My Grandfather Just Turned Over in His Grave

Shame on the Boston Red Sox
You're Not My Daddy!

"Red Sox fans who are basking in the glory of the World Series championship now have the chance to be Founding Members (of Red Sox Nation) by registering for official Red Sox Nation membership (for $9.95)."

How dare MLB grab onto the nickname for Red Sox fans coined a long, long time ago (by Dan Shaughnessy) and charge you $10 for the privilege. This is a cheap San Diego Padres marketing stunt with a Red Sox logo slapped on it. Major League Baseball does not own Red Sox Nation. It's not theirs to sell. Period.

If you are reading this now, if you ever went to a Red Sox game with your dad, bought a Sox t-shirt, subscribe to NESN, listened to a game on the radio with your grandfather, etc., you are already a proud, "official" member of "Red Sox Nation."

But MLB tells you: "Years from now, you still might be telling future generations of Red Sox diehards how you saw the team win the last eight games of the 2004 Major League Baseball season and then became one of the first to make it official with Nation membership... the front of the card features your own RSN citizenship ID number." I cannot wait to tell my father, who was bringing neighborhood kids to Fenway since 1972, who doesn't have a computer, that he has never been an official member of Red Sox Nation because he hasn't coughed up $10 to get his "ID number."

Remember how we got this godawful idea to sell the name of the proud fanbase put on hold a month ago? You thought they might scrap it due to the embarrassment? How they told you it was to determine the (cough) "size of the fan base outside New England?" "The citizenship cards are a way of gauging how many fans there are beyond the Sox hotbed of New England, team spokesman Charles Steinberg said." Well now they've come back a month later after many brainstorming sessions, and the result is they jacked the price of membership from $5 to $10, and threw in a few more perks of membership. And once all the sales are tallied, that will be the official count of Red Sox Nation. If you don't buy a card and get your ID number, well, I guess you are a phony fan on the outside looking in, no matter how long your family has given their heart, soul, and wallet to this team.

Red Sox Nation: Root Free or Die
Get a free RSN membership card here, and give the money to Dana-Farber Cancer Research