Diet Log: Week something, Day something

I know, I know - It's been a couple of weeks since I discussed my diet on here. I think the problem is that I am riddled with ADD (self-diagnosed) and therefore often have problems sticking to one thing for very long. I also have lots of good ideas and am always highly motivated to start things, but actually finishing it off bores me to tears. If you want proof, come to my house. My wife will gladly point out the two broken snowmobiles, the broken 4-wheeler, the HALF pile of mulch sitting in the front yard, and my "workshop". The workship is especially bad because it is a mess. I have started cleaning it at least a dozen times in the last few years, and I get halfway done and then I discover I have run out of time, so I hurriedly throw everything back into a pile - having accompished nothing except for re-arranging all my stuff into slightly-neater-looking-but-still-impossible-to-find-anything piles. I have 16 tape measures, 12 pairs of pliers, 8 ratchets, 7 hammers, 5 crowbars, and countless screwdrivers because I have found that when doing a project it is often much easier to buy new tools than to find the ones I already have. In fact, I often blame my lack of progress on the broken snowmobiles and the 4-wheeler on the fact that I need to clean out my workshop before I start anything new.....

Anyway, I digress... My point is that I got distracted and stopped writing down my diet log. However, after a while, not writing it down sort of turned into not doing it anymore culminating in a memorial day weekend whereby I stuffed my face with cotton candy, potato salad, hot dogs and cheeseburgers all weekend long - which is not good (although the cheeseburgers were not my fault - I ate them because they were served to me by a cute little girl and I didn't want her to feel bad, so I made the sacrifice and took one for the team - remember, I AM a selfless do-gooder). So, anyay, I am getting back on the wagon this week.

We had a birthday party for my Daughter this weekend and served make-your-own sandwiches. Of course, we have TONS of leftover meats and cheeses, so I really need to help eat that stuff before launching a new food week. so this week will be leftover week (I guess you could call it processed meat week too).

Workout: I had to cut my workout a little short this morning. I got up in plenty of time but when I sat down on the couch to put my running shoes on, I kind of spaced out for a half-hour. Not really sleeping, but not totally conscious either. Anyway, I did 30 minutes on the treadmill. Now that we are full-on into summer re-runs I don't have much in the way of TV to watch anymore, so I had to find a new show. I'm giving the Glenn Beck TV Show (on Headline News/CNN) a try. As far as current event/politics/news shows go, it's pretty entertaining. Kind of hard to work out to, though.

Weigh-in: I was scared to step on the scale this morning. Much in the way that people don't open their electric bill right away because they know it's going to be bad news, so they put it off until tomorrow hoping that the news will be better tomorrow (maybe that's just me - I don't know), I decided to skip the weigh-in today.

Breakfast: Turkey Breast and Swiss Cheese Sandwich. Made with a small amoung of LIGHT Miracle Whip on fat-free low-calorie Italian Bread, it's actually not that bad, although it's a little dry. Fortunately I had a can of diet pepsi to wash it down with. 220 Calories.

Lunch: Two more sandwiches exactly like the one I had at breakfast. Plus an apple. 500 Calories

Dinner: Two more sandwiches exactly like the previous ones - except with tomato and lettuce - which really makes a big difference. A SMALL handful of chips to go with it. 500 Calories

Total for the day: 1220 Calories.

Continued

What's in YOUR wallet?

Remember when the "color" of your Credit Card used to mean something? A "Gold" card was something special - supposedly reserved only for those with the best credit. and then they came out with the "Platinum" card which was supposed to be better than "Gold" In practice, these designations have been meaningless for some time. Somehow I got on the Mailing List for "First Premiere Bank". They keep sending me "Gold" card offers. For a $90 "Acceptance Fee", $6/mo "Membership Fee" (billed annually - in advance - of course) and a $59 "Annual fee" (not to be confused with the membership fee), I can get a "Gold" card with a limit of up to $300. Wow. That really is special. When they issue you your first card, you have like $30 left out of that limit thanks to the fees. I get get at least one or two of these offers every month. You would think they would eventually clean out their mailing list.

