Just SHUT IT and play

Now Jonathon Pabelbon is calling Manny Rameriez a "cancer." Gee, Jonathon, thanks for the bulletin. We didn't know that. If you telegraph your pitches like you do your quotes in the press, the Green Monster is going to look like Bonnie and Clyde's death ride by May 23 of this year.

The bigger message is that I, personally, could care less what players think of other players, good or bad. Just suit up, shut up and let your performance on the field speak for you.

And here's the real annoyance: these soundbites do not reflect what's really happening in the locker room, and I don't want to know that either. I respected players like Jack Morris and Steve Carlton, who refused to talk to the press, and I wish that more would follow their example. It would force the media to focus on the game and not on the gamesmanship.

And if Bob Costas opens his yap one more time about Cy Young in his prime, or Sam Rice's Catch, or Bobby Thompson's home run, or Babe Ruth's last World Series start as a pitcher, as if he were there, I'm going to break something.