Goodbye Theo
By Karlsie
Everyone I know asks me the same question: what happened with Theo? They hope I have some inside information that will lead them to sort out just what happened last weekend when it all blew up.
Like everyone else, all I can say is I don't know for sure, but I can guess. My guess is that it is far simpler than most people want it to be. People wants Theo to be the wronged party - the bride left at the altar by an selfishly uncaring groom in the form of Larry Lucchino while all of Red Sox nation sat in the pews - shocked, shedding tears of embarrassment for all involved.
Let me go on the record with these two words: grow up.
Am I going to miss Theo? Of course I am, but any person out there thinking that a 31 year old wonder child is the sole reason behind the Red Sox being the team they were needs to get a grip. How many people factor in Josh Byrnes deciding to get out of the shadow of Fenway to shine in the Arizona desert? Of course, he's probably scared right down to his toenails that he may end up being as bleached as the bones in a Georgia O'Keefe painting, but if he builds a good team around him it won't be a worry.
Then there's that pesky father figure/son relationship between Lucchino and Epstein. That sort of "Dad…. I have my degree, I know what I'm doing really I do…" sort of (unspoken?) feeling children have following in their parents' footsteps when the sign is about to change from "Father" to "Father and Son."
Theo's father is a writer - and a damn good one at that. Good enough to run a prestigious program down the street from Fenway at Boston University. He comes from a long line of writers - including a couple of blacklisted ones who wrote, among other things, "Arsenic and Old Lace." There is a deep passion and love of baseball in that family, something Larry Lucchino understood and allowed Theo to develop under his tutelage through the turbulent adolescent years, through college and beyond.
It's hard to say what Theo might have done had Lucchino, as a father figure, not been there to mentor and guide him. He might have gone on to sit next to Steven King in the stands where they would discuss their latest bestsellers. He might be up to his elbows in healing sick spirits next to his social worker brother. He might have been yet another yuppie wienie with an MBA and a business to destroy.
But he wasn't, he was Theo and we bowed to him like a gift from on high.
For a couple of weeks now I've been saying that I wonder if he needs to step out of the shadow of Fenway and spread his wings. If he needs to pick up his guitar and play for a while or try something different than baseball. Perhaps he's in that petulant child mode of "I'll show you I can do it, really I can," because he just isn't sure if it's him or not and is looking to see if the magic was his or those around him. Maybe it's a little of everything or all of nothing. We won't know until some tell-all biopic comes out.
No matter what he does, I wish him well. I only believe in a handful of villains and Sox management is not in that handful. This is a growing pains incident - one most of us have experienced from one side or another. This is the childish "up yours" as you slam the door on your way out to show your folks that you can do it, you are a grown up and won't they be sorry when you're gone. This is WP Kinsella's every man who went to college 3,000 miles away to get away from his father after reading "Catcher in the Rye" and whose last words to father were to say his hero, Shoeless Joe Jackson, was a cheater because that was the one thing he knew would break his spirit as well as his heart.
Hopefully, if Theo is really as good as we want to believe he is, in a couple of years he'll be back, more mature and slightly sheepish as he asks if we want to play a catch.
Look folks, the 2004 Sox were a true blessing and gift. The stars converged and the planets aligned to give us a magical ride and it was wonderful. But it has to be more than "we'll always have last year." I don't want the Sox to be like those beer bellied, middle aged guys who keep reliving that championship season they had in their prime, scared to look at the life they have now. The Sox have to be more than a couple of overpaid diva super stars; they have to be a real team on all levels.
So it's time for Boston to say to Theo what our parents said to us (or we have said to our kids): we love you and will do our best to support you, but don't let the door hit you where the good lord split you. Good luck Theo, but it's time for us to stop reliving 2004 and get to the business of 2006.