On to the REAL story:

I am a Capital One "Platinum" cardholder. They recently changed my account to include a $59 annual fee for no apparent reason. Maybe they didn't think I would notice? Anyway, I refused to pay it, so I cancelled my card. Unfortunately, I didn't actually get to speak to a real person when I did this, but I assumed it was all taken care of. A Month Later, I get a bill for the Annual fee. I didn't worry about this because the recording had told me this might happen anyway. ANOTHER month goes buy and I get another bill showing an Annual Fee AND a LATE FEE for not paying the Annual fee in time. So I decided to call again. This time I just kept pressing buttons until I got a REAL person. Because I was such a "GREAT" customer, the service rep was perfectly willing to waive ALL outstanding fees and bring my account back to $0 if I would keep the account open. While midly disturbed by this, In order to get off the phone and get back to my busy blogging schedule, I agreed. I figured it would be easier to do it this way and then close the account later.

Which brings me to the point of this story. When you call them up to cancel your card, they actually have pre-programmed menu choices to say you are cancelling the card because the fees are to high - whereupon someobody comes on the line and offers to waive those fees. This is like the corporate equivalent of panhandling. Apparently their business plan is to assess extra fees and see if anybody notices. The ones that notice and object to it get their fees "waived". Talk about easy money. I wonder how many people just pay the extra fee and don't say a word?

For those of you who have credit cards with an annual fee, call them up and tell them you don't want to pay it any more and see what happens. Post your results here.

Continued

Random Musings

1. My Youngest Daughter (for now) turned 5 this past week. She was born 2 weeks after I started my current job. It feels like she was just born yesterday, but I have been at this job forever.

2. I think Pad Thai noodles, Seasame Chicken, Crab Rangoon and a little bit of fried rice may be the most perfect combination of Oriental food. Unfortunately (for my diet) the place here in town does not offer that combo so I have to buy it all seperately - making it way too easy to eat more than I should.

3. If you are driving up Rt 16, and you see no cars in front of you and a huge line of cars behind you, that may be a sign that you are driving too slow. If you miss that, maybe you should take a hint from the guy towing the horse trailer that passed you, or the guy behind him in the 26 ft. coachman motorhome.

4. I always thought Cotton Candy would be a mess to clean up, but it's surprisingly easy - it dissolves instantly in warm water.

5. In retrospect, because of #4, letting a dozen kids covered in Cotton Candy jump in the Hot Tub was not a good plan.

6. Hope everyone had a good Memorial Day. While you were enjoying yourselves, I hope you took a few minutes to reflect on the sacrifices that others have made on our behalf.

Continued

Correction

I previously referred to my neighbor who owns the corvette as a "him", but it has come to my attention that it actually belongs to his wife.

Continued

ENVY

I want a new car. I have hated my car since the day I got it. Well, maybe I don't hate it, it but I don't really like it. It doesn't look cool, It's not fast, it's not fun to drive, it's not good at hauling stuff, etc.. It is only good at one thing, and that is it gets me to work economically. I paid $5000 for it and have put about $1000 into repairs over the last 120,000 miles. Looking at it that way, how could I complain? This car has been great for me. Even if I decided to go for something like a hybrid for the better gas mileage, I figured out that accounting for the price difference, I would have to drive a Toyota Prius 340,000 miles before I broke EVEN.

For 3 1/2 years now I have tried really hard to be content. Every time I am tempted to get something new, I have to remind myself repeatedly that keeping this thing until it falls apart around me is the most sensible thing to do - and so far it has been working. But it is starting to get harder and harder. A couple of weeks ago, there was the MCDONALDS INCIDENT which was pretty hard to take. And then this week, my neighbor bought himself a RED CORVETTE.






NOTE: (not actual car)





Now, in my opinion, the Corvette is one of the greatest cars of all time. Ever since I was probably about 10 years old, I have promised myself that I would have one someday. Don't get me wrong, I don't hold any ill will towards my neighbor. In fact, I am happy for him. (now if it had been my OTHER neighber, it might be a different story - only because I would be afraid of the irreperable damage he would likely do to such a treasure), But it STILL makes we want to run as fast as I can to the nearest Chevy dealer, sign the papers, and drive away with the wind in my hair worrying about the financial consequences later. Sigh......

