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I was listening to WEEI this morning and they were all blowing each other because Theo's back and they knew he would be, blah, blah, blah. Additionally they were discussing where to go next. Do they spend a bunch of $$ and maybe some prospects to build a championship team this year, or do they go fully into retool mode? What I think they're going to do is something in the middle, getting middle valued big names on short contracts, so they can farm the system up, which is OK, I guess, except that it brings the likes of Clement, Wells and Miller to town. I started thinking about the motivations of the front office. What impetus do they have to build a championship team? In most markets, ownership knows that they have to put the best possible team out there every year, in order to get the fans to come and the sponsors to pay, but for the Red Sox, the Yanks and a few other teams, the fans are there, regardless. The Sox can't sell more tickets by bringing a better team, they sell all their tickets already. They can't get bigger TV and radio contracts because they already have a ton there, too. In fact, they could blow away the whole team, and bring in a bunch of shit, and probably make just as much money as they do now. So what is their motivation? I think this is why Theo had to leave for a while. He actually wants to win, because deep down he's actually a fan. The ownership wants to make money, under the guise of trying to win. This brings me to Steinbrenner. He, too, has no financial need to win. He doesn't need the money, he doesn't care about the money, he's going to make the money anyway. But he spends it like a retard in a gay bookstore regardless, since he's a complete fruitball. His moves are misguided, his team is uninteresting, but nobody can say that he ever steps in the way of a move that he thinks will help them win. This irrational and asinine approach to professional sports ownership, should be respected, because he's probably the owner closest to the athletes in terms of desire to win. So cheers, MFGS, you're all right. Still hate his team, mind you.