The Yankees' arch rivals, the Boston Red Sox, put away their differences with the Bombers/Evil Empire in order to pay tribute to late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. The Red Sox held a moment of silence for The Boss and late Yankees public address announcer Bob Sheppard before their game against the Texas Rangers. While Steinbrenner was ruthless, one Red Sox fan told the NY Times, "He’s a human being and deserves to be honored. That doesn’t mean we love him, but we respect him. There’s competition, but also decency."
And the fan's son added, "He worked the system to its fullest. He probably provided fuel to the fire. Without him, the Red Sox may not be as good." (PS, fuel=money.) Big Papi, slugger David Ortiz, said earlier this week that the tribute was a "great" idea. "You're talking about somebody that did a lot of good things for the game and for a lot of people. You've got to respect that."
Red Sox manager Terry Francona was asked if he remembered Sheppard announcing his name; Francona said, "I don't know, I actually don't know. It's actually really hard -- I don't know if you're going to believe me -- but it's hard to hear in the dugout. I don't sit around waiting to see how my name comes out, especially there. Usually, there's three people in the second row who follow (my name) up with 'You suck!' "