Continued

slacker

You guys are right - I HAVE been slacking lately. Not boredom, but busy-ness has kept me away. And maybe a touch of "blogger bloc" (writer's bloc for blogs). I have started several posts over the last couple of weeks and didn't have time to finish them and then by the time I could back to it the subject in question was no longer relevant.

I even tried to bust myself out of my slump yesterday by copying gagknee's idea of making a top ten list, but I wasn't able to finish that either.

This has also caused a problem with my Diet. The Diet was a lot easier to stick to when I was faithfully recording what I was doing every day. I haven't gained any weight back, but I haven't made any significant progress of the last couple of weeks either. I blame this on you guys. The point of having a diet blog is so that you guys can hold me accountable.

I am also running low on ideas, so please post some for me to try starting next Monday.

Speaking of diets, Al Gore really needs to go on one. Here is a picture taken of him at the Cannes film festival last week:



You can barely even see his beady little eyes.

Continued

My Own Dam pictures

Not to be outdone I thought I would post my OWN dam pictures. Here are some pictures of the NOW Famous Milton Three-Ponds Dam. This dam is almost a stone's throw from my driveway.

Make sure you click the "continued" link below. I had to put the pictures on a different page because they were breaking my blog somehow. (If any of you HTML gurus want to explain why, please do). Also, if the videos are not working it is because
youtube is down.




Note in the video below that the picnic table is no longer there


A WARNING SIGN


People Ignoring the Warning Signs


More people Ignoring the warnings.

The small river flowing from my yard has dug a pretty deep ditch in my neighbor's driveway....


..... and deposited much of it on the street below











Here is a video of the Dam.



Here is a video of the small river running through my normally-dry front yard.

Continued

Diet Log: Week 9, Day 4

Today has not been a great day for dieting. First of all, My company was having a "health fair" today, which featured a free cholesterol screening right next to a table where they were giving away free Ice cream. I decided that was a little hypocritcal, considering that ice cream is food with a LOT of cholesterol. so... rather than be a hyprocite, I just had the free ice cream and skipped the cholesterol screening.

Also, a sales person took me out to lunch. I did not get to choose the restaurant and found myself at an all-you-can-eat chinese buffet. And this is not one of those cheesy ones where they feature chicken nuggets and bacon-wrapped hot ogs. It was all real chinese food - and in my humble opinion - the best I have ever had. No for someone who loves to eat, AND who is value-concious an all-you-can-eat buffet is not good for losing weight. When you add in the fact that someone else was paying in the first place....... I was good, though. I only made one trip to the buffet, and one trip to the dessert table where I chose to have only a few small pieces of fruit.

When I got home, my wife had made a delicious broccoli quiche. I have no idea how many calories were in any of this stuff today, so I won't bother with a normal log.

My weigh-in this morning came in at -23, though - once again an all new low - so that was nice. I'll probably pay the price tomorrow, though.

Continued

Practicing Random Acts of Rudeness

While getting my meatless breakfast sandwich at the McDonalds in Rochester (the one across from Home Depot) this morning, the drive-thru attendant felt compelled to tell me - for no apparent reason - that she would be ashamed to drive around a car like mine.

Now, I drive a white 96 Nissan Altima. I have never pretended that it is a cool car, but it is in good repair, looks fine, and is a pretty good commuter car. I think calling it "shameful" is probably going a little bit too far.

Continued

Diet Log: Week 9, Day 3

I tried BOCA Meatless Sausages for breakfast today and as it was cooking, I was filled with hope, because it smelled absolutely delicous. I put it on a hot dug bun and took it with me - planning to eat it in the car. When I bit into it, though - I had to roll down my window and spit it out - it was even worse than the hot dog from the other night.

Here is what they claim on their website:

"Thought sausages were a thing of the past? Off the list? Gone forever from your diet? We’re happy to respectfully tell you that you’re wrong. BOCA® sausages have all the spice and flavor you’d expect in traditional pork sausages, but not all the fat, calories and cholesterol. Click here to compare for yourself. Whether on a bun or right off the plate, you’ll be enjoying the wholesome taste you thought you said good-bye to long ago."

