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The Red Sox Already Have Fans Showing Up To Their Games Wearing Paper Bags

It’s been a rough year so far for the Red Sox. They’re 12-19, in last place, had that one game where they blew a 9-0 lead, and Josh Beckett continues to melt down. But it is still pretty early, right? There’s 80 percent of the season left to go, and the Red Sox still have talent. Sure, you don’t expect any fans – much less rabid Sox diehards – to be patient, but still, isn’t it a little early for… this?

The guy who wore the bag is named Jon O’Hara, and as he was clearly visible on TV cameras early in the game, quickly became the talk of the night. He was such a hot topic that when he disappeared from those prime seats, #FreeTheBagGuy became a common Twitter refrain. He was such a hot topic that he talked to multiple radio personalities this morning. But everything he said just made it sound like he doesn’t much appreciate just how good he’s had it in recent years:

“If I don’t recognize that team anymore I don’t want them to recognize me. That’s one statement behind it. The other is it’s an embarrassment now to be a fan of this team… We pay for a winning team. Our ticket prices pay for a winning team and that’s not happening now.

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We have [owner] John Henry over this sitting with a smile on his face last night; he doesn’t realize what’s really happening. He doesn’t realize the pitcher on the mound (Josh Beckett) is horrible. He doesn’t realize that Ben Cherington, Bobby Valentine aren’t going to get it done.”

We’re not sure how much, say, Royals fans – or fans of any team that’s won fewer than two World Series titles in the last decade – are sympathizing. Again: Cherington and Valentine, the guys who aren’t going to get it done, have occupied their positions for all of 31 games so far. It’s possible neither will work out in the long run. It’s definite that it’s too early to tell.

Do Red Sox fans have a right to be upset? Sure. They sink a lot of resources into following a team that’s had a lot of resources sunk into it in turn, and to follow up last season’s collapse with a start like this is infuriating to follow. But talking, as O’Hara did, about how it would “be much easier to be a Rangers fan”? Come on. Well, of course it would be fun to root for the team that wins two pennants in a row. And before the Rangers did that, they’d never done it in their history.

O’Hara did what he set out to do last night. He made his statement (not his first such statement, for the record) and got a ton of attention for it. (And for the record, it doesn’t sound like he got kicked out: apparently O’Hara didn’t have tickets for those really good seats. This story says he left that section “when the people that had the tickets for those seats showed up.”)

But, seriously, O’Hara and Red Sox Nation: calm down, people. The season is one-fifth over. Eventually, even if it’s not this season, you’ll be okay. It’ll suck in the interim, but you’ll be fine. And if you’re not fine, well, you’ve been pretty damn fine for a long while now. There are many tortured fanbases and inept organizations in baseball. You aren’t the former, and you don’t root for the latter. Things aren’t going so well right now, but if any more paper bags pop up at Fenway, some blessings-counting might be in order.

Photo by Jon O’Hara