Red Sox Players Rule!!!

paul greco · March 19th, 2008

Did I just say that? A long time New York fan, I was brought up to hate the Boston Red Sox. Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, Roger Clemens, and Wade Boggs were words that were not allowed to be mentioned in my house.

On Oct 2,1978, Bucky Dent nailed a game-winning home run over the green monster and to this my family and I still celebrate the date. The best day to me though, was Oct 27, 1986, the day the New York Mets helped continue the curse and won the World Series . Bill Buckner is still one of my favorite Mets players. How else do you explain the slow roller between the legs?

Today though I have to say that what the Boston Red Sox players did as a team was awesome. To stand by their coaches as the Red Sox organization scrambled to figure out how they would handle the situation has to be one of the classiest moves by baseball players in a long time.

If you missed out on what happened, here's a little recap:

In Fort Myers, FL, the Red Sox players voted to boycott a nationally televised exhibition game against the Toronto Blue Jays, as well as a flight to Japan where they would be getting ready to take on the Oakland A's in the season opener. The players were ticked off at the fact the Red Sox organization wasn't going to fork over the $40,000 they negotiated the coaches.

To me this is a shameful act on behalf of the Red Sox organization.

Hip-Hip Hooray for the Red Sox player, especially third baseman Mike Lowell.

''When we voted to go to Japan, that was not a unanimous vote,'' Lowell told The Boston Globe, "but we did what our team wanted us to do for Major League Baseball. They promised us the moon and the stars, and then when we committed, they started pulling back. It's not just the coaches, it's the staff, the trainers, a lot of people are affected by this. I'm so super proud of this team.”

Now don't get me wrong, when the Yankees or any other team plays the Red Sox I'll still be rooting for the other team. To see what these players did for their coaches and manager shows the type of character you want in a team, a third place finishing team behind the Yankees and the Rays. Sorry Red Sox fans, but as the saying goes, “It is what it is.”

Profile: Since high school, Paul has had a blast playing Fantasy Sports. The guy lives and breathes it. From the strategy on draft day, to making trades or working the waiver wire, he loves the fantasy game. What Paul hates are the fantasy experts who tell you what to do with your team, but don’t do the same thing on their fantasy teams. Paul wants to show you how he consistently wins his leagues and what he does to win them. Paul does not want to just write articles to tell you what you should do, he wants you to feel as though you are on his team.

Paul is co-owner of Gotham Sports Media , Gotham Baseball Magazine and Gotham Sports Radio and is a Principle Engineer with General Dynamics in San Antonio, TX. Paul is also the voice of RotoHog.com and has appeared on ESPN Radio, WIP in Philadelphia, and KALL 700 Sports in Salt Lake City. Listen to him every on the weekly Internet show, Talking Baseball, every Wednesday night at 8pm ET.

Paul, is also a highly decorated veteran of the United States Air Force for 10 years served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Northern Watch, and Operation Southern Watch.

Born: Amityville, NY -- Yes, that's right the same place as the horror show. Explains a lot huh?

Favorite Sport Baseball

Sports Played: Baseball, Soccer, Football, Basketball

Favorite covering sports moment: Getting to sit down and talk to Hall-of-Famer Duke Snider for two hours. We discussed the Brooklyn Dodgers day and their great teams, Jackie Robinson, and him being amongst the best OF'ers of his time. What a great man!

If I was an athlete I would be like: Michael Jordan. This was a guy that took basketball to a whole new level. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were great for the NBA, but Jordan rose above the game and his influence can be seen in many of today's great players.