I am here to tell you that this claim is absolutely false (IMHO). In fact, I would not even consider them to be edible - well, maybe they are edible in the sense that they are not poisonous, but that would be about it. It certainly did not taste anything like a sausage. It didn't really even taste like food.

Fortunately, I had grabbed an apple as a back-up plan in case the sausage didn't work out for me. Unfortunately, the apple turned out to be rotten, so that went out the window as well. I ended up having to get a no-meat egg McMuffin from the McDonalds next to the gas station where I filled up my car.

Workout: 45 minutes on the treadmill and 60 situps. My arm doesn't hurt too bad, but I still felt a little twinge when I picked up my youngest daughter yesterday, so I don't want to push it with pushups.

Weigh-In: still holding at -21.

Breakfast: No meat Egg McMuffin from McDonalds. 300 Calories.

Lunch: Veggie burger and like 6 curly fries. About 500 Calories. This veggie burger wasn't bad either - it was from the cafeteria at work. The guy working the grill looked at me like I was some sort of freak for ordering it, but oh well. It tasted a lot more like grilled vegetables than some sort of meat substitute.

Dinner: McDonalds apple pie, Bowl of Pasta salad, and 2 servings of Tostitos. That's a dinner to be proud of rigbht there. About 700 Calories.

Total for the day: 1500

Continued

Diet Log: Week 9, Day 2

You're only fooling yourselves

I always like to try new things - especially when it comes to food, so I am looking at this week as kind of a culinary adventure. Whith that in mind, I went to the store yesterday and stocked up on some Vegetarian meals. Namely, Veggie Burgers, Soy Protein burgers, Veggie Dogs, Soy Protein Dogs, Soy Protein, Soy Cheese (American AND Swiss flavor), and Soy Protein Sausages. I sprinkled in a couple of different brands. Now, if you read any of the Vegan propoganda out there (which is, by the way, possibly the most arrogant propoganda I have ever read), they would tell you that all this stuff tastes as good as meat, and is better for you. Now, the claim that this stuff (especially the soy stuff)tastes just as good as the real thing is obviously nonsense - but, I thought, maybe it tastes OK. So I figured I would give it a try.

For dinner, I got some Morningstar Farms Grillers Prime Veggie Burgers, and since I wanted to hedge my bets a little bit a pack of "smart dogs" soy-protein dogs. The plan was to eat one of each, but my wife cooked up two burgers by accident, so I ended up with 2 burgers and one dog. As it turned out this was a fortunate accident, but I am getting ahead of myself. I also got some soy cheese to put on the burgers.

First up was the "smart dogs".
Now, I LOVE hot dogs. So I was looking forward to having one that was only 80 calories. If it was tasty, I could eat 5 or six of them in an average meal and still be ahead of the game. I took the first bite and was immediately dissappointed - it was mushy. A good hot dog must have the right texture that kind of "snaps" when you bite into it. As the flavor started to hit me, I was more than disappointed. I was grossed out. This was quite possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted. The only reason I didn't spit it out was because I was in my living room and the fastest way to get rid of the taste was to swallow it quickly rather than rush to the kitchen. ugh. I have 4 more left over that I have no idea what I'm going to do with. That's $3 down the drain. (not only are they gross, they are expensive, which may be the most offensive thing to me of all) Maybe I will try to trick my kids into eating them. If all vegetarian food is like this, I am beginning to see why it is a good weight-loss technique. You are way too grossed out to keep eating.

