Yeah, I get the humor here. I appreciate (though can’t say we’re surprised by) Bobby V’s ability to laugh at himself, and I realize that his firing in Boston especially was not only a foregone conclusion but a downright necessity, given how 2012 worked out for the Sox. Still… well, the video’s after the jump. You decide.

As much as anything else, I’m writing this so that all the time I spent yesterday reading Hugo Chavez obituaries and retrospectives in the wake of his death won’t look totally wasted, as far as job performance goes. But there’s also a legitimate sports angle to be had.

Since Bobby Valentine’s unceremonious demise in Boston, he’s been flittering around NBC Sports Radio. And while that gig might not have done justice to his otherwise diversified talent portfolio – bicycling, butt slapping, beat-boxing, directing traffic – it was something to pass the time. Until, apparently, this. No, no, jump first.

Surprise! Bobby Valentine has been axed by the Boston Red Sox. Details — and a very short timeline of his 162-game nightmare — after the jump.

You know not much has gone right for the Red Sox on the field this year. Well, they’re not – or at least their manager isn’t – getting a break off the field, either.

It’s a rough economy, folks. That means job security is at a premium for plenty of hard working ‘Muhricans, not the least of whom is Bobby Valentine. The Red Sox skipper, by just about everyone’s estimations, had a disappointing first season in Boston, but there’s no universal consensus that he won’t be back in the Fenway home dugout next season. That’s because Bobby himself thinks he’ll be wearing BoSox fatigues again in 2013.

Yep. Bobby Valentine’s starting to lose it.

It hasn’t been a good afternoon for the embattled Red Sox skipper. Earlier today, he appeared on Sports Illustrated’s cover — not in a good way — and just a few minutes ago, Bobby V had a weird and contentious interview with Glenn Ordway and Michael Holley on Boston’s WEEI. The breakdown of the breakdown, after the jump.

Alfredo Aceves and Dustin Pedroia exchanged a few heated words in the dugout following some miscommunications in the field during yesterday’s Red Sox game against the Oakland Athletics. Aceves repeatedly attempted to pick off an Oakland runner on second base, and by the third throw Pedroia barely even made it over to the bag to catch the pickoff attempt. After the inning, Aceves and Pedroia got in each other’s faces, with Bobby Valentine meandering over to pretend to interject.

Well folks, the situation in Boston has gone from bad to worse. The much publicized discontent in the Red Sox clubhouse with divisive manager Bobby Valentine hit a critical mass. A few weeks ago, Adrian Gonzalez led a call to arms and held a meeting with Sox ownership where he and his teammates asked for Valentine to be fired. Read about it after the jump.

Pro athletes gain a ton of fame and fortune at a young age, so it makes sense they wouldn’t all be humble heroes. And indeed, sometimes they try to exploit that fame… with mixed results. After the jump, nine sports figures whose influence wasn’t quite what they thought it was.