Pageantry or gimmickery?

I'm in agreement with McAdam on this one. I thought when Steinberg jetted for L.A. it would put an end to this foolishness. Boy was I wrong.

Since taking over stewardship of the Red Sox prior to the 2002 season, the current Red Sox ownership has nicely refurbished and expanded Fenway Park, improved relations with players both past and present, and, not incidentally, won two championships.

In short, John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino have accomplished in a half-dozen years what Tom Yawkey could not in more than 50.

Coming as they did in the wake of the embarrassing John Harrington administration, an era marked by benign neglect and rampant nepotism, their arrival helped purge the Sox of their ugly past.

But lately, it would seem, ownership has, as the British like to say, lost the plot.

The latest case in point: Tuesday’s Opening Day ceremony.

Between the Red Sox Nation flags, the Buckner and the Diamond, the Buckner is clearly the lesser of the evils. It was a nice gesture and unlike the other two, it actually has something to do with the game of baseball. But it was, as McAdam says, ill-timed. The flags add another page to the nauseating Red Sox Nation scrapbook. The Diamond, well, for me that whole deal has been a nightmare from the word go.