Alright, on to the veggie burgers. (Insert picture here later when Blogger stops acting stupid). These were actually not too bad. They were very dry, and didn't have that much flavor (which I fixed by adding a lot of ketchup), and I could not tell any difference between the "american" soy cheese and the "swiss" soy cheese, but at least it was edible. I would say it was like if you are at a barbecue and everybody finished eating a couple of hours ago, and there was that last one on the plate that nobody wanted because it was a little overcooked, and it's been sitting around for a couple of hours..... Not bad if you are hungry, but not anybody's first choice for flavor. Here is my problem with it. I compared the Nutrional information to a regular ground beef patty (75% lean - pretty much the fattiest meat you can buy):

............."real" beef ........Veggie(pro-rated) ......Veggie (Actual)

serv. size ..3 oz (cooked) .......3 oz......................2.5 oz
Calories ....191..................204.......................170
(from fat) ..114..................96.........................80
Total Fat ...12.7g...............10.8g.......................9g
Saturated ...4.9g.................1.2g.......................1g
poly .........3g..................4.8g.......................4g
mono ........5.8g.................4.8g.......................4g
Chol .......63.9mg.................0..........................0
Sodium .....67 mg................432g.......................360mg
Pot.........247.9mg..............192mg......................160mg
Carbs.........0...................4.8g.......................4g
Protein ....18.1g................20.4g..................... 17g

The only REAL advantage I see here is maybe the cholesterol. So if you have a cholesterol problem, and you really love dried burgers that don't have much flavor, I guess you should go for it. (This is, of course, if you don't have a sodium restriction as well - if you do, you are just plain out of luck) For the rest of us, I don't really see the point.

My point is - I just don't get it. If you have a conviction about being a vegetarian, rock on - but why bother pretending that you can have all of these meat substitutes? They DON't taste that good, and they are not particularly better for you. There are many delicious non-meat food products out there in their natural form - just eat those and be happy.

Workout: 45 minutes on the treadmill. My wrists and forearms are killing me today, so I skipped the pushups, but I did up the situps to 60.

Weigh-In: -21. I guess my cheese-filled brats and root beer float weekend didn't do that much damage after all.

Breakfast: 2 more apples. I don't know what happened, but my wife bought some delicious MACs the last time she was at the store. That is very rare for this time of year - usually the apples available do not have that declicious-fresh-off-the-tree flavor, but these ones did. They literally tasted like I had just picked them. 120 calories.

Lunch: A large, delicious veggie sub from D'angelos. About 600 Calories (mostly from the cheese and bread, I'm guessing).

Dinner: PREGO Vegetable lasagne. This was frankly not particularly low-calorie, nor was it low-fat. It WAS actually pretty good though, probably because it wasn't pretending to be something it's not. About 700 Calories

Total for the day: 1420

Continued

He's a Vegetarian

I think my computer is spying on me. I'm not sure how, because I'm actually pretty paranoid - I regularly scan for spyware, NEVER use my own email address when signing up for stuff on the web, etc.. but something strange is definitely going on. The other day, I was contemplating doing a vegetarian week. Then it occurred to me that there are many different levels of vegetarianism - from your basic vegetarian (someone who tells everyone they are a vegetarian because they are striving to be a good liberal, but who secretly eats meat when nobody else is looking) all the way up to the level 5 vegan. (doesn't eat anything that casts a shadow - for those of you who are not Simpsons fans). So anyway, I was searching around to see what the differences between each "level" are, and I didn't really find ACTUAL information. I DID find a lot of Holier-Than-Thou propaganda about how much better the vegan lifestyle is than your plain old everyday vegetarians. I even found a site that said something alon the lines of "If you compare eating to driving, eating meat is like driving a Hummer, being a vegetarian is like driving a Toyota Camry, and being a vegan is like riding your bicycle". Again, I digress. The point is, that I decided to try being a vegetarian for 5 days and see how it helps with weight loss - and then ON THE DAY THAT I AM PLANNING TO START, I got THIS email:



Coincidence? I don't think so.

Anyway, I AM going to be a vegetarian this week, but only in the loosest definition. I am not going to eat meat. I WILL however still eat things like eggs and dairy products. To put it in vegan terms, I will not support the KILLING of animals for food, but I will still support their exploitation.

Workout: No workout today. Had to leave the house at 5:30 a.m. and I wasn't getting up at 4:00 just to squeeze in a workout. I justified this by playing softball and taking the dog for a 45 minute walk yesterday, and I will be playing softball tonight as well.

