over in the broadcast booth, Chasse is coming to Yankee Town.
My earliest childhood memories have the Boston Red Sox stamped all over them. I cried when Yaz popped up to Craig Nettles, I hate Bucky” Bleepin” Dent (until today, Bucky you the man!!), Aaron Boone’s homerun in ’03 gave me nightmares for weeks. I lived and breathed Boston Red Sox baseball up until 2006, when the winds at my beloved Fenway Park started blowing in straight from centerfield.
In January of 2002, John Henry, Tom Werner and the New York Times Company purchased the Boston Red Sox from The Yawkey Trust. I should have known right there trouble was a brewing with the Times involved and Katie Couric on Tom Werner’s arm. I also should have known where John Henry was coming from when he sold the Florida Marlins to buy the Red Sox with the help of Commissioner Bud Selig. Henry dumped the Marlins for the Sox. Where is the loyalty Mr. Henry?
The first thing this group did was nix the plans of building a new Fenway Park. Visit Camden Yards and you will see why a new Fenway Park is desperately needed. When you have to turn your body to look at home plate from half the seats in the stadium you know there is a problem. Granted the ownership group has made improvements but it is the worst park in the major league.
The new management appointed Larry Lucchino as President of baseball operations; and soon after that Theo Epstein was the new general manager. The Red Sox brain trust was now put in place. Within two years, the Red Sox had won their first world championship in eighty six years. I cheered that championship as loud as anyone else in Red Sox Nation.
The two thousand five Boston Red Sox made the playoffs but were beaten in the first round that year. Two thousand six was pretty much the same except for the fact they did not make the playoffs. This was the year that my beloved Red Sox proved to me that this ownership group was more into the bottom line than they were into winning. The Sox were in first place at the All Star break in ’06 and stood pat and did not make a move at the trade deadline. I started to feel then that the Red Sox ownership group was going to rest on the 2004 championship instead of becoming a team that was more concerned at winning at all costs.
The winter of 2007, I starting thinking the Red Sox was no longer the team for me. I bought an Atlanta Braves hat and started watching the Braves because I believed we here in New England were tied to them as they once were the Boston Braves. The Braves just were not the Ted Turner Braves any more however. They were just like the Red Sox, the bottom line was more important than winning. I abandoned the Braves and again went back to the home town team.
The 2007 Red Sox produced another World Series Championship but unlike ’04, it was just not the same. A sweep of the Colorado Rockies gave me renewed hope that the Red Sox were the team of the 2000’s. It was short lived however, as the Sox were beaten by the Devil Rays in the 2008 American League Championship Series. I chalked up 2008 as an injury riddled playoff run and looked forward to 2009 and the 2009 off season.
The Red Sox banked their whole 2009 season on one player Mark Teixeira. The Red Sox was outbid by the Yankees for Teixeira’s services. The Red Sox did not bid that one million dollars extra needed to secure his services. The Yankees not only had Teixeira under contract but they also signed CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett. The Red Sox answer to those signings was two retreads Brad Penny and John Smoltz. I was tired of the Sox not trying to go the extra mile.
The Red Sox have the highest ticket prices in the major league, yet they cry poverty all of the time. They could have had that new stadium if the ownership group actually stepped up to the plate, no pun intended. Mr. Henry has lost half the fortune of his investment business over the last five years. It is no wonder he has, because if he runs his investment business like he does the Red Sox it is doomed to fail.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was this year’s trading deadline. The Red Sox could have had Roy Halladay but pulled back and never made the deal. They did pick up Victor Martinez to their credit but he is no Halladay.
The Yankees beat the Red Sox six out of seven games over the last week. There was an atmosphere in that Yankee dugout over these seven games that you see on a little league field. There was tremendous pride in those players that I admired greatly. The Yankees, unlike the Red Sox, will do anything to win. The Yankees will think outside the box when need be unlike the Red Sox. I can live with a team that does anything to win even if it loses but when that team cares more about profit; I lose my faith in them. I, Cris Chasse, have decided to be traded to the New York Yankee Nation. I will forever be grateful for the memories the Sox gave me during the first forty years of my life; and I look forward to the memories the Yankees will give me for the rest of it.
Some of you might think I am a traitor and I respect that. The Patriots almost moved to Connecticut a few years ago and if they did I would have become a fan of a different NFL franchise if they had. Your heart as to be in a team to live and breathe for them and my heart is now in the Big Apple.
E-mail me at drcrischasse@verizon.net
voice 206 350 4670
fax 206 350 6437
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