Monday, October 31, 2005
I was sitting in my friend Ryan's room, watching him and my other friend Nate try to teach Dave (big Tigers fan) how to play Halo properly. All of a sudden, I got rapidly, massively nauseous, like I was going to throw up right then and there. Which is weird, because I'm not one of those people who get nauseous a lot... in fact, I can't even remember the last time I felt nauseous.
Startled and worried, I excused myself and wobbled back to my room. I cracked open my window and sat down at the computer, just kind of holding my head and wondering what the heck was going on. Trying to not move too much, I fired up Safari and checked my email.
University mail, usual notices of art shows and campus rallies, usual missives from my french professor telling us we're all morons for doing so poorly on the last quiz. Yahoo mail, usual complement of various city newspapers I'm signed up for... Dolphins news, Chicago Tribune, and so on. Gmail, usual series of news alerts... Brandon Inge, Jason Marquis, Mike Matheny. I see that a long email thread a bunch of Boston bloggers have been contributing to has been updated. Hm.
Annette has sent the following email--
"Theo has quit. The front office has NO COMMENT."
Wait. What.
Did I not wake up this morning and, as soon as I got out of the shower, go online and check the Globe site to see that Theo had, in fact, been given a new contract and that all was well and hunkydory? DID I NOT DO THIS VERY THING??
I bust onto AIM like there's a pack of drunken Michigan State fans after me.
I IM Annette demanding details. What! The hell! I'm all the way out here in the midwest, and the hall around me is entirely way too calm for this BURGEONING CRISIS.
Immediately I get an IM from my mother, who is understandably REALLY FUCKING UPSET.
My friend Mike IMs me to see what I think about a possible Manny-for-Magglio deal with Detroit. I virtually yell at him. Sorry Mike, now is not the time.
Evan IMs me from his cell phone to see if I've heard. I have. Neither one of us can believe it.
Trevor IMs me with a link to the AP story on Yahoo. "I just saw the headline on Yahoo! WTF?" he says.
More emails pop up in my Gmail account. Trevor has sent me an email with the phrase "boston's fucked" repeated for about 25 lines, ending with the line "thank god dombrowski's here to stay :/". Jenna has emailed me to say that she just spent 5 minutes staring, motionless, at the computer, in pure shock.
Mer is real Bostonite sarcastically pragmatic: "Theo has also had enough of the ridiculous drama, apparently."
Amy makes a good point: "seriously, SERIOUSLY reconsidering wanting to work for them."
If a guy born and bred here, a guy who grew up loving the team and knowing the media, a guy beloved by the city, felt the need to quit, who will come to work here? How do you sign a good GM again after that? Will his assistants leave with him?
My dad calls, to see if I've heard. He says he's about to leave work and will have WEEI on for the drive home... he expects the callers will be livid, and he's probably quite right. It seems obscene that I turn on the TV here and flip through the sports channels, and no one is talking about this. The sky is falling, and Lloyd Carr is mumbling on FSN Detroit, they're arguing about the Eagles on ESPN, Stephen A. Smith is talking to Ron Artest on ESPN 2 in what must be the most unwatchable show in TV. Action News is talking about Rosa Parks.
CNN is talking about the CIA leak case. Theo Epstein fucking quit! Why isn't this on CNN?? It should be getting covered on every channel; it should be on the fucking Food Network, it should interrupt the soaps and be broadcast in Spanish on Univision.
Theo, just. Walked away.
The article in the Globe, the one detailing his relationship with Lucchino that made Theo think there were breaches of trust, that was the straw to break the camel's back in this case, the article that allegedly made him decide to give it up and quit, is here.
The astute observer of Boston media history will note who penned it. I don't think I really need to say anything more about that.
I just downed some Pepto Bismol, so hopefully I won't actually, you know, expectorate. But I don't know why I got so nauseous, for no good reason. Maybe it was the tar we were working with in print today; maybe it was something in one of the numerous worrying piles of clothing and god knows what else lying about Ryan's room.
But it was kind of like... kind of like I knew.
7:11 PM
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