Weigh-in: No weigh-in today. probably just as well. My wife practically forced me to eat Johnsonville Brats w/chedder cheese and huge rootbeer float last night, so I have a feeling the weigh-in would not have gone well.

Breakfast:2 apples. 120 Calories:

Lunch:sm Grilled Veggie Sandwich and a side salad from D'angelos. Calories: 600. By the way, their Grilled Veggie Sandwich is delicious.

Dinner: I went to the store today and stocked up on vegetarian fare. I have always wondered how things like soy substitutes and veggie burgers would taste, so I figured I would try it out. For Dinner I had two veggie burgers complete with veggie cheese. I know I said I would use real dairy products, but they were sitting there right next to the burgers so I figured I would give them a shot. I bought american and swiss flavor, so I had one of each. Actually with lots of ketchup and some lettuce they weren't too bad. I wouldn't mind having another one. I also tried a soy-based hot dog and it is the most disgusting thing I have eaten since the soapy mushroom soup incident. I could not finish it. I could not even finish the first bite. For those of you who know me, you know it must be really bad, because I can swallow pretty much anything. So I settled for the veggie burgers. About 500 calories (including the buns). I also bought soy sausage for my breakfast tomorrow. We'll have to see how that goes.


Total for the day: 1220.

Continued

Diet Log: Week 8, Day 5

Once again in a rush today. Had to cut the workout short, but I didn't want to lose track of the calories.

Workout: Had to cut the workout to 30 mins on the treadmill today.

Weigh-in: still holding at -20. The real accomplishment will be if I can get through the weekend and STILL be at -20. I might try to squeeze in a workout or two this weekend.

Breakfast: two "Toast'n Butter" sandwiches. a toast'n butter sandwich is simply two pieces of toast with butter put face-face like a sandwich. It wasn't too bad, but I would have preferred some sort of meat. Calories: 200.

Lunch: Had a vendor bring in lunch today, and as I've said many times before - "If it's free, its for me" so I had 2 slices of Bertucci's pizza, a roll, and a salad. Once again, I have no idea how many calories were in there - I just ate what seemed like a reasonable amount.

Total for the day: 200 + ??

Continued

Diet Log: Week 8, Day 1-4

This has been an extremely hectic week. I just haven't had much time for blogging - or for dieting for that matter.

I had early meetings every day this week, so I had to cut my workout short twice and skip it entirely on one day. I have been so busy that I even seriously contemplated tring one of these:



Which supposedly gives you a COMPLETE workout - equivalent to 30 minutes on the treadmill in just 4 minutes a day. The downside is that it is apparently some sort of medieval torture machine. Oh yeah - the other downside is that it costs $14,615. They offer a 30 day rental, but that is $1500 which seems a little steep. I guess I will have to keep on using my plain old boring treadmill for now.

Since I haven't had much time for blogging, I wasn't recording what I was eating, so I really can't give any account for what I have eaten from Mon-Wed. This is supposed to be Sandwich week, but it has turned into Chicken Ceasar Salad Pita Pocket week. I know that seems awfully specific, but I have been eating it for virtually every meal this week. It is tasty, quick, and satisfying. I also finally had a RemDawg at the Sox game on Monday. I have no idea how many calories are in there, but it is the biggest hot dog I have ever eaten. Have you ever had a footlong hot dog? When you got it, were you disappointed in how skinny it looked? Well, imagine a foot long hot dog that has enough girth to make it look proportional to a regular hot dog. That is probably a pretty good description. At $6.50 it is easily the best value at Fenway Park. It is probably as filling as 3-4 Fenway franks or 2 italian sausages, which would cost you $12-$15.

Anyway, before another day gets away from me I better get back on track.

Workout: Back to my regular 45 minutes on the treadmill + 40 pushups and situps.

Weigh-in: - 20. Once again an all new low for me, and a significant milestone. 20 lbs in 8 weeks is not too bad for a crazy made-up diet plan that I still have trouble sticking too. It's not going to break any world records, but I'm pretty happy with it.

Breakfast: Well, it was sandwich week, and I wasn't very impressed with the slice of smoked turkey between two pieces of buttered toast I had earlier this week, so I went through McDonalds for a sausage McMuffin (No Hash Browns). 380 Calories.

Lunch:No Lunch today. Had a late breakfast, and there is a company meeting which usually serves some kind of food - so I am going to fast during lunch and hold out for the free stuff.

Afternoon Snack: 4 chicken wings, a couple of slices of fried zuchinni, a couple of slices of cheddar cheese, a couple of slices of keilbasa, and some watermelon. No idea how many calories. Can't be that much, though - right?

Dinner: Tuna Salad with Lettuce and Tomato in a Tomato wrap. IT was quite good. The wraps were not particularly low calorie, though. About 600 Calories.

Total for the day: ????

Continued

Boo-ing Johnny Damon

So there has been a lot of discussion in the last few days as to how the Red Sox fans should have reacted to Johnny Damon when he returned to Fenway park. Jackie MacMullun says the fans who boo him are idiotic. Damon's current Manger, Joe Torre, had this to say:

"I'm a little disappointed in the reaction by the fans, I guess we should feel proud. Evidently, wearing a Yankee uniform overrides winning a World Series and busting your tail for four years."

In general, the media opinion before the game seemed to be that Sox fans should applaud Johnny Damon the first time up and acknowledge all he did for us, etc... etc... etc... and then AFTER that treat him like he was a yankee. Even his former teammates like Big Papi seemed to pretty much say the same thing.

What I would like to know, is - When did major league baseball turn into a teenage girls softball league? Why is it that paying millions of dollars to these players is not enough? - we suddenly have to worry about their "feelings". It's bad enough that the feminization of our society is already so pervasive - the advent of the so-called "metrosexual" being one particularly odious example - but to invade the game of baseball and apply so-called "decent" standards of behavior that are contrary to over a hundred years of hallowed tradition is the last straw. Maybe we should all just put on tan slacks and pink t-shirts, and promise to say only nice things about everybody from now on. Let's take all the fun out of the greatest rivalry in sports in the name of "appropriate" behavior.

According to various reports that I heard, although Damon put on a good face, privately he was very hurt by the response from the Boston fans. Tell me, Johnny, what exactly did you expect? Respect for all you have supposedly done for us? Let me tell you a little bit about respect:

On a cold, rainy Saturday morning in October 2004, I got up at 4 a.m, drove 2 hours to boston, stood in the rain for ANOTHER 3 hours with 2 million other people, just to catch a glimpse of you for maybe 5 seconds as you drove by with your teammates on the victory parade. I then RAN ALL THE WAY TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CITY just on the slight chance that I might get another glimpse.

My Youngest Daughter was a huge fan - and to support her I bought several Johnny Damon T-Shirts. Over the last 4 years I have been to several Red Sox games, and have given you a standing ovation EVERY TIME you came up to bat. I helped my Daughter make a sign that says "I Love Johhny" and held it up for her at these games. Many other fans have done all this and more. Hundreds of thousands of us stood in line for hours to buy your stupid book and get your autograph.

You decided that none of that was good enough. Apparantly, you had your Rea$on$ - which is fine. And don't hand me that "If I were in your shoes..." crap. You are probably right - I LOVE my job and really like the company I work for, but given a raise proportional to what you recieved I would probably go to work for our closest rival too. The difference between you and me is that I would not shoot my mouth off on the way out the door about how much better the other company is and THEN return for a visit a few months later expecting praise and adoration for past accomplishments.

We have already given you plenty of adoration for your past accomplishments - and they were well deserved. When you were here you played your heart out for us and we cheered our hearts out for you. But that all ended when you put on a different uniform. You are no longer playing your heart out for us, so why do you (and all the other media morons) expect to be treated as if you still do? The mere thought is ridiculous.

So I was there on Monday night, and am proud to say that I boo'ed you as loudly and as proudly as I possibly could - along with every other person that was anywhere near me.

In baseball, we have always cheered for the "good" guys and boo'ed the "bad" guys. It was naive to think that we would - and absurd to suggest that we should - behave any differently.

